The first compound tense we’re going to talk about is the pretérito perfeito composto do indicativo. To keep it short, and since the focus of this unit will just be the indicativo mood, we’ll just call it pretérito perfeito composto. So let’s get to it!
As you are likely aware, the pretérito perfeito (simple past tense) expresses a finished action that took place in the past. For example:
Passeei o cãoI walked the dog
The pretérito perfeito composto do indicativo, however, suggests continuity and repetition. It’s something that has been happening recently. This corresponds to the present perfect continuous in English.
Tenho passeado o cãoI've been walking the dog
How It Is Formed
The pretérito perfeito composto is formed like this:
auxiliary verb ter in the presente do indicativo tense + past participle of the main verb
In the example above, it was tenho + passeado.
Here are a couple more examples:
Ultimamente, tenho escrito imensoI've been writing a lot lately
A Maria tem trabalhado muito este mêsMaria has been working a lot this month
The Idea of Continuity
There is another way to express this idea of repetition / ongoing actions. You may recall learning about aspectual auxiliary verbs, specifically those that relate to progression, such as the verbs continuar and andar. Guess what? We can combine those verbs with compound tenses to express even more nuanced meanings. (This is known as “periphrastic construction”.)
For example, let’s consider the slightly different implications in these two sentences:
- Temos andado a fazer obras em casaWe have been doing renovations at home – (Auxiliary verb andar in the compound form) Renovations have been done in the past over a period of time. Suggests they may be ongoing, but we don’t know for sure.
- Temos feito obras em casaWe have been doing renovations at home, We've done renovations at home – (Main verb fazer in the compound form) Renovations have been done in the past over a period of time. Suggests they may not be ongoing, but we don’t know for sure.
So, without additional context, these two sentences could overlap in meaning. Information about the time / frequency would help clarify. For example, here we’ve added more context (in bold):
- Temos andado a fazer obras em casa esta semana, está um caos aquiloWe've been doing work on the house this week, it's a mess – The work is still ongoing
- Ao longo dos anos temos feito várias obras em casa, e acho que agora está perfeitaOver the years we've done a lot of work on the house, and I think it's perfect now – The work was ongoing for years, but now it has stopped.
As you can see from these examples, the distinction often mirrors the difference in usage between “have been doing” and “have done” in English. However, Portuguese has its own nuances, so it’s not always that straightforward. With lots of exposure to Portuguese, certain wording will eventually start to feel more natural. In the meantime, luckily the differences are quite subtle, and adding more context will usually clarify any doubts.