Transposição de Tem

The core logic is simple: when the reporting verb is in the past, the reported verb must also shift "backwards" in time. If someone says something in the present, and you report it later, that "present" is now their "past." We move one step back on the timeline. For example, the Presente do Indicativo shifts to the Pretérito Imperfeito. It is like looking at a photograph of a sunset; the sun *is* setting in the photo, but since you are looking at the photo now, you say the sun *was* setting. This shift applies to all tenses: past becomes "more past" (pluperfect), and future becomes "conditional." It is a systematic mapping of one tense to another to preserve the original meaning relative to the new reporting point.

1. 1Identify the reporting verb (e.g., disse, afirmou, perguntou). If it is in the past, get ready to shift!
2. 2Look at the original tense used in direct speech.
3. 3Apply the shift according to the standard "Time Travel Map":
4. 4Presente becomes Pretérito Imperfeito. Example: "Eu estudo" becomes "Ele disse que estudava."
5. 5Pretérito Perfeito becomes Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito. Example: "Eu estudei" becomes "Ele disse que estudara" (or tinha estudado).
6. 6Futuro do Presente becomes Futuro do Pretérito (Conditional). Example: "Eu estudarei" becomes "Ele disse que estudaria."
7. 7Adjust pronouns and time markers. Hoje (today) often becomes naquele dia (that day). Aqui (here) becomes ali (there).
8. 8Ensure the mood stays consistent. If the original was Subjuntivo, the new one will likely be Pretérito Imperfeito do Subjuntivo.

You will need this whenever you are reporting what someone else said, wrote, or thought, especially in formal settings. Imagine you are at a job interview and you are summarizing a previous manager's feedback. You would say: "O meu chefe disse que eu era muito organizado" (My boss said I was very organized). It is essential in legal reports, news articles, and high-level academic summaries. If you are writing a thesis and quoting a researcher indirectly, this is your best friend. It is also vital for storytelling. When you are narrating a sequence of events that happened last summer, you use these shifts to keep the "internal logic" of the story alive. It makes you sound sophisticated and precise.

Do not shift the tenses if the reporting verb is in the present. If you say "O Paulo diz que vem amanhã," the verb vem stays in the present because the reporting act is happening right now. You also skip the shift if you are quoting someone directly using quotation marks. If the statement is a "universal truth" or something that is still true at the moment of speaking, you *might* keep the original tense, though shifting is safer in formal Portuguese. For instance, "O professor disse que a Terra é redonda" is acceptable because the Earth didn't stop being round just because the professor stopped talking. However, in a strict C1 exam, shifting it to era shows you know the technical rule!

The most frequent slip-up is "The Lazy Reporter" syndrome—leaving the verb in the original tense when it should have shifted. Saying "Ele disse que vai à festa" instead of "Ele disse que iria" is very common in casual speech, but it will lose you points in a formal setting. Another trap is the Subjuntivo. People often forget to shift the Presente do Subjuntivo to the Pretérito Imperfeito do Subjuntivo. If the original was "Espero que ganhes," the report should be "Ele disse que esperava que eu ganhasse." Also, watch out for the Mais-que-Perfeito. It sounds scary, but using the compound version (tinha estudado) is much more natural than the simple one (estudara) unless you are writing a 19th-century novel!

Don't confuse transposição de tempos with simple verb conjugation. This is about the *relationship* between two verbs. It is also different from the "Consecutio Temporum" in Latin, although they are related. In English, we call this "Backshifting." While English and Portuguese follow similar paths (Present -> Past), Portuguese is much stricter about the Futuro do Pretérito and the Subjuntivo shifts. In Spanish, the rules are almost identical, but watch out for slight differences in which Subjuntivo form is preferred. Think of it like a grammar traffic light: the reporting verb is the light that tells the second verb whether to stay or move.