Portuguese Verb Conjugation:
Complete Guide with Tables

Verbs are the engine of any language — and in Brazilian Portuguese, they do a lot of work. Every time you say "I am," "I have," "I went," or "I'll go," you're reaching for one of a small set of high-frequency verbs. Learn those well, and you unlock most of the language.

I'm Anne Caroline, a native carioca from Rio de Janeiro with over 1,900 lessons taught. This guide covers the 18 verbs my students use most — three regular verbs (one per conjugation group) and fifteen irregular verbs you can't avoid. Each one gets a full table across the eight tenses that actually matter in spoken Brazilian Portuguese: present, preterite, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive, and imperative.

Bookmark this page. Every time you're writing an email, preparing for a conversation, or stuck on a form, come back and look it up.

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How Portuguese Verbs Work

Every Portuguese verb belongs to one of three groups, identified by the ending of its infinitive form:

• -ar verbs: falar (to speak), morar (to live), trabalhar (to work). About 75% of all Portuguese verbs are in this group, and they follow the most predictable pattern.
• -er verbs: comer (to eat), beber (to drink), aprender (to learn). The second-largest group.
• -ir verbs: partir (to leave), abrir (to open), decidir (to decide). The smallest group, with a few stem-changing patterns.

There's also one single verb ending in -or: pôr (to put). It's irregular and descends from an older ending, but you only need to memorize this one — no other verb follows its pattern.

To conjugate a regular verb, you drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) and add the ending that matches the tense and the pronoun. Irregular verbs have their own forms that don't follow the pattern — you just have to memorize them. The good news: Portuguese only has about 100 true irregular verbs, and the fifteen in this guide cover almost everything you'll hear in daily conversation.

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The Pronoun System

Every conjugation table in this guide uses the same four pronoun slots, which matches how standard Brazilian Portuguese is actually spoken:

A note on tu: The pronoun tu exists in Portuguese, but standard Brazilian Portuguese has largely replaced it with você. Some regions still use tu, but most Brazilians who say tu conjugate it with você forms ("tu fala" instead of textbook "tu falas"). Learning Brazilian Portuguese with você from the start gives you a regionally-neutral accent that works everywhere. This guide uses você throughout.

Portuguese is a pro-drop language: because the verb ending already tells you who's doing the action, you can usually drop the pronoun entirely. Falo português means "I speak Portuguese" — the -o ending on falo already says "eu," so adding the pronoun is optional. Keep this in mind: the tables below show the pronoun for clarity, but in real speech you'll often hear the verb alone.

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The 8 Tenses You Actually Need

Portuguese has more than fifteen grammatical tenses, but most are literary or rare in speech. In my lessons I focus on eight — organized across three moods.

A mood is the "attitude" behind what you're saying. The indicative states facts. The subjunctive expresses wishes, doubts, and hypotheticals. The imperative gives commands. Once you know which mood you need, the right tense becomes easier to pick.

Every example below uses falar ("to speak") so you can see how one verb transforms across all eight tenses. Memorize this pattern and you'll recognize it in hundreds of other regular -ar verbs.

Indicative — 5 tenses for facts

The indicative is where you'll spend 95% of your speaking time. Five tenses cover every point in time you might want to describe.

Subjunctive — 1 tense for wishes and doubts

The subjunctive is the mood English barely has. It appears after specific trigger phrases (quero que, espero que, talvez, é importante que) and in any clause that expresses desire, doubt, or uncertainty. Portuguese actually has three subjunctive tenses, but the present subjunctive is by far the most important — and the first one my students learn.

Imperative — 2 forms for commands

Commands in Portuguese have two forms: affirmative ("do this!") and negative ("don't do this!"). In standard Brazilian Portuguese, both are derived from the present subjunctive — so if you know the subjunctive, you already know the imperative.

Every verb table below uses the same eight tenses, grouped by mood with the same color rails you see in the headings above. Once you read one table, reading the rest gets much faster.

