How To Master The Portuguese Conditional Tense Fast

Once I read a wise quote that says: “each story serves the one who tells it”. That’s so true! Everything we say hides or reveals our purpose and it's always related to a specific moment in a kind of timeline of our lives: past, present, or future.

You can report a fact, express an opinion or a desire, give an order, show, or maybe hide, an intention, set out a condition, talk about possibilities and so on.

No matter what you say, it will always have a grammar tense and a grammar mood to support it.

One of the moods in Portuguese is the so-called Portuguese conditional tense. And what is it for?

As the name shows, the main aspect of the conditional is that it involves a condition. At first sight, it seems obvious, but the daily usage can be tricky sometimes. But don't panic, I'll clarify everything in this post so you'll soon use the Portuguese conditional with confidence.

Before we get into the conditional, let’s get an overview of the Portuguese verb moods and tenses because the conditional is part of this wider grammar system.

No worries if mood vs tense is a little unclear for you for now; it will all make sense shortly!

The Verb Moods And Tenses Of Portuguese

These are the moods of the Portuguese language:

All these moods can be used to form the conditional in Portuguese, because there are mandatory, certain, and uncertain conditions, depending on the situation.

Examples:

• Se ele te pedir, cante. (If he asks you, sing.)
• Se ele me pede, eu canto. (If he asks me, I sing.)
• Se ele me pedisse, eu cantaria. (If he asked me, I would sing.)
• Se ele me pedir, eu cantarei. (If he asks me, I will sing.)
• Se ele tivesse me pedido, eu teria cantado. (If he had asked me, I would have sung.)

These sentences above sum up the ways the Portuguese conditional tense can be used. You're going to see them in more detail afterwards. Before that, notice that the conditional involves not only moods, but also verb tenses, our next topic.

Basically, verb tenses show the time when an event happens. In Portuguese, there are three main tenses, just like in the English language, as you can see in the table below:

If we put these tenses on a timeline, it would look like this:

The conditional mood in Portuguese is related to the verb tense known as futuro do pretérito (the future of the past), a kind of future that was supposed to happen, but it didn’t for a reason, a consequence, or a condition.

In English, it is like the modal “would”. Let’s dive into this specific tense to understand it better.

Futuro Do Pretérito (Future Of The Past)

One of the purposes of the futuro do pretérito in Portuguese is to talk about a fact that would happen under a certain condition.

For example:

Eu viajaria se não estivesse chovendo. (I would travel if it wasn’t raining.)

The rain is the condition for not travelling.

Another usage is when we need to make a request or invitation politely in an uncertain situation:

• Seria possível? (Would it be possible?)
• Gostaria de vir comigo? (Would you like to come with me?)

And how is the future of the past conjugated? To conjugate verbs in the conditional, take any verb, add the small particle -ia or -ie at the end of it and then add the conjugation particle according to the personal pronoun. Let’s work with the verb comer (eat):

A couple of pointers: the pronoun vós is way too formal for daily conversation so you should avoid it. Also, in Portuguese there isn’t the pronoun “it” as in English. Portuguese uses ele e ela for animals, plants, or things.

So, in general, the rule is to add the particles -ia or -ie, but there are three exceptions: the verbs dizer, fazer e trazer. For these ones, you need to remover the -zer and add -ria.

You can see an example in the table below:

Another thing to note: o futuro do pretérito can be a compound (composto), made up of two verbs, usually the verb ter conjugated in futuro do pretérito plus the participle of the main verb e.g “gone”, “waited”, “seen” etc.

This form corresponds to the combination of “would have” in English. Again, using the verb comer (eat), the compound form conjugates like this:

This compound form (teria comido) is used in the third conditional in English and the simple form (comeria) is used in the second conditional. Let's take a look at the different types of conditional in more depth next.

How To Use The Portuguese Conditional Tense

To make it easier, let’s start comparing the usage of the conditional in Portuguese and English. Here are some conditional sentences in Portuguese and English.

Zero conditional: incontestable events

We use the present simple to talk about real events related to sure conditions. The context involves a condition, and it is certain to happen. It expresses natural, physical, and chemical phenomena. 

Examples:

• If you heat water to 100 degrees celsius, it boils.
  • Se você esquenta a água a 100 graus celsius, ela ferve.

• If you heat an ice cube, it melts.
  • Se você esquenta um cubo de gelo, ele derrete.

• If you close your eyes, you see nothing.
  • Se você fecha os olhos, não enxerga nada.

First conditional: realistic events

We use the infinitive and the simple future to talk about real possibilities related to a condition. If you do something, something else will happen. So, here we are basically talking about conditions and consequences.

Examples:

• If you work out, you will get in shape.
  • Se você malhar, você entrará em forma.

• If you study hard, you will pass.
  • Se você estudar bem, você será aprovado.

• If you take a coat, you will not feel cold.
  • Se você levar um casaco, não sentirá frio.

Second conditional: unrealistic events

We use the subjunctive and futuro do pretérito (would clause) to talk about thoughts related to a condition. The situation is hypothetical.

Examples:

• If I were you, I wouldn’t go there.
  • Se eu fosse você, não iria lá.

• If I bought a car, I would run out of money.
  • Se eu comprasse um carro, ficaria sem dinheiro.

• If you came over, I would be glad.
  • Se você me visitasse, eu ficaria contente.

Third conditional: lost causes

We use the compound forms of the subjunctive and futuro do pretérito (would have clause) to talk about lost causes related to a condition. The situation is unrealistic and can express a kind of regret or relief.

Examples:

• If I had left earlier, I wouldn’t have arrived late.
  • Se eu tivesse saído mais cedo, não teria chegado atrasada.

• If you had called me, I would have helped you.
  • Se você tivesse me ligado, eu teria te ajudado.

• I would have forgotten if they hadn’t reminded me.
  • Eu teria esquecido se eles não tivessem me lembrado.

Tricky Portuguese Conditionals

European and Brazilian Portuguese can be tricky sometimes. Check out some relevant differences in the usage of the conditional.

In European Portuguese, the conditional can be replaced by the imperfect past of the indicative to express a desire. In Portugal Portuguese, both examples below express a desire:

• Gostaria de ir ao Brasil. (conditional)
• Gostava de ir ao Brasil. (imperfect)

In Brazilian Portuguese, the second sentence doesn’t express a desire, but a past habit. In English, past habits are expressed with the structure “used to” and desires are expressed with “would”.

Take a look at these examples in Brazilian Portuguese: 

• Eu gostaria de ir para a praia. = I would like to go to the beach. (a desire)
• Eu gostava de ir para a praia. = I used to like going to the beach. (a past habit)

If you want to know more about the differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese, check out my post: Brazilian Portuguese vs Portugal Portuguese.

Portuguese Conditional Tense FAQ

Mastering The Portuguese Conditional Tense

Well, now that you have a good idea of what the conditional in Portuguese is, it is time to practice.

Follow the rules of StoryLearning and read short stories in Portuguese or books in Portuguese at your level. Look out for the conditional as you read, and you'll soon start to pick up on how to form and use it naturally, without studying.

You can also listen to Portuguese podcasts or watch Brazilian movies on Netflix and try to identify this verb mood in real context.

And if you still need a bit of help to master the Portuguese conditional, my course, Portuguese Uncovered, has you covered. Get your free 7-day trial.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.