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Which tenses do real work, as against which exist. Ten forms, ranked by whether you will ever need to produce one.
The control text · argumentative
Proibir o celular nas escolas parece uma medida drástica, mas os resultados sugerem que ela funciona. Nas redes que adotaram a restrição, os professores relatam menos interrupções e uma queda nos casos de intimidação online. É verdade que o aparelho também é ferramenta de estudo, e seria ingênuo ignorar isso. Ainda assim, o custo da distração recai sobre quem já tem menos apoio em casa. Enquanto não houver evidência de que o uso livre melhora a aprendizagem, o ônus da prova cabe a quem defende a permissão.
Where the two part
Brazilian · the base
The simple future is largely replaced in speech by ir + infinitive, and the synthetic pluperfect is literary only. The future subjunctive is fully alive.
European · the contrast
Broadly the same distribution, but the simple future survives better in writing and speech, and the synthetic pluperfect turns up in journalism.
10 options
Cancelei esse serviço em maio.
The tellA finished action at a definite past point.
The workhorse past tense. Anchor A uses it twice and needs nothing else.
Your Spanish uses the compound past where Portuguese uses this, so interference runs one way and constantly.
A cobrança vinha todo mês sem que eu percebesse.
The tellOngoing, habitual or background past.
Identical in function to your Spanish imperfect, so it transfers cleanly.
It also does duty as a politeness softener (queria), which is a second job to keep straight.
Tenho tentado resolver isso desde maio.
The tellter + participle, and it means repeated or continuing — never a single completed act.
The highest-value item on this sheet: using it correctly separates C1 from B2 immediately.
Every English and Spanish instinct you have will misuse it, and the error is invisible to you.
Eu já tinha cancelado quando a cobrança chegou.
The telltinha + participle: past before another past.
Straightforward, universal, and the form you will actually use for the pluperfect.
None to speak of — which is why the simple form below is a stylistic choice rather than a necessity.
Já cancelara o serviço quando a cobrança chegou.
The tellA one-word pluperfect ending in -ra. Easy to misread as a subjunctive.
Marks literary or high journalistic register in one word, and Portugal uses it more readily than Brazil.
In Brazilian prose it can read as affected, and in speech it is simply not used.
BR Registrarei uma reclamação no Procon.
EU Registarei uma reclamação.
The tellA one-word future in -rei, -rá.
Correct and expected in formal writing in both countries, and required for mesoclisis to be possible at all.
In Brazilian speech it sounds formal to the point of stiffness, so it is a written register choice.
Vou registrar uma reclamação no Procon.
The tellTwo words instead of one, and no future ending anywhere.
Anchor A uses it. Dominant in Brazilian speech and perfectly acceptable in writing.
Repeated across a paragraph it flattens the prose, and it cannot host a mesoclitic pronoun.
Se não houver retorno até sexta-feira… · Enquanto não houver evidência…
The tellAfter se, quando, enquanto, referring forward. Both anchors contain one.
Portuguese is nearly alone among Romance languages in keeping this alive, and using it correctly is unmistakably advanced.
Your Spanish will offer the present indicative in exactly these slots, every time.
Seria ingênuo ignorar isso.
The tellThe conditional, in -ria. Anchor B opens its concession with one.
Does hypothesis and politeness at once, which makes it the most useful single form in argument and in complaint alike.
In Brazilian speech the imperfect frequently replaces it (era for seria), so the spoken and written norms differ.
É importante vocês confirmarem por escrito.
The tellAn infinitive carrying a person ending. It has its own sheet at GRM-05.
Lets you keep a subject without opening a subordinate clause, which tightens formal prose considerably.
No equivalent in Spanish or English, so there is nothing to transfer and it must be built deliberately.