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Quick Jump

Regular verbs (one per conjugation group):

• falar — to speak (-ar model)
• comer — to eat (-er model)
• partir — to leave (-ir model)

The 15 essential irregular verbs:

• ser — to be (permanent)
• estar — to be (temporary/state)
• ter — to have
• haver — there is/are
• ir — to go
• vir — to come
• fazer — to do / to make
• dizer — to say / to tell
• poder — can / to be able
• querer — to want
• saber — to know (facts)
• ver — to see
• pôr — to put
• dar — to give
• ficar — to stay / to become

Also see: Ser vs estar · Common mistakes · FAQ

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Regular Verbs: The Three Patterns

Every regular verb in Portuguese follows one of three patterns, based on whether its infinitive ends in -ar, -er, or -ir. Learn these three model verbs and you can conjugate hundreds of others by applying the same endings.

falar — to speak (-ar model)

Falar is the standard model for all regular -ar verbs. About three out of every four Portuguese verbs follow this pattern, including morar (to live), trabalhar (to work), estudar (to study), comprar (to buy), and gostar (to like). Learn these endings and you'll be able to conjugate them all.

Pronunciation: "fah-LAR"

Example: Eu falo português todos os dias — I speak Portuguese every day.
Past: Ontem eu falei com minha mãe — Yesterday I spoke with my mother.

comer — to eat (-er model)

Comer is the model for regular -er verbs, including beber (to drink), aprender (to learn), vender (to sell), correr (to run), and entender (to understand).

Pronunciation: "koh-MEHR"

Example: Nós comemos feijão com arroz todos os dias — We eat beans and rice every day.
Past: Ela comeu tudo — She ate everything.

partir — to leave (-ir model)

Partir is the model for regular -ir verbs, including abrir (to open), decidir (to decide), dividir (to divide), and assistir (to watch). Note that partir can also mean "to break" or "to depart" depending on context.

Pronunciation: "par-CHEER"

Example: O trem parte às oito — The train leaves at eight.
Past: Eles partiram ontem de manhã — They left yesterday morning.

Notice the pattern: The -er and -ir endings are almost identical in every tense — the only major differences are in the present tense (comemos / comem vs partimos / partem) and the nós form in imperfeito (comíamos / partíamos). Once you know falar, you're most of the way to knowing comer and partir too.

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The 15 Essential Irregular Verbs

Portuguese has around 100 irregular verbs, but the fifteen below are the ones you'll hear in almost every conversation. Memorize these and you can handle most of what daily life throws at you. I've ordered them roughly by frequency — ser, estar, and ter are the absolute must-knows.

ser — to be (permanent / identity)

Ser is one of the two Portuguese verbs for "to be." Use it for identity, origin, permanent traits, time, and profession — anything that defines what something is at its core. Eu sou brasileira — I am Brazilian (that's who I am, permanently).

Pronunciation: "sehr"

Example: Eu sou professora de português — I am a Portuguese teacher.
Past: Quando era criança, eu morava no Rio — When I was a child, I lived in Rio.

Watch out: Ser and ir share the same forms in the pretérito perfeito — fui, foi, fomos, foram. Context tells you which one: Eu fui ao mercado means "I went to the market" (ir), while Eu fui professora means "I was a teacher" (ser).

estar — to be (state / location)

Estar is the other "to be" verb. Use it for temporary states, locations, and feelings — anything that can change. Eu estou cansada — I'm tired (right now, not forever). See the Ser vs estar section below for the full breakdown.

Pronunciation: "es-TAR"

Example: Eu estou no Rio de Janeiro — I am in Rio de Janeiro (location).
Past: Ontem eu estive com meus amigos — Yesterday I was with my friends.

ter — to have

Ter means "to have" and is one of the most useful verbs in Portuguese. Beyond possession, it's used for age (tenho trinta anos — I'm thirty years old), physical states (tenho fome — I'm hungry), and as a helper verb for compound tenses. Learning ter well unlocks a huge chunk of everyday speech.

Pronunciation: "tehr"

Example: Eu tenho dois filhos — I have two children.
Past: Nós tivemos uma reunião ontem — We had a meeting yesterday.

Spelling note: The plural form têm (they have) uses a circumflex to distinguish it from tem (he/she has). You only see this accent in the plural — many writers forget it, but it's required in formal writing.

haver — there is / there are

Haver is a quirky verb. In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, you'll mostly hear it in its impersonal form há, which means "there is" or "there are." Há três opções — There are three options. Há dois dias — Two days ago. Brazilians often substitute tem in casual speech (tem três opções), but há is the correct written form and what you'll see on exams.

Pronunciation: "ah-VEHR" (infinitive), "ah" (há)

Example: Há muitas opções no cardápio — There are many options on the menu.
Past: Houve uma festa ontem — There was a party yesterday.

