Doing and changing verbs in Brazilian Portuguese

Level A1

Doing and changing verbs in Brazilian Portuguese

Portuguese verbs change their endings for different subjects, while English regular verbs in the simple present change only in the third-person singular. Portuguese questions do not use an auxiliary equivalent to English “do.” For “try” followed by another action, use tentar directly with an infinitive, as in “Tento falar francês.” In this lesson, você is an everyday form of address and a senhora respectfully addresses a woman; both take the same verb forms as ele and ela.

Verbs for actions and change

Starting activities, finishing tasks, helping, and learning

Use começar for beginning an activity and terminar for bringing a task or activity to an end. In “Começamos às nove,” the subject is understood from the verb; Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when the context is clear. Questions use question words or intonation without an equivalent of English “do”: “Que horas você começa as aulas?” Você takes the same third-person singular verb form as ele and ela. A senhora is a respectful way to address a woman and takes that same form. Use ajudar with the person being helped, as in “Quem a senhora ajuda no trabalho?”; aprender names what is learned, as in “Ela aprende palavras novas em casa.”

pessoa começa atividade.

Trying to do something

For trying to do another action, use tentar followed directly by the infinitive, with no preposition between them. “Tento falar francês” means “I try to speak French,” and “Ele tenta ajudar a irmã” shows the same pattern with a different subject. The verb ending changes with the subject: here tento is for eu, while tenta is for ele.

pessoa tenta ação no infinitivo.

Deciding what to do

Use decidir followed by a question word and an infinitive to say what someone decides to do: “Nós decidimos o que comer.” The question word stays inside the sentence; it does not make the whole sentence a direct question. Aonde can express a destination, as in “Você decide aonde ir.” In that example, você is an everyday form of address and the verb takes the same form as ele or ela.

pessoa decide palavra interrogativa ação no infinitivo.

Talking about what happens

Use acontecer for an event that takes place. It agrees with the event or thing being discussed: “O que acontece depois?” asks what happens next, and “Isso acontece todo dia” describes something that happens regularly. Portuguese forms the question with a question word and does not need an equivalent of English “does.”

acontecimento acontece tempo ou frequência.

Talking about becoming something

Use virar for changing into a new state or identity. The new state or identity follows the verb: “A água vira gelo” and “As crianças viram adultas.” The verb agrees with its subject, so the plural subject crianças goes with viram.

algo ou alguém vira novo estado ou identidade.

Talking about growing and developing

Use crescer for living things that get bigger or develop: “O bebê cresce um pouco todo dia.” The verb changes with the subject; with a plural subject, use the plural form, as in “Estas plantas crescem rápido.” English also changes grow to grows for he, she, or it, but Portuguese has different subject forms throughout the verb pattern.

ser vivo cresce ritmo ou frequência.

Present forms of crescer and acontecer

Subjectcresceracontecer
cresceracontecer
eucresçoaconteço
vocêcresceacontece
elecresceacontece
elacresceacontece
nóscrescemosacontecemos
vocêscrescemacontecem
elescrescemacontecem

Talking about work and helping

The dialogue uses a senhora to respectfully address a woman and você to address someone informally. Both forms take third-person singular verbs: “A senhora termina às cinco?” and “Você ajuda seu irmão com a lição de casa?” In everyday Brazilian speech, “Eu ajudo ele depois da escola” commonly uses ele as the object pronoun. In formal writing, an object pronoun such as o is generally used instead: “Eu o ajudo depois da escola.”

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