Espalhámos

Espalhámos is the first-person plural preterite form of the verb espalhar in Portuguese. It is used to indicate a completed action of spreading or dispersing in the past, typically in European Portuguese. For example: “Nós espalhámos as sementes pelo jardim” means that the seeds were spread in the past.

Regional usage and variants: In Portuguese, the preterite first-person plural form is spelled espalhámos with an acute accent to mark the syllable stress in many varieties of European Portuguese. In Brazilian Portuguese, the corresponding past tense form is usually espalhamos, which is used for the same grammatical function in the past. Consequently, espalhámos is less common in modern Brazilian usage and can sound archaic or distinctly European in tone.

Grammatical notes: Espalhámos is part of the simple past tense (pretérito perfeito) and pairs with the subject nós. Other forms of the verb espalhar exist across tenses and moods, such as espalhei (eu), espalhaste (tu), espalhou (ele/ela), espalhamos (nós, present or past in Brazilian usage), espalharem (eles/elas) etc. The form espalhámos is often associated with formal, literary, or historical texts in Portuguese and is typically avoided in everyday Brazilian speech, where espalhamos or other periphrastic constructions might be preferred.

Etymology and meaning: The verb espalhar means to spread, scatter, or disseminate items, ideas, or substances. Espalhámos is simply the past-tense conjugation for “we spread” in the European variant of the language.