Pretérito perfeito

What you will practice

• Conjugate a regular -ar verb in the pretérito.
• Write nós falámos with the accent.
• Keep the present nós falamos separate.

Explanation

The endings

A finished event uses this past, often with ontem. For falar, the forms are falei, falaste, falou, falámos, and falaram. This lesson uses tu, not você, for the second person. eu falei is only the speaker. ele falou is another person. The ending already shows the person.

nós

The present of nós is falamos, with no accent. The pretérito is falámos, with an acute accent on the a. That accent is the difference. In Brazil the pretérito is often written without it. European Portuguese writes it. When the exercise asks for the past, the accent is required.

A finished event

Ontem falei com a Ana is one closed conversation. The present falo does not take ontem. Do not confuse this past with the imperfect, which is a later lesson. Here every example is a single finished action. The verb ver is not in the exercises, because its pretérito can look like another verb.

Examples

1. Ontem falei com a Ana.eu
2. Falaste com a Ana.tu
3. Ela falou com a Ana.ele or ela
4. Ontem falámos com a Ana.nós, past
5. Eles falaram com a Ana.eles or elas

Common mistakes

• falámos is the past. falamos is the present. The accent is the mark.
• This lesson does not ask for vimos. That spelling is doing two jobs in the language, so it is a poor test.