comportavo

Comportavo is a rarely attested verb form that may be encountered in discussions of Portuguese morphology or in historical texts. It is generally understood as a possible first-person singular imperfect indicative form of the verb comportar-se (to behave oneself), corresponding in standard modern Portuguese to eu comportava-me or eu comportava. However, contemporary usage overwhelmingly favors the forms with -ava, such as comportava, and comportar-se is normally conjugated accordingly.

Etymology and form: The base verb comportar-se derives from the prefix com- plus portar, related to the Latin com-portare “to carry together” and by extension to conduct or behave. The suggested form comportavo mirrors the pattern of other Romance imperfect endings, where the tail -avo resembles the habitual -ava endings found in Portuguese. Its appearance is typically regarded as archaic, dialectal, or literary rather than standard.

Usage notes: In modern standard Portuguese, combining the imperfect with se typically results in forms like eu comportava-me. When comportavo appears, it is often interpreted as an older spelling, a regional variant, or a poetic/fictional usage rather than a prescriptive form. In most contemporary contexts, it would be corrected to comportava or to a reflexive construction with se.

See also: comportar-se, comportamento, comportamento social, imperfect (grammatical).

References: There is no widely cited contemporary authority recognizing comportavo as a standard or common form; it is described here as a potential archaic or dialectal variant observed in limited textual contexts.