comeu

Comeu is the third-person singular form of the Portuguese verb comer in the pretérito perfeito (past simple). It translates to “he ate” or “she ate,” and, when used with the subject pronoun você, means “you ate.” It is used to describe a completed action in the past.

Grammatical notes: Comer is a regular -er verb. The pretérito perfeito forms include eu comi, tu comeste (Portugal) / você comeu (Brazil), ele/ela comeu, nós comemos, vós comestes, eles/elas comeram. The form comeu specifically corresponds to ele/ela or você in the past tense. In standard European Portuguese, tu comeste is common for the second-person singular; in Brazilian Portuguese, você comeu is broadly used instead of tu comeste.

Etymology: Comer in Portuguese derives from Latin comere, meaning “to eat,” and has developed through the Romance language evolution into the modern verb comer. Comeu reflects the historical conjugation pattern of -er verbs in the pretérito perfeito.

Usage notes: Comeu expresses a completed past action and is typically used in narrative or recounting events. It takes a direct object, as in comeu a maçã (ate the apple) or comeu tudo (ate everything). It can appear in questions like O que ele comeu? (What did he eat?) and in negative forms like Ele não comeu nada (He didn’t eat anything).

Examples:

- Ele comeu a pizza inteira. (He ate the whole pizza.)

- Você comeu tarde hoje? (Did you eat late today?)

- Ela comeu a sobremesa? (Did she eat the dessert?)