In Compound Tenses 1, we focused on tempos compostoscompound tenses in the indicative and conditional moods. Now we’ll cover compound tenses in the modo conjuntivosubjunctive mood , as well as formas nominaisnominal forms .
Don’t worry, the basic formula is still the same 😉: auxiliary verb ter + past participle of the main verb.
Quick Overview
Here are the forms we’ll cover in this Learning Note:
- pretérito perfeito composto do conjuntivo: Espero que tenha escritoI hope you have written
- pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto do conjuntivo: Se tivesse escritoIf I had written
- futuro composto do conjuntivo: Quando tiver escritoWhen I have written
(Nominal forms will be covered in the next one.)
Modo Conjuntivo
As a reminder, the conjuntivo indicates the possible, the desired, the hypothetical, and even the unreal.
If you’re not feeling confident with the simple tenses for this mood, you may want to review those units first: presente | pretérito imperfeito | futuro
To create the compound forms, you conjugate ter in the appropriate tense and add a past participle. For example:
Pode ser que ele tenha escrito...It is possible that he wrote...
Let’s take a closer look, one-by-one…
Pretérito Perfeito Composto
For this tense, the verb ter is conjugated in the presente do conjuntivo (present subjunctive) before adding the past participle.
Esperemos que tenham gostado!We hope you enjoyed it!
Espero que tenhas tido um bom NatalI hope you had a good Christmas
Não acho que tenhamos feito muito barulhoI don't think we made a lot of noise
This verb tense is used to express our wishes or thoughts about a past event, as demonstrated by the examples above. You’ll notice that quethat typically appears before the verbs.
Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito Composto
In this one, the auxiliary verb ter is conjugated in the pretérito imperfeito do conjuntivo (imperfect subjunctive).
Se tivesses prestado atenção, não tinhas tido o acidenteIf you had paid attention, you would not have had the accident
Se ao menos não tivessem deitado fora os papéis...If only they hadn't thrown out the papers...
We use this tense to indicate a hypothetical situation that could have taken place in the past, if it were for some condition.
Accordingly, the pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto do conjuntivo appears in conditional clauses followed by the conjunction seif .
It’s possible to use this tense when you want to give a sort of snarky comment, when the other person should’ve done something they didn’t. For example:
Tivesses chegado a horas...You should've been on time...
Futuro Composto
Lastly, in the futuro composto do conjuntivo, we put the verb ter in the futuro do conjuntivo (future subjunctive).
Vou ter contigo quando tiver acabado de filmarI'll meet you when I have finished filming
Se não me tiver despachado a essa hora, eu aviso-teIf I have not finished by that time, I'll let you know
Eu digo-te alguma coisa quando tiver comprado o carroI’ll let you know when I have bought the car
The futuro composto do conjuntivo is used in conditional and temporal clauses, initiated by the conjunctions seif and quandowhen , respectively.
I have a holiday home in the Algarve hills and I was told the gerund endings are not normally used in Portugal-indo-endo-ando but they are used a lot in Brazil. Is this correct?
Olá! It’s partially correct, I would say. Considering Portugal as a whole, the gerund is really not as common as in Brazil, but if we look at specific regions, you will find some where the gerund does have a rather significant presence. Alentejo and Algarve are actually good examples of such regions 🙂
In the above example : “ Vou ter contigo quando tiver acabado de filmar
I’ll meet you when I have finished filming”
Would it remain the same if I used “depois” instead of “quando”. So I’ll meet you after I have finished or after I am done.
Is it limited to verbs like quando or the indication of the future ( like “after” )
I hope I made sense ! 🙂
You can only use ‘depois’ with some modifications:
– Vou ter contigo quando tiver acabado de filmar
– Vou ter contigo depois de ter acabado de filmar (OR “…depois de acabar de filmar”)
As you can see, ‘depois’ calls for the preposition ‘de’ as a connector and is structurally incompatible with the subjunctive, asking for the infinitive instead.
I am wondering why the example “esperemos que tenham gostado” in the Pretèrito perfeito composto ssection gives the verb esperar in the subjunctive and not the indicative. What am I missing?!!
Good question! From a 1st-person plural perspective, it’s common for us to use both ‘esperemos’ (subjunctive) and ‘esperamos’ (indicative) in this type of sentence. Both are valid and express the same general idea, with ‘esperamos’ sounding perhaps more concrete, and ‘esperemos’ emphasizing the wishful tone of the speaker. This doesn’t apply to other grammatical persons (we’d just use the indicative for those).