Mais-que-perfeito: tinha feito, havia feito, fizera
Mais-que-perfeito: tinha feito, havia feito, fizera means ““Had done” has three forms in Portuguese, split by register”. To say that something had already happened before another past event, Brazilians normally use tinha + participle: Quando cheguei, ele já tinha saído. Formation: falado: tinha + particípio · formal: havia + particípio · literário: forma simples fizera
“Had done” has three forms in Portuguese, split by register
B2Formation
falado: tinha + particípio · formal: havia + particípio · literário: forma simples fizera
Explanation
To say that something had already happened before another past event, Brazilians normally use tinha + participle: Quando cheguei, ele já tinha saído. In more formal writing you will meet havia + participle, identical in meaning: ele havia saído. And in literature and older texts there is a one-word form built on the same past stem: fizera, dissera, fora, tivera. That simple form is, as Brazilians put it, alive on the page and dead in the mouth — worth recognising when you read, but not something to produce in conversation. Note that Portuguese uses ter as the compound auxiliary where Spanish uses haber, so tinha feito corresponds to había hecho; haver survives here only as the formal variant.
Examples
Note
tinha feito for speech, havia feito for formal writing, fizera for literature — same meaning, three registers.
FAQ
Mais-que-perfeito: tinha feito, havia feito, fizera — what does it mean and how is it used?
“Had done” has three forms in Portuguese, split by register. To say that something had already happened before another past event, Brazilians normally use tinha + participle: Quando cheguei, ele já tinha saído. In more formal writing you will meet havia + participle, identical in meaning: ele havia saído. And in literature and older texts there is a one-word form built on the same past stem: fizera, dissera, fora, tivera. That simple form is, as Brazilians put it, alive on the page and dead in the mouth — worth recognising when you read, but not something to produce in conversation. Note that Portuguese uses ter as the compound auxiliary where Spanish uses haber, so tinha feito corresponds to había hecho; haver survives here only as the formal variant.
Mais-que-perfeito: tinha feito, havia feito, fizera — how do you form it?
falado: tinha + particípio · formal: havia + particípio · literário: forma simples fizera
Mais-que-perfeito: tinha feito, havia feito, fizera — any usage notes?
tinha feito for speech, havia feito for formal writing, fizera for literature — same meaning, three registers.