Pretérito perfeito or imperfeito?
Portuguese has two simple past tenses. The perfeito (falei) tells what happened: a completed event. The imperfeito (falava) describes what was going on: background, habits, states. Telling a story usually needs both.
| perfeito (falei) | imperfeito (falava) |
|---|---|
| single completed event: Liguei para ela. | repeated habit: Ligava todo dia. |
| the action that interrupts: …quando o telefone tocou. | the action in progress: Eu tomava banho… |
| limited period: Estudei três horas. | background without limits: Estava frio. |
| sudden change: De repente começou a chover. | age, time, description: Eram nove horas. |
| conheci = I met, soube = I found out | conhecia = I knew, sabia = I knew |
How to choose
- Ask “and then what happened?”: the events that move the story forward are in the perfeito; the scenery around them is in the imperfeito.
- A stated length (três horas, dois anos) closes the action, so the perfeito is used: Morei lá dois anos.
- Some verbs change meaning: conhecia (knew) vs conheci (met); sabia (knew) vs soube (found out); queria (wanted) vs quis (tried, insisted).
- English “was …-ing” is almost always the imperfeito (or estava + gerund).
Examples
- Estava chovendo quando saí de casa.It was raining when I left home.
- Quando era pequena, morava em Belém.When I was little, I lived in Belém.
- Ontem trabalhei dez horas.Yesterday I worked ten hours.
- Eu lia quando ela chegou.I was reading when she arrived.
- Não sabia que vocês eram irmãos.I didn’t know you were brothers.
Common mistakes
- ✗ Eu tomei banho quando o telefone tocava.✓ Eu tomava banho quando o telefone tocou.The action in progress takes the imperfeito and the one that breaks in takes the perfeito; English “was having a shower” shows the same idea, but learners swap the two tenses.
- ✗ Ontem eu estudava três horas.✓ Ontem eu estudei três horas.A stated length closes the action, so it is in the perfeito; English “I studied for three hours” helps here, yet the imperfect slips in because studying “lasted”.
- ✗ De repente, começava a chover.✓ De repente, começou a chover.de repente marks a sudden single event, which takes the perfeito; the imperfeito would make it sound like a repeated or ongoing background.
- ✗ Eu não soube que ele era casado.✓ Eu não sabia que ele era casado.A state of knowledge in the past is sabia; soube means “found out”, so não soube suggests you never heard the news, a difference English “knew” does not show.
- ✗ Eu conhecia a Ana numa festa em 2019.✓ Eu conheci a Ana numa festa em 2019.Meeting someone at one moment is conheci; conhecia means you already knew her, and English “met / knew” are clearly different verbs.