Portuguese grammar · Intermediate (B1)
Tenho feito and tinha feito
Participles, the pluperfect (tinha feito), the literary simple pluperfect (fizera) and tenho feito, which is not the English present perfect.
Participles
The “participle” is the verb form that matches English “done”, “seen”, “written”. Regular verbs: -ar → -ado (), -er and -ir → -ido (, ). With it never changes: , .
Some verbs have a short participle. , and are used with too in Brazil (), though and are also correct. has with and with and : but .
| Infinitive | Participle | Infinitive | Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| (do) | (open) | ||
| (say) | (put) | ||
| (write) | (cover) | ||
| (see) | (pay) | ||
| (come) | (win, earn) |
The pluperfect: tinha feito
The imperfect of (, , , ) + participle means “had done”: something that happened before another moment in the past. It is the normal form in speech. In writing you'll also see + participle, with the same meaning: .
- Quando cheguei, o filme já tinha começado.When I arrived, the film had already started.
- Eu nunca tinha visto tanta gente.I had never seen so many people.
- Ela disse que tinha perdido a chave.She said she had lost her key.
- A gente tinha combinado às oito.We had arranged to meet at eight.
The simple pluperfect: fizera (recognition only)
Literature and some formal texts use a one-word pluperfect with the same meaning as . It is formed from the preterite: drop -ram and add -ra: → , → , → . Don't confuse it with the future: (had spoken), (will speak).
Nobody uses it in conversation, except in a few fixed phrases: (If only!) and (No wonder!).
- Ele percebeu que ninguém o ouvira.He realised that no one had heard him.
- Ela nunca dissera aquilo a ninguém.She had never told anyone that.
- Quem me dera ter mais tempo!If only I had more time!
Tenho feito: lately, again and again
The present of + participle looks like the English present perfect, but it isn't. It means something repeated or continuing from the recent past up to now, often with (lately): (I've been sleeping badly lately).
For a single action, finished or not, and for experiences, use the preterite: (I've seen that film), (Have you eaten?).
| English | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| I've seen that film. | |
| I've been seeing a lot of films lately. | |
| Have you eaten? | |
| I've been working a lot. | |
| She has just left. |
Other compound tenses
in other tenses + participle gives the rest of the compound forms. The subjunctive and conditional ones are explained on their own pages.
| Form | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| future perfect: | By Friday, I'll have finished. | |
| conditional perfect: | I would have called. | |
| perfect subjunctive: | I hope you liked it. | |
| pluperfect subjunctive: | If I had known… |