Past Tense: -ar Verbs II

Dialog — At School: Break Time

A teacher and student discuss time, taking a break, and meals.

Portuguese	English
Que horas são?	What time is it?
Não sei. Deixe-me ver.	I don’t know. Let me see.
Ah! São dez horas.	Ah! It’s ten o’clock.
Já? Nossa!	Already? Gosh!
Está na hora do intervalo.	It’s break time.
Vocês trabalharam muito esta hora.	You worked hard this hour.
Por que não abrimos a porta e umas janelas?	Why don’t we open the door and some windows?
Está fazendo calor aqui.	It’s hot in here.
Boa idéia.	Good idea.
Vocês já tomaram café?	Did you have coffee yet?
Já. Tomamos lá embaixo quando chegamos.	Yes, we did. We had some downstairs when we arrived.
Eu ainda não tomei nada.	I haven’t had anything yet.
Jantei demais ontem à noite.	I ate too much dinner last night.
Boa tarde. Vocês almoçaram bem?	Good afternoon. Did you have a good lunch?
Almoçamos, sim. Nós fomos ao restaurante em frente.	Yes, we did. We went to the restaurant across the street.

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Notes on Grammar

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

They-form (-aram): The past tense they-form of -ar verbs ends in -aram, with stress on the first syllable of the ending (-á-) and the familiar unstressed ão diphthong in the second syllable.

Present (they)	Past (they)	English
estudam	estudaram	they studied
falam	falaram	they spoke
ficam	ficaram	they stayed
trabalham	trabalharam	they worked
praticaram	praticaram	they practiced
moraram	moraram	they lived
passaram	passaram	they passed

We-form (-amos): The past tense we-form of -ar verbs is identical to the present tense we-form. Context and accompanying time words (like ontem, hoje) clarify the intended meaning.

Form	Present Meaning	Past Meaning
chegamos	we arrive	we arrived
falamos	we speak	we spoke
trabalhamos	we work	we worked
moramos	we live	we lived
tomamos	we take	we took
almoçamos	we eat lunch	we ate lunch
jantamos	we eat dinner	we ate dinner

Observation: The Portuguese simple past also covers the English present perfect. Where English says “He has eaten lunch,” Portuguese uses the simple past: Ele almoçou.

The word já (“already”) often appears with past tense forms in these situations:

Portuguese	English
Já tomaram café?	Have you taken coffee yet?
Já. Tomamos lá embaixo.	Yes, we did. We had some downstairs.
Já almoçou?	Have you eaten lunch yet?
Ainda não.	Not yet.

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Part II — Past Tense of ir and ter: All Four Forms

	ir (to go)	ter (to have)
eu	fui	tive
ele/ela	foi	teve
nós	fomos	tivemos
eles/elas	foram	tiveram

Portuguese	English
Fomos ao restaurante.	We went to the restaurant.
Foram à festa.	They went to the party.
Tivemos que praticar.	We had to practice.
Tiveram que sair.	They had to leave.

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Part III — Present Tense: ser, estar, and ter (All Four Forms)

	ser	estar	ter
eu	sou	estou	tenho
ele/ela	é	está	tem
nós	somos	estamos	temos
eles/elas	são	estão	têm

The form são appears in telling time:

Portuguese	English
Que horas são?	What time is it?
São dez horas.	It’s ten o’clock.

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Part IV — Saber vs. Conhecer

Both verbs translate as “to know,” but they serve different purposes.

Conhecer — to know in the sense of being acquainted with (people, places, things):

Portuguese	English
Conheço a Yara.	I know Yara.
Conheço o Rio.	I know Rio.
Conheço o livro.	I know (am familiar with) the book.

Saber — to know facts or information:

Portuguese	English
Ele é casado. — Eu sei.	He’s married. — I know.
Vai chover? — Não sei.	Is it going to rain? — I don’t know.

The I-form of saber in the present tense is sei.

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Part V — The Double Negative não … nada

Portuguese uses double negatives as standard grammar (unlike English, where it is stigmatized).

Portuguese	English
Não sei nada.	I don’t know anything.
Não tenho nada.	I don’t have anything.
Ele não fala nada.	He doesn’t say anything.
Ela não gosta de nada.	She doesn’t like anything.
Você não falou nada?	Didn’t you say anything?
Não é nada.	It’s nothing.

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Practice Drills (Selected)

Drill — Comprehension Check: We-forms

Match each recorded we-form to its English equivalent:

#	English
1	we worked
2	we had lunch
3	we ate dinner
4	we prepared
5	we lived
6	we arrived
7	we got up
8	we practiced
9	we took
10	we noted
11	we stayed
12	we liked

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Translation Drill

Put these into Portuguese:

1. I know that he’s married.
2. I know that he studies a lot.
3. I don’t know what to do.
4. I don’t know when to leave.
5. I don’t know where to live.
6. Good afternoon! Did you study a lot?
7. Good evening! Did you work hard today?
8. Good idea! Let’s leave now!
9. It’s two o’clock. Did she have lunch yet?
10. It’s late. When are they going to leave?
11. Do you think it’s a good idea? — Sure! Let’s go!
12. It’s ten o’clock. Do you think they’ve arrived yet? — I don’t know. We can make a phone call.

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Key Vocabulary Summary

Portuguese	English
Que horas são?	What time is it?
São dez horas.	It’s ten o’clock.
Está na hora de …	It’s time to …
o intervalo	break period
a porta	door
a janela	window
já	already, yet
ainda não	not yet
nada	nothing, anything
demais	too much
lá embaixo	downstairs
à noite	at night
ontem à noite	last night
o restaurante	restaurant
em frente	across the street
sei / saber	I know / to know (facts)
conheço / conhecer	I know / to know (be acquainted)
deixe-me ver	let me see
boa idéia	good idea
fazendo calor	hot (weather)
almoçamos / almoçaram	we ate lunch / they ate lunch
jantamos / jantaram	we ate dinner / they ate dinner
tomamos / tomaram	we took (had) / they took
fomos / foram	we went / they went
tivemos / tiveram	we had / they had