Past Tense: -ar Verbs I

Dialog — At School: Studying Lessons

A student and teacher discuss studying, past activities, and going to the movies.

Portuguese	English
O que é que o senhor vai fazer hoje à tarde?	What are you going to do this afternoon?
Vou estudar a lição treze.	I’m going to study lesson thirteen.
O senhor não estudou ontem?	Didn’t you study yesterday?
Não. Estudei a doze.	No. I studied number twelve.
E é tão difícil!	And it’s so difficult!
Passei três horas nela.	I spent three hours on it.
Nossa! Então o senhor não foi ao cinema com os outros.	Gosh! Then you didn’t go to the movies with the others.
Não, não fui. Fiquei em casa.	No, I didn’t go. I stayed home.
Tive que preparar os diálogos.	I had to prepare the dialogs.

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Notes on Grammar

Part I — Past Tense of -ar Verbs: I-form and He-form

Portuguese forms the past tense (preterite) of -ar verbs by adding distinctive endings to the verb stem.

I-form (eu): The ending is the stressed diphthong -ei.

Neutral Form	Past I-form	English
falar	falei	I talked
trabalhar	trabalhei	I worked
visitar	visitei	I visited
estudar	estudei	I studied
passar	passei	I passed / I spent
levantar	levantei	I got up
preparar	preparei	I prepared
chegar	cheguei	I arrived
ficar	fiquei	I stayed

He-form (ele/ela/você): The ending is the stressed diphthong -ou.

Neutral Form	Past He-form	English
falar	falou	he/she talked
trabalhar	trabalhou	he/she worked
chegar	chegou	he/she arrived
achar	achou	he/she thought/found
levantar	levantou	he/she got up
morar	morou	he/she lived
estudar	estudou	he/she studied
preparar	preparou	he/she prepared

The distinction between present and past is maintained by the endings and stress pattern. The -ei of falei is stressed; the -o of falo is not.

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Part II — Irregular Past: ir (to go) and ter (to have)

The verbs ir and ter have irregular past tense forms.

	ir (to go)	ter (to have)
I-form	fui (I went)	tive (I had)
He-form	foi (he went)	teve (he had)

Note: The first vowel distinguishes tive from teve.

When using ter with a neutral form (meaning “had to”), the word que is always inserted:

Portuguese	English
Tive que ficar.	I had to stay.
Teve que sair.	He had to leave.
Tive que trabalhar.	I had to work.
Teve que praticar.	He had to practice.

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Part III — Contractions with a: ao and à

When the preposition a (“to,” “at”) is followed by a definite article, a contraction always results.

a + o = ao (to the — masculine)

Portuguese	English
ao túnel	to the tunnel
ao escritório	to the office
ao centro	to downtown
ao parque	to the park
ao cinema	to the movies
ao Rio	to Rio
ao Brasil	to Brazil

a + a = à (to the — feminine)

The contraction is a slight lengthening of the a sound, written with a grave accent.

Portuguese	English
à cidade	to the city
à festa	to the party
à embaixada	to the embassy
à sala	to the room
à tarde	in the afternoon

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Part IV — Contractions nele and nela

When the preposition em (“in,” “on”) combines with the pronouns ele and ela, contractions form:

Combination	Contraction	English
em + ele	nele	in/on it (masc.)
em + ela	nela	in/on it (fem.)

Note that nela has an open é sound, while nele does not.

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Part V — The Conjunction que with falar

In addition to its use after achar and parecer, the conjunction que (“that”) frequently follows forms of falar (“to say/speak”):

Portuguese	English
Ele fala que vai chover.	He says that it’s going to rain.
Ele falou que estudou muito.	He said that he studied a lot.
Eu falei que não podia.	I said that I couldn’t.

In such constructions, falar is best translated as “to say” rather than “to speak.”

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Practice Drills (Selected)

Drill A — I-form vs. He-form Identification

Listen and determine whether the speaker is saying “I did” or “he did.”

#	I did (-ei)	He did (-ou)
1		✓
2	✓
3		✓
4		✓
5	✓
6	✓
7		✓
8		✓
9		✓
10	✓
11	✓
12		✓
13	✓
14		✓

Drill B — Past vs. Present Identification

Determine which forms say “he did” (past) and which say “I do” (present).

#	He did (-ou)	I do (-o)
1	✓
2		✓
3	✓
4		✓
5		✓
6	✓
7	✓
8		✓
9		✓
10	✓
11		✓
12	✓
13		✓
14	✓

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Translation Drill

A — Simple Narrative

Put these into Portuguese:

1. Yesterday I prepared lesson twelve.
2. I also had to prepare lesson eleven.
3. I had to work all day; I didn’t go to the movies.
4. Today I’m going to prepare lesson thirteen.
5. It looks like I’m going to work all day today, too.
6. I had to spend two hours on the dialog yesterday.
7. But the dialog of lesson thirteen doesn’t seem so difficult.
8. Gosh! It’s raining again!
9. And it looks like it’s going to rain this afternoon too.
10. I like to study when it’s raining.
11. I intend to study a lot.
12. I’m going to Brazil, and in Brazil I have to speak Portuguese.
13. I never lived in Brazil.
14. But my teacher lived in Brazil.
15. She is from Rio; she knows the city well.
16. She says that Rio is a marvelous city.

B — A Story About Bill

1. Bill had a good day today.
2. He got up early — at 5:00.
3. He arrived here at 7:00 and studied until 9:00.
4. The teacher worked with him from nine until ten.
5. He prepared another lesson and the teacher worked with him again at 2:00.
6. He had to leave at 3:00.
7. He went to visit some friends in Baltimore.
8. He’s going to stay in Baltimore three days.

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Key Vocabulary Summary

Portuguese	English
estudei / estudou	I studied / he studied
falei / falou	I talked / he talked
trabalhei / trabalhou	I worked / he worked
passei / passou	I spent (passed) / he spent
preparei / preparou	I prepared / he prepared
fui / foi	I went / he went
fiquei / ficou	I stayed / he stayed
tive / teve	I had / he had
tive que + verb	I had to …
ao	to the (a + o)
à	to the (a + a)
nele / nela	in/on it (m/f)
ontem	yesterday
hoje à tarde	this afternoon
a lição	lesson
difícil	difficult
o diálogo	dialog
o cinema	movie theater
Nossa!	Gosh!
então	then