Sofreu

Sofreu is the third-person singular preterite indicative form of the Portuguese verb sofrer, meaning to suffer. It is used to describe a completed act of suffering or an endured experience in the past and is common in narrative and reported speech. The form typically accompanies a subject pronoun such as ele or ela, as in ele sofreu.

Etymology and cognates: Sofrer comes from Latin roots shared with related Romance languages. Its preterite forms are cognate with Spanish sufrió and other Romance equivalents like French souffert. The preterite ending -eu marks the past tense for this verb in the third-person singular in Portuguese.

Conjugation and usage: In full, the preterite indicative forms of sofrer are: eu sofri, tu sofreste, ele/ela sofreu, nós sofremos, vós sofrestes, eles/elas sofreram. Sofreu appears in sentences describing past events, for example: Ele sofreu um acidente recentemente. The form is typically contrasted with the present tense sofrer and with the imperfect preterite forms used for ongoing past action (ex.: ele sofria).

Notes: Sofreu can occur in both simple past constructions and as part of compound tenses when combined with auxiliary verbs (for instance, to express has/have suffered in certain contexts, though the compound forms rely on das or ter with the past participle sofrido). In modern Portuguese, sofrido is the past participle used to form perfect tenses (ele tem sofrido, ele havia sofrido).

See also: sofrer; sufri­rir (Spanish cognate); souffrir (French cognate).