fomos

Fomos is a Portuguese verb form that serves as the first-person plural in the pretérito perfeito do indicativo. It is the form used with the subject nós and can correspond to two different verbs: ser and ir. Because of this dual origin, fomos can mean either “we were” or “we went,” with the intended meaning determined by context and accompanying elements in the sentence.

When fomos is used with ser, it expresses a past state or quality: for example, “Nós fomos pacientes” would be interpreted as “We were patient.” When it is used with ir, it conveys a completed movement or action in the past: for instance, “Nós fomos à escola” means “We went to the school.” Learners often rely on surrounding words or the broader discourse to distinguish between the two senses, since the form itself is identical.

In Portuguese, as in several other Romance languages, many verbs share the same past-tense forms, which can lead to ambiguity without clear contextual cues. Fomos is also cognate with the Spanish form fuimos, which functions identically for the same two verbs, ser and ir, in the pretérito perfecto simple.

Grammatically, fomos requires the subject pronoun nós and can appear in narrative and descriptive past contexts. It is a common form in everyday speech and writing, reflecting how Portuguese marks past time for both existence and motion with a single conjugated form. See also pretérito perfeito do indicativo and the verbs ser and ir for related conjugations.