Don't confuse: haja (subjunctive of haver) and aja (imperative of agir, to act). They sound identical but mean completely different things. Haja pacote! (may there be a package) vs Aja agora! (act now). The h is silent in both cases — spelling is the only distinction.

ir — to go

Ir is essential for two reasons: it means "to go," and its present tense is used to form the near future (vou + infinitive), which is how Brazilians most commonly talk about future actions. Vou falar com ele amanhã — I'm going to speak with him tomorrow.

Pronunciation: "eer"

Example: Eu vou à praia todo domingo — I go to the beach every Sunday.
Past: Fomos ao cinema ontem — We went to the cinema yesterday.

The near future trick: Instead of Eu falarei (I will speak), Brazilians usually say Eu vou falar (I'm going to speak). It's shorter, easier to pronounce, and sounds more natural. Learn this pattern early — you'll use it constantly.

vir — to come

Vir means "to come" and is the counterpart to ir. It's irregular in several tenses, so memorization is necessary. A classic trap to watch: vimos is both the nós present of vir ("we come") and the nós preterite of ver ("we saw"). Context tells you which one.

Pronunciation: "veer"

Example: Você vem comigo? — Are you coming with me?
Past: Ela veio ontem à noite — She came last night.

fazer — to do / to make

Fazer is the general-purpose verb for "doing" and "making" — cooking, building, tasks, actions of all kinds. It's also used for weather (faz frio — it's cold) and for expressing time elapsed (faz dois anos — two years ago). Irregular in several tenses, it's worth memorizing completely.

Pronunciation: "fah-ZEHR"

Example: O que você faz? — What do you do? (asking about work).
Past: Eu fiz um bolo ontem — I made a cake yesterday.

Watch the future: Unlike most verbs, fazer drops the -ze- from its future and conditional stems: farei (not fazerei), faria (not fazeria). The same shortcut applies to dizer (direi, diria) and trazer (trarei, traria). These three are the only verbs in Portuguese that do this.

dizer — to say / to tell

Dizer means "to say" or "to tell" and appears in countless expressions: quer dizer (it means), como se diz (how do you say), diga-me (tell me). Like fazer, it has shortened future and conditional stems.

Pronunciation: "jee-ZEHR"

Example: Eu digo a verdade — I tell the truth.
Past: Ele disse que vinha — He said he was coming.

poder — can / to be able

Poder expresses ability, permission, and possibility — the Portuguese equivalent of "can," "may," and "to be able to." It's used constantly to ask for things politely (posso... — may I...) and to express possibility (pode ser — it could be).

Pronunciation: "poh-DEHR"

Example: Posso ajudar? — Can I help?
Conditional: Você poderia me dizer onde fica o banheiro? — Could you tell me where the bathroom is?

Spelling matters: pode (he/she can, present) and pôde (he/she could, past) are distinguished by a circumflex. Ele pode vir — He can come. Ele pôde vir — He was able to come. Spoken out loud they sound the same, but in writing the accent is mandatory.

querer — to want

Querer means "to want" and is one of the verbs you'll use most in daily life — ordering food, making requests, expressing desires. Its present and subjunctive forms are irregular, so they take a bit of practice.

Pronunciation: "keh-REHR"

Example: Eu quero um café, por favor — I want a coffee, please.
Politeness tip: To sound more polite, use the imperfect queria instead of quero. Queria um café literally means "I wanted a coffee" but functions like English "I'd like a coffee." This is the standard polite way to order.

saber — to know (facts / how to)

Saber means "to know" in the sense of knowing a fact or knowing how to do something. It's different from conhecer, which means "to know" in the sense of being familiar with a person or place. Eu sei nadar — I know how to swim (saber). Eu conheço o João — I know João (conhecer).

Pronunciation: "sah-BEHR"

Example: Eu sei falar português — I know how to speak Portuguese.
Past: Eu soube da notícia ontem — I found out about the news yesterday.

ver — to see

Ver means "to see" and is also used metaphorically for "to understand" or "to watch." Its past participle visto and its subjunctive forms are slightly irregular.

Pronunciation: "vehr"

Example: Eu vejo você amanhã — I'll see you tomorrow.
Past: Você viu o filme? — Did you see the movie?

pôr — to put

Pôr is the only verb in Portuguese that ends in -or. It descends from an older form and is deeply irregular — but it's used constantly ("put" something somewhere). Its compound verbs (compor, supor, propor, depor) all follow the same pattern, so learning pôr unlocks a whole family of verbs.

