Saying what you're going to do in Brazilian Portuguese

Level A1

Saying what you're going to do in Brazilian Portuguese

By the end of this lesson you can say what you're going to do today or tomorrow: Vou trabalhar amanhã (“I'm going to work tomorrow”). You already have the piece you need: vou and vai, the forms of ir (“to go”). Follow them with a verb instead of a place, and you have a plan. English does the same with “going to”, but Portuguese has no “to” before the verb.

What you already know

Two things come back in this lesson. Trabalho aqui means “I work here” and Moro aqui means “I live here”; with você (“you”), ele (“he”), ela (“she”) and a gente (“we”) the forms are trabalha and mora. Vou para casa means “I'm going home”, and with those same people vou becomes vai. Você vai ao mercado? asks “Are you going to the market?”: the words stay in the same order as a statement, and your voice rises at the end. Ao joins a (“to”) and o (“the”).

Four words for your plans

Trabalhar (“to work”) and morar (“to live”) are the base forms of trabalho and moro, called the infinitive. This is the form a dictionary lists. Hoje (“today”) and amanhã (“tomorrow”) say when. The h in hoje is silent, and the ã in amanhã is nasal, so listen for it.

Vou trabalhar: the