tivemos

Tivemos is the first-person plural preterite form of the Portuguese verb ter, used to say "we had" in English. It marks a completed possession, state, or experience in the past and is common in both Brazilian and European Portuguese.

Origin and conjugation: Ter is an irregular verb, and tivemos comes from the past tense stem used for nós. The full preterite conjugation of ter is: tive, tiveste, teve, tivemos, tivestes, tiveram. The imperfect form is tínhamos, and the present indicative is temos. The construction "tivemos que" expresses obligation in the past: "we had to" do something.

Usage: Tivemos is used to indicate possession or experiences in the past. It can describe concrete possessions, as in "Nós tivemos dois carros" (We had two cars), or narrate past events and conditions. In narratives, it often appears with other past actions to situate events in time. The expression "tivemos que" is a common way to convey necessity in the past.

Examples:

- Nós tivemos que sair cedo. (We had to leave early.)

- Ontem, tivemos uma reunião importante. (Yesterday, we had an important meeting.)

- Durante a viagem, tivemos muitos imprevistos. (During the trip, we had many unforeseen events.)

See also: Portuguese verb ter; Portuguese preterite tense; comparison with other tenses of ter.