atrasei

Atrasei is a Portuguese verb form, specifically the first-person singular of the pretérito perfeito do indicativo for the verb atrasar. The base verb atrasar means to delay or to slow the progress of something, making atrasei the grammatical label for “I delayed” in the past tense. The form is regular for -ar verbs in this tense.

Usage and meaning. Atrasei is used when the speaker personally caused a delay or lateness in a past action or event, or when describing that one’s own actions resulted in postponement. It can refer to delaying a task, a delivery, a schedule, or the start of an activity. The nuance is that the delay was caused by the subject.

Conjugation notes. As a regular -ar verb in the pretérito perfeito, the full paradigm around atrasei is: eu atrasei, tu atrasaste (informal in some varieties), você atrasou, ele/ela atrasou, nós atrasamos, vocês atrasaram, eles/elas atrasaram. In European Portuguese, the second-person form may vary (tu atrasaste).

Examples. Eu atrasei a entrega do pedido. Ela atrasei? (colloquial: ela atrasou, not normally used with atrasei in this context). Nós atrasamos o início da reunião.

See also. Atrasar (verb). Atrasei is one of the common past-tense forms used in daily Portuguese to convey responsibility for a delay.