johntm wrote:And to say something like "I am running" you say "I make run"? So you just need to know the conjugation of that one verb and a bunch of infinitives.[/spoiler]
For the same reason, in Spanish and in Portuguese I use the perfect tense a lot, even when I should use the past simple. The past simple conjugations are very difficult to remember, there are a lot of irregular verbs. The perfect tense is much simpler, you just need to conjugate the verb "to have" and then add the past participle, which most of the times it's regular: either -ado or -ido.
While in Spanish this may work (especially in informal Castillan Spanish), in Portuguese it is incorrect. Because the perfect tense is strictly for actions begun in the past and continuing in the present, similar to the present perfect continuous in English.
But at least I hope to be understood, instead of being stuck because I don't know the conjugation of the past tense.