Grammar Focus — Past Subjunctive after se, Conditional Tense, and Conditional Clauses

Unit 43 teaches you to form contrary-to-fact statements using the past subjunctive after se (“if”), introduces the conditional tense (“would”), and shows how these two combine in conditional clauses. You will also learn the -íssimo superlative ending and some false cognates.

Part I — Past Subjunctive after se

When a speaker makes a statement that is contrary to fact or hypothetical, Portuguese uses the past subjunctive after se (if).

Portuguese	English
Se eu fosse você …	If I were you …
Se eu tivesse dinheiro …	If I had money …
Se eu pudesse …	If I could …
Se ela soubesse …	If she knew …
Se nós fôssemos ricos …	If we were rich …
Se ele quisesse …	If he wanted to …

These are contrary-to-fact because the speaker is not you, does not have money, cannot, etc.

Practice Examples

Portuguese	English
Se eu fosse o presidente …	If I were the president …
Se eu tivesse tempo …	If I had time …
Se nós morássemos no Rio …	If we lived in Rio …
Se não fosse tão tarde …	If it weren’t so late …
Se não chovesse tanto …	If it didn’t rain so much …
Se ela não falasse bem português …	If she didn’t speak Portuguese well …
Se você não soubesse espanhol …	If you didn’t know Spanish …

E se … — Suggestions and Hypotheses

The pattern E se + past subjunctive is used to offer suggestions or pose hypothetical questions:

Portuguese	English
E se ele fosse também?	How about his going also?
E se eu esperasse até amanhã?	What if I waited until tomorrow?
E se a gente ficasse mais uns dias?	What if we stayed a few more days?
E se nós começássemos mais cedo?	What if we started earlier?
E se chovesse?	What if it rained?
E se eles não aceitassem?	What if they didn’t accept?
E se fosse feriado?	What if it were a holiday?

Part II — The Conditional Tense

The conditional tense expresses “would” in English. It is formed by adding the endings -ia, -ia, -íamos, -iam directly to the infinitive.

Pronoun	ficar	escrever	sair
eu	ficaria	escreveria	sairia
ele/ela/você	ficaria	escreveria	sairia
nós	ficaríamos	escreveríamos	sairíamos
eles/vocês	ficariam	escreveriam	sairiam

The same endings apply to all verb types (-ar, -er, -ir, -or):

Portuguese	English
eu mandaria	I would send
eu voltaria	I would return
eu iria	I would go
eu teria	I would have
eu poria	I would put
eu poderia	I could / I would be able to

Irregularities

Only three verbs are irregular in the conditional. Their endings attach to a shortened base:

Infinitive	Base	Conditional (eu)	Meaning
fazer	far-	faria	I would do/make
trazer	trar-	traria	I would bring
dizer	dir-	diria	I would say

These irregularities carry through all forms: faria, faríamos, fariam; diria, diríamos, diriam; traria, traríamos, trariam.

Combining Past Subjunctive + Conditional (Conditional Clauses)

The classic conditional clause structure:

Se + past subjunctive, … + conditional

Portuguese	English
Se eu fosse você, eu ficaria.	If I were you, I would stay.
Se eu tivesse mil dólares, eu iria à Europa.	If I had 1,000 dollars, I would go to Europe.
Se eu gostasse da cidade, eu ficaria.	If I liked the city, I would stay.
Se a Lúcia pudesse, ela escreveria.	If Lúcia could, she would write.
Se o Luís fosse, ele iria de avião.	If Luís went, he would go by plane.
Se eu fosse você, eu não diria mais nada.	If I were you, I wouldn’t say anything more.

Part III — Past Subjunctive of ter + -do Forms after se

To express contrary-to-fact conditions in the past (things that didn’t happen), use se + past subjunctive of ter + the -do form:

Portuguese	English
Se eu tivesse sabido …	If I had known …
Se eles tivessem chegado antes …	If they had arrived earlier …
Se eu tivesse estudado mais …	If I had studied more …

Conditional of ter + -do Forms

The complement uses the conditional of ter + -do form:

Portuguese	English
Se eu tivesse sabido, eu teria ido.	If I had known, I would have gone.
Se eles tivessem chegado, nós teríamos ficado.	If they had arrived, we would have stayed.

Adjectives and the -íssimo Ending

The suffix -íssimo (feminine -íssima) adds great emphasis to adjectives, similar to English “extremely” or “very, very”:

Base	Superlative	English
bonito	bonitíssimo	extremely beautiful
fácil	facílimo	extremely easy
rico	riquíssimo	extremely rich
bom	boníssimo / ótimo	extremely good
quente	quentíssimo	extremely hot
frio	friíssimo	extremely cold
feliz	felicíssimo	extremely happy

Some False or Misleading Cognates

Be cautious with these words — they do not mean what they appear to mean:

Portuguese	Appears to mean	Actually means
absolutamente (as response)	absolutely (yes)	absolutely not!
assistir	assist	attend, watch
convencido	convinced	conceited
educado	educated	well-mannered, polite
parente	parent	relative
pretender	pretend	intend, plan
puxar	push	pull
sensível	sensible	sensitive

Key Vocabulary Summary

Portuguese	English
se eu fosse	if I were
se eu tivesse	if I had
se eu pudesse	if I could
ficaria	would stay
iria	would go
faria	would do/make
diria	would say
traria	would bring
teria	would have
E se …?	What if …? / How about …?
-íssimo / -íssima	extremely (superlative suffix)
embarcar	to leave, depart
reclamar	to complain
trocar	to exchange
entregar	to deliver, hand over
alugar	to rent
emprestar	to loan

Conditional Tense

Grammar Focus

Course Material