Tag Archives: imperfect indicative

Once upon a time.

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In english we do not have this tense (the imperfect indicative). But watch out because in portuguese of Brazil you cannot talk about the past without it!

In portuguese, when talking about an event in the past that was ongoing or would always occur, we use this tense.

Here is how it’s conjugated.

“Era uma vez” is the equivalent of saying “once upon a time”.
In english we would say “It was like this…”
In portuguese it’s. “Era assim…”
The verb is ser.
Learn it!

More on this tense here.

Diálogo:

Mas hoje em dia é tão difícil encontrarmos
essa tipo de festa.

É.
Quando
eu era criança…

Era uma vez…

Era uma vez!
A minha familia
não fazia nada
nos meus aniversários.

Nada?

Nada.
Nós comíamos um Big Mac.
Nós íamos no McDonalds,
comíamos um Big Mac.
Fazíamos sempre isso.

Brazilian Portuguese – the Imperfect Indicative

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Use

In Portuguese there are several ways to refer to something that happened in the past, each with varying shades of meaning.  The imperfect indicative is used when talking about continuous or ongoing action in the past. Something that used to happen or, would (always) happen. In english we say ‘I used to work at Banco do Brasil.’ In Portuguese it’s:

 'Eu trabalhava no Banco do Brasil.'

Or, ‘When I was a a younger I would always drink a few beers before going to a party.’

'Quando eu era mais jovem eu sempre bebia umas cervejas antes de sair pra festa'

Things that used to happen or, would (always) happen, entendeu?

> Eu sempre escutava música antes de dormir.
> Eu  comia naquele restaurante antes, mas agora tá ruim.

Forming

-ar regular verbs

I used to work eu trabalh ava
he used to work ele trabalh ava
we used to work nós trabalh ávamos
they used to work eles trabalh avam

-er and -ir regular verbs

I used to eat eu com ia
he used to eat ele com ia
we used to eat nós com íamos
they used to eat eles com iam