8. Compound Verbs
Portuguese |
English |
Spanish |
estudou |
studied |
estudié |
já estudou |
have studied (already studied) |
he estudiado |
tenho estudado |
have been studying |
he estado estudiando |
tinha estudado |
had studied |
había estudiado |
Observation
The major difficulty found with compound verbs in Portuguese is that "tenho estudado" does not mean "has studied" but rather "have been studying." It is frequently used with words like "ultimamente, esses dias, desde aquele dia" etc. There is no morphological way to say "have studied" in Portuguese. Instead Portuguese speakers use the word "já" (already) with the preterite form of the verb.
Marcos estudou aquele livro ontem.
(Marcos studied that book yesterday.)
Marcos já estudou aquele livro uma vez.
(Marcos has studied that book once before.)
Marcos tem estudado aquele livro ultimamente.
(Marcos has been studying that book lately.
Marcos tinha estudado aquele livro antes.
(Marcos had studied that book before.)
Practice Reading Sample Sentences