Regular –AR (falei), –ER (comi), –IR (abri)

The pretérito perfeito is very useful for talking about your weekend, swapping stories, or explaining what happened — it's a past tense you'll use often. Viajei para o Rio (I traveled to Rio), Comemos pizza ontem (We ate pizza yesterday), Eles assistiram o jogo (They watched the game). The best part: regular verbs are refreshingly predictable — learn one set of endings per group and you can narrate anything, from what you did this morning to that trip you took years ago.

Conjugation Patterns for Regular Verbs

-AR Verbs (e.g., FALAR — to speak)

-ER Verbs (e.g., COMER — to eat)

Weekend Activities

• "Viajei para a praia no sábado" (I traveled to the beach on Saturday)

• "Assistimos um filme ontem" (We watched a movie yesterday)

• "Eles jantaram num restaurante novo" (They had dinner at a new restaurant)

• "Dormi até tarde domingo" (I slept late on Sunday)

• "Você trabalhou no fim de semana?" (Did you work on the weekend?)

Daily Routines (Past)

• "Acordei às 6 horas" (I woke up at 6 o'clock)

• "Tomei café da manhã em casa" (I had breakfast at home)

• "Cheguei atrasado no trabalho" (I arrived late to work)

• "Almocei com colegas" (I had lunch with colleagues)

The nós trap: same form, two tenses

For regular -AR, -ER and -IR verbs in Brazilian Portuguese, the nós form has the same spelling in the present and the past — context or a time word tells them apart:

• "Falamos português" = We speak or We spoke Portuguese

• "Falamos português ontem" = We spoke Portuguese yesterday

• "Sempre falamos português" = We always speak or We always spoke Portuguese — the wider context decides

A few everyday verbs are irregular

Not every verb follows the endings above. A handful of the most common ones — ser, ir, estar, ter, fazer, ver, dar, vir — have their own past forms you can't build from the stem. Those are exactly what the grammar point on irregular past forms covers; for now, just don't force the regular endings onto them ("fazei" and "teu" are not forms of this past tense).

Common learner mistakes

1. Present instead of past:

   • ❌ "Ontem eu falo com ele" → ✅ "Ontem eu falei com ele"

Beware the look-alike pretérito perfeito composto: tenho falado does not normally describe a single finished "I have spoken" event. In Portuguese it means "I've been speaking — a lot, lately," a repeated or ongoing action that stretches into the present. So for a single, finished action, Brazilians reach for the simple form you just learned: Já almocei ("I already had lunch"), rather than tenho almoçado for that single event.

Sources: Pretérito perfeito — Toda Matéria