indicativa

Indicativo (or indicativa in its feminine form) is the grammatical mood used to express assertions of fact or reality in Romance languages. It is the most common mood for stating facts, descriptions, and habitual actions, and it contrasts with the subjunctive, which marks doubt, possibility, or non-real events, and with the imperative, used for commands. In grammars, the term is usually presented as modo indicativo or tempo do indicativo in languages like Spanish and Portuguese.

In Spanish, the modo indicativo includes present, preterite, imperfect, and future tenses, as well as the conditional. It also encompasses compound tenses such as the present perfect (he hablado) and the pluperfect (había hablado). These tenses express factual or routine actions across time, such as “Hablo español” (I speak Spanish) or “Ayer comí” (Yesterday I ate).

In Portuguese, the modo indicativo covers present (falo), pretérito perfeito (falei), pretérito imperfeito (falava), pretérito mais-que-perfeito (falara or tinha falado), futuro do presente (falarei), and futuro do pretérito (falaria), with corresponding compound tenses. The indicative is used for statements of certainty, descriptions, and habitual events, such as “Eu falo português” or “Ontem eu comi.”

Some grammars note the feminine form indicativa when agreeing with feminine nouns, as in forma indicativa or conjugação indicativa. The concept also appears in other Romance languages, notably Italian (modo indicativo) and French (mode indicatif).