In European Portuguese, the preterite (pretérito perfeito) and the imperfect (pretérito imperfeito) are both past tenses, but they do different jobs. The preterite names a finished, one-off action: comi, I ate. The imperfect names an ongoing, habitual or background past: comia, I used to eat or I was eating.
Portuguese has two simple past tenses where English often gets by with one, and choosing between them is one of the first real hurdles in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. The good news is that the choice follows a clear rule, not a feeling you have to develop.
The rule is about shape, not time. The preterite treats a past action as a closed box: it started, it ended, it is done. The imperfect leaves the box open, so the action was still going on, happened again and again, or set the scene for something else.
Key takeaways
- The preterite (pretérito perfeito) names a finished past action, as in ontem comi sopa, meaning yesterday I ate soup.
- The imperfect (pretérito imperfeito) names an ongoing, habitual or background past, as in em criança comia sopa, meaning as a child I used to eat soup.
- A few verbs change meaning between the tenses: sabia means I knew, while soube means I found out.
- The choice rule is the same in Portugal and Brazil, but Portugal keeps the accent in falámos to mark the past, where Brazil does not.
What is the difference between the two tenses?
The difference between the preterite and the imperfect is whether the past action is finished or ongoing. The preterite reports a complete event, something that happened and ended. The imperfect describes a situation that was still unfolding, a habit that repeated, or the background to another event.
A quick test helps. If you can say in English I did or it happened, you want the preterite. If you can say I was doing, I used to do, or it was, you want the imperfect.
| Preterite (finished) | Imperfect (ongoing) |
|---|---|
| A single completed event | A repeated habit |
| An action with a clear end | A description or scene |
| A reaction at one moment | An action in progress |
| A chain of events | The background behind them |
When do you use the preterite?
You use the preterite for an action you see as finished. It is the tense for a one-off event, for something that happened at a named time, and for a chain of completed actions that move a story forward.
For example, ontem fui ao Porto means yesterday I went to Porto, and ela abriu a porta e saiu means she opened the door and left. Each action starts and finishes, so each one takes the preterite.
When do you use the imperfect?
You use the imperfect for a past that has no clear endpoint. It covers habits and repeated actions, descriptions of how things were, and ages, time, weather and feelings. It also covers an action that was in progress when something else happened.
For example, quando era criança, brincava na rua means when I was a child, I used to play in the street. Here era and brincava both describe an ongoing past, so both take the imperfect.
| Person (falar) | Preterite | Imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| eu | falei | falava |
| tu | falaste | falavas |
| ele / ela | falou | falava |
| nós | falámos | falávamos |
| eles / elas | falaram | falavam |
How do the two tenses work in one sentence?
The two tenses often appear together, and that is where the contrast is clearest. The imperfect sets a scene that was already running, and the preterite drops a single finished event into it. One was happening; the other happened.
For example, eu lia um livro quando o telefone tocou means I was reading a book when the phone rang. Lia is the ongoing background in the imperfect, and tocou is the one-off interruption in the preterite.
Which verbs change meaning between the tenses?
A small group of verbs shifts its English meaning depending on the tense, because the imperfect describes a state while the preterite marks the moment it changed. These are worth learning as fixed pairs in Portuguese from Portugal.
| Imperfect | Preterite | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| sabia (I knew) | soube (I found out) | A state vs the moment it began |
| conhecia (I knew someone) | conheci (I met) | Knowing vs the first meeting |
| queria (I wanted) | quis (I tried to) | Wishing vs acting on it |
| podia (I could) | pude (I managed to) | Ability vs succeeding once |
Is the preterite different in European Portuguese?
The rule for choosing the preterite or the imperfect is the same across the Portuguese-speaking world, so a rule you learn for Portugal also works in Brazil. What differs in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal is one spelling. The first-person plural preterite of -ar verbs keeps an acute accent: nós falámos, we spoke.
That accent separates the past from the present, because without it nós falamos means we speak. Brazil writes falamos for both forms and lets context decide. In spoken Portugal, the accented á in the past falámos is fuller, while the a in the present falamos is reduced. For the wider gap between the two varieties, see how different is European Portuguese from Brazilian Portuguese?
| Portugal | Brazil | English |
|---|---|---|
| nós falámos | nós falamos | We spoke |
| nós comprámos | nós compramos | We bought |
| nós chegámos | nós chegamos | We arrived |
How do you stop hesitating between the two?
The rule is quick to read and slow to apply. In a live conversation you have no spare second to run that test. The two tenses only turn automatic through speaking, not through more grammar tables, so you have to use them, be corrected, and use them again.
This is where Fluentus fits. Fluentus teaches European Portuguese only, and its AI tutor holds spoken conversations with you 24 hours a day in a real human voice. The tutor corrects your preterite and imperfect as you speak, so the choice becomes a reflex rather than a calculation. It runs courses from A1 to B2 with smart flashcards built from your own conversations, on iOS and Android. If you are starting from zero, the full path is in how to learn European Portuguese from scratch.
In one sentence: use the preterite for what happened and finished, and the imperfect for what was going on or used to happen.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the preterite and the imperfect?
The preterite (pretérito perfeito) names a finished past action, such as comi, I ate. The imperfect (pretérito imperfeito) names an ongoing, habitual or background past, such as comia, I used to eat. If the action is over and done, use the preterite; if it was still going, use the imperfect.
Is the preterite the same in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal and in Brazil?
Yes, the rule for choosing the preterite or the imperfect is the same in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal and in Brazil. The clearest difference is spelling: Portugal keeps an acute accent in the past form nós falámos, we spoke, while Brazil writes falamos for both the past and the present.
How do you form the imperfect in European Portuguese?
To form the imperfect, you drop the infinitive ending and add a set of endings. Verbs in -ar take -ava, -avas, -ava, -ávamos, -avam, so falar becomes falava. Verbs in -er and -ir take -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, -iam, so comer becomes comia.
Why does sabia mean something different from soube?
Sabia and soube come from the same verb, saber, but the tense changes the meaning. Sabia is the imperfect and means I knew, an ongoing state. Soube is the preterite and marks the moment the state began, so it means I found out. The preterite names the change; the imperfect names the state.