Pretérito perfeito: regular verbs

The short answer

The pretérito perfeito (Portuguese preterite) is the past for finished events: Ontem eu trabalhei até tarde — Yesterday I worked late. It also covers most uses of the English present perfect: Você já comeu? — Have you eaten yet?

How to form it

Drop -ar, -er or -ir from the infinitive and add the ending.

Three spelling rules keep the sound of the stem before -ei. Only the eu form changes:

• -car → -quei: ficar → fiquei, tocar → toquei
• -gar → -guei: chegar → cheguei, pagar → paguei
• -çar → -cei: começar → comecei, almoçar → almocei

The other persons keep the normal stem: ficou, chegou, começou.

When to use it

• A finished action at a known time: No sábado a gente comeu pizza.
• A chain of events: Cheguei, tomei banho e dormi.
• Experience and "already" with já: Você já experimentou açaí? — Have you ever tried açaí?
• "Not yet" with ainda não: Ainda não comecei o curso.
• "Never" with nunca: Nunca viajei de avião.
• Something just done with acabar de + infinitive: Acabei de chegar.

Portuguese does not use ter + participle for these. Já vi esse filme is "I've seen that film"; tenho visto means "I've been seeing (lately)", a repeated action that is still going on.

• Ontem eu trabalhei até tarde e não jantei.Yesterday I worked late and didn't have dinner.finished events
• Você já experimentou açaí? — Já! Adorei.Have you tried açaí? — Yes! I loved it.já = ever / already
• Ainda não comecei o curso.I haven't started the course yet.ainda não = not yet

Contrasts and traps

• falamos is both "we speak" and "we spoke". A time word decides: Ontem falamos com ela.
• falou (he/she/you spoke) and falo (I speak) sound close. Listen for the final -ou.
• -aram is the past, stressed on the stem (fa-LA-ram); -arão is the future, stressed on the end (fa-la-RÃO).
• In speech Brazilians say a gente for "we", with the você form: a gente falou. Nós falamos is also correct and more formal.
• No written accent on the regular endings: falei, comeu, abriu.

If you speak Spanish

The system works like the Spanish indefinido, but the -ar endings move: hablé → falei, habló → falou, hablaron → falaram. And where Spain uses he comido for a finished action, Brazil uses the simple form: Já comi.