Portuguese Present Tense – Usage Rundown Anchored to English

This article concerns Portuguese equivalents to the English Present Simple, Present Continuous, and Present Perfect tenses.

We will be mostly focusing on usage, not conjugation. To learn more about present tense conjugation in Portuguese, take a look at this one: Portuguese Regular Verbs and Conjugation Patterns in the Present Tense.

Let’s dive in.

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Ser ou estar?

Fill in the blanks with the verb forms of the verbs “ser” and “estar”.

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Talvez vá a Évora

Fill in the gaps with the missing verbs.

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Present Simple

Henceforth, I will be using the regular verb cantar (to sing) for all the usage examples:

In short, we use the Present Simple to talk about things done regularly (habits, repeated actions, etc). Here’s an example:

We can also use the Present Simple to express a time in the future (as long as we have some adverb or adverbial phrase indicating a future time): 

Present Continuous

We use the present continuous to talk about ongoing actions – something unfolding as we mention it. 

We’ll need the auxiliary verb estar, the Portuguese counterpart of the verb ‘to be’:

There are two ‘to be’ verbs in Portuguese – ser and estar. Dig deeper into their differences: Portuguese Verbs ‘Ser’ and ‘Estar’- How and When to Use Either.

In European Portuguese, the equivalent of the Present Continuous is formed by the auxiliary verb estar in the Present Simple followed by the preposition a, after which comes the main verb in the Infinitive. 

Notice that the Present Continuous (or any Progressive tense) looks slightly different in the Brazilian standard. 

Accordingly, the preposition a after the auxiliary verb is left out and the main verb comes in the Present Participle instead *:

* The present participle is called Gerúndio in Portuguese, which is used beyond Progressive tenses (in either standard). Learn more about it: Portuguese Gerund: Progressive Tenses and Beyond.

Also, explore the differences between the European and Brazilian standards: European vs. Brazilian Portuguese – How Different Are They Really?

Present Perfect

Portuguese compound tenses use ter as the auxiliary verb – the  Portuguese counterpart to have:

Now, the English Present Perfect often refers to a completed action in the past, which is never the case in Portuguese. 

Take the following English sentence and see how the Portuguese version calls to the Preterite (Pretérito Perfeito):

Here’s the thing. When we use a structure analogous to the English Present Perfect – auxiliary verb (ter) in the Present tense followed by the main verb (cantar) in the Past Participle –  then, we are referring to actions that started in the recent past and continue up to the present (and not to completed past actions). 

Let’s look at a Portuguese sentence using this compound verb structure: 

As you can see, the English translation calls to the Present Perfect Continuous rather than the Present Perfect Simple.

The example above depicts something ongoing “over the last months”. Imagine, however, that we use the same structure (in English) to illustrate an ongoing action unfolding on the same day that the observation is made.

In that case, the Portuguese equivalent will be other than the one above. There are two options:

While the second option clearly hints at an ongoing action still unfolding, the first one is simpler (probably more common) and will do the trick. (The difference is subtle)

Explore the Portuguese Past Participle: Portuguese Past Participle and Auxiliary Verbs that Go with It.