Pronunciation: "POHR" (note the circumflex distinguishes it from the preposition por, meaning "by/through")

Example: Eu ponho açúcar no café — I put sugar in my coffee.
Past: Ela pôs o livro na mesa — She put the book on the table.

dar — to give

Dar means "to give" and appears in countless idiomatic expressions: dar certo (to work out), dar aula (to teach a class), dar um jeito (to find a way). It's short but irregular — worth memorizing entirely.

Pronunciation: "dahr"

Example: Eu dou aulas de português — I give Portuguese lessons.
Past: Ele me deu um presente — He gave me a gift.

ficar — to stay / to become

Ficar is a chameleon verb. Its core meaning is "to stay" or "to remain," but it also translates as "to become" when describing a change of state: fiquei triste — I became sad / I got sad. Brazilians also use it idiomatically for location: onde fica o banheiro? — where is the bathroom? (literally: where does the bathroom stay?).

Pronunciation: "fee-KAR"

Example: Eu fico em casa no fim de semana — I stay home on the weekend.
Past: Ela ficou feliz com a notícia — She was happy with the news (became happy).

Spelling quirk: In the pretérito perfeito, the eu form is fiquei (not ficei) and in the subjuntivo/imperativo, the stem changes from fic- to fiqu- before e. This is a regular orthographic adjustment in Portuguese — any verb whose stem ends in -c does the same to preserve the "k" sound.

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Ser vs. Estar: The English "to be" Problem

English has one verb for "to be" — Portuguese has two. This is the single biggest source of confusion for English speakers learning Portuguese, and it's worth understanding clearly before you make a habit of the wrong one.

The rule most textbooks give you is "ser is permanent, estar is temporary." That's a decent first approximation, but it misses some important nuances. Here's how I actually teach it:

Use ser for:

• Identity and profession: Eu sou médica — I am a doctor.
• Nationality and origin: Eu sou brasileira — I am Brazilian.
• Permanent physical traits: Ela é alta — She is tall.
• Personality: Ele é engraçado — He is funny.
• Time and dates: Hoje é terça — Today is Tuesday.
• Material and composition: A mesa é de madeira — The table is made of wood.
• Possession with de: O livro é da Maria — The book is Maria's.

Use estar for:

• Temporary states and feelings: Eu estou cansada — I'm tired (right now).
• Locations: Eu estou em casa — I'm at home.
• Weather: Está chovendo — It's raining.
• Ongoing actions (with gerund): Eu estou estudando — I'm studying.
• Changing conditions: A comida está quente — The food is hot.

The trick that actually works

Ask yourself: "Is this describing what something is, or what something is doing / how it currently feels?" If it's essential identity, use ser. If it's a current condition or location, use estar.

Same person, same adjective, different meaning:

• Ele é chato — He is boring (personality trait).
• Ele está chato — He is being annoying right now (temporary).

• Ela é linda — She is beautiful (always).
• Ela está linda — She looks beautiful (tonight, in that dress).

Brazilians play with this distinction constantly. Mastering it is the difference between sounding like a tourist and sounding like someone who understands how Portuguese actually works.

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Common Conjugation Mistakes I Correct in Lessons

After 1,900+ lessons, I see the same verb mistakes from English speakers over and over. Here are the ones that come up most.

1. Using ser when it should be estar (and vice versa)

Saying Eu sou cansada to mean "I'm tired" is the most common mistake I hear. It's grammatically wrong and slightly funny — it literally means "I am a tired person" as an identity. The correct form is Eu estou cansada. When in doubt about feelings and temporary states, estar is almost always the right choice.

2. Confusing pretérito perfeito with imperfeito

English has one simple past tense; Portuguese has two. Eu comi means "I ate" as a completed event. Eu comia means "I used to eat" or "I was eating" as an ongoing or habitual action. Mixing them up changes the meaning: Quando eu era criança, eu comia muito chocolate (habitual — imperfect) vs Ontem eu comi muito chocolate (one specific event — preterite). When you describe a routine or background, use the imperfect. When you describe a specific completed action, use the preterite.

3. Forgetting the subjunctive after "quero que"

After expressions like quero que (I want that), espero que (I hope that), or é importante que (it's important that), the next verb must be in the subjunctive. English speakers often default to the present indicative and say things like Quero que você fala comigo. The correct form is Quero que você fale comigo — I want you to speak with me. This feels unnatural at first, but it's non-negotiable in correct Portuguese.

