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How do I use past tenses in portuguese?

Which past tenses do exist in Portuguese, and when are they used? One simple example for every tense would be enough, I just want to know in which case I have to use which tense!

For learning: Portuguese
Base language: English
Category: Uncategorized



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    Best Answer - Chosen by the Asker
    there're three basic forms:
    pretérito perfeito
    pretérito imperfeito
    pretérito mais que perfeito

    pretérito perfeito: we use it to say something that has already happened and is over. something that didn't happen more than once. example: i read a book this morning. -> eu li um livro hoje de manhã.

    pretérito imperfeito: to say something that's also already happened and over, but happened more than once or was a "continuous action". example: i looked at him while he slept. [there isn't an actual translation for the continuous action in english i think] -> eu olhava ele enquanto ele dormia. [both verbs are pretérito imperfeito.]
    another example: he went out with friends everyday / he used to go out with friends everyday. -> ele saía com amigos todos os dias.

    pretérito mais-que-perfeito: indicates a fact that is before something that's also in the past. like, you say something in the past and you want to say that something happened before that, that's when you use pretérito mais-que-perfeito. example: he went out with the car he had bought the day before. -> ele saiu com o carro que comprara no dia anterior. / ele saiu com o carro que tinha comprado no dia anterior.
    note: the second form [verb ter + particípio from verb] is more used than the first. actually, the first one is only used in books and stuff.

    nao se prenda em coisas deste tipo... é muito inutilizado

    muito inutilizado? vai dizer que vc nunca fala nada no passado em português...?

    se vc me disser pra não se prender ao pretérito mais-que-perfeito eu até entendo, mas os outros... ¬¬

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