ficaste

Ficaste is a verb form in Portuguese, functioning as the second-person singular preterite of ficar. It expresses a completed past action or change of state associated with the subject you (tu) and translates roughly as “you stayed” or “you became,” depending on context. The form is derived from the infinitive ficar with the -aste ending typical of the tu-conjugation in the preterite.

Usage and regional variation

In European Portuguese and in many Brazilian dialects that maintain the tú form, ficaste is the standard preterite for tu: Tu ficaste em casa ontem. In Brazilian Portuguese, where você is commonly used instead of tu, the equivalent preterite for você is ficou: Você ficou em casa ontem. Ficaste is therefore primarily encountered in regions and styles that preserve the informal tu usage, while in many formal or urban Brazilian contexts você ficou is more typical.

Semantics

Ficaste generally denotes a completed action (you stayed somewhere, you remained) or a change of state (you became something). The exact meaning is determined by the verb’s complement, as in ficar in sense of location or condition, or in phrasal expressions involving ficar.

Related forms

Ficar and its other forms include fico, ficas, fica, ficamos, ficáis/ficam, and the past forms such as fiquei, ficou, ficámos, ficaram. The tu-preterite form remains ficaste, and the você-preterite form is ficou in most Brazilian varieties.

Notes

Ficaste can occasionally appear in rhetorical or literary contexts to emphasize past action with tu. In standard Brazilian Portuguese, the corresponding tu-form preterite is less common, with ou sendo replaced by você in everyday speech.