4. Dropping the nasal sound on the third-person plural

The third-person plural in many tenses ends in -am or -ão — both of which are nasal. English speakers often pronounce these as pure vowels, saying "falam" like "FAH-lahm" instead of the nasal "FAH-lown." This gets you understood, but it sounds distinctly foreign. Practice the nasal ão — it's covered in my alphabet and pronunciation guide.

5. Mixing up ir and ser in the past

Ir (to go) and ser (to be) share the same pretérito perfeito forms: fui, foi, fomos, foram. Eu fui ao mercado means "I went to the market" (ir). Eu fui professora means "I was a teacher" (ser). Context makes the difference. If there's a preposition like ao/à/para after the verb, it's ir. If it's followed by an adjective or noun describing you, it's ser.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many verb tenses does Brazilian Portuguese have?

Brazilian Portuguese has more than 15 grammatical tenses across indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods, but most everyday speech uses only 6-8 of them: presente, pretérito perfeito, pretérito imperfeito, futuro do presente, futuro do pretérito (conditional), presente do subjuntivo, and imperativo. If you learn these eight well, you can express almost anything — most Brazilians rarely use the more advanced literary tenses in spoken conversation.

What's the difference between pretérito perfeito and pretérito imperfeito?

Pretérito perfeito describes a completed action at a specific moment in the past — eu comi means "I ate (and I'm done)." Pretérito imperfeito describes ongoing, habitual, or background past actions — eu comia means "I used to eat" or "I was eating." English speakers often translate both with "ate," but in Portuguese you must choose based on whether the action was one completed event or a repeated or ongoing state.

Do I really need to learn the Portuguese subjunctive?

Yes — the subjunctive is used constantly in Brazilian Portuguese, much more than in English. You need it for wishes (quero que você fique — I want you to stay), doubts (talvez ele venha — maybe he'll come), and commands (faça isso — do this, which uses the subjunctive form). Beginners can get by ignoring it, but intermediate speakers who skip the subjunctive sound unnatural. Learn the presente do subjuntivo first; it unlocks most everyday use.

Is Brazilian Portuguese verb conjugation different from European Portuguese?

The written forms are mostly the same, but Brazilian Portuguese drops the pronoun tu in most regions and uses você with third-person conjugations instead. Brazilians also prefer the near-future construction vou falar (I'm going to speak) over the simple future falarei (I will speak) in everyday speech. European Portuguese still uses tu regularly and has slightly different pronunciation patterns. This guide teaches standard Brazilian Portuguese.

Which Portuguese verbs should I learn first?

Start with the top 5 irregular verbs: ser, estar, ter, ir, and fazer. These appear in almost every sentence and form the foundation of Portuguese grammar — ter and haver create compound tenses, ir forms the near future, and ser and estar cover all uses of the English verb "to be." After those, add poder, querer, saber, and ver, plus the three regular patterns: falar (-ar), comer (-er), and partir (-ir). Those 12 verbs will carry you through most conversations.

Why doesn't this guide include the pronoun "tu"?

Standard Brazilian Portuguese — the variety spoken in most of Brazil and taught to foreign learners — uses você instead of tu for informal second person. Some regions (parts of the South, Northeast, and Rio de Janeiro) still use tu, but they often conjugate it with você forms colloquially (e.g., tu fala instead of the textbook tu falas). Learning with você from the start gives you a cleaner, regionally-neutral Portuguese that works everywhere in Brazil.

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What to Study Next

Memorizing conjugation tables is only half the work — the other half is using these verbs in real conversations until the forms become automatic. Here's what I recommend after reading this guide:

• Practice with the top 5: ser, estar, ter, ir, fazer. Use them in sentences about your day until you don't have to think. These five alone power most of what you say.
• Build your pronunciation foundation: See my Portuguese alphabet and pronunciation guide for every sound rule — crucial for saying these verbs correctly.
• Start with the right approach: Read the best way to learn Portuguese for a comparison of methods and what actually works.
• Is it worth the effort? If you're wondering how hard Portuguese really is, I wrote an honest assessment in is Portuguese hard to learn?
• Ready for real conversation? Book a lesson with me and we'll work through these verbs together, one conversation at a time.

Portuguese verbs reward practice. Every hour you spend using them — not just memorizing them — brings you closer to speaking without thinking. That's the goal: not to know the tables, but to not need them.