Afirmou

Afirmou is the third-person singular preterite form of the Portuguese verb afirmar, meaning that someone stated or asserted something in the past. It is a verb form, not a noun, and is used to report a past assertion or claim attributed to a subject.

Etymology and form: afirmar comes from Latin affirmare, from ad- plus firmare, meaning to make firm or to confirm. The preterite form afirmou follows the standard conjugation pattern for regular -ar verbs in Portuguese, with the stem afirm- and the ending -ou for the third-person singular. The word is commonly used in both European and Brazilian Portuguese with the same spelling.

Usage and context: In written and spoken Portuguese, afirmou is used to attribute a statement to a person or group in the past. Examples include journalistic reporting, formal statements, and narrative passages: "O porta-voz afirmou que a reunião começaria às nove," or "Ela afirmou ter visto o incidente." It can also appear in reported speech following verbs of saying, thinking, or claiming. The term is inherently evaluative only insofar as the content of the assertion is presented; the verb itself simply marks tense and speaker attribution.

Related forms: The verb has several related forms, including the infinitive afirmar, the gerund afirmando, and the past participle afirmado. Other preterite forms exist for different subjects (afirmei, afirmaste, afirmou, afirmámos, afirmaram). Pronunciation varies slightly between dialects but generally stresses the syllable following the stem, with afirmou pronounced roughly as a-FIRM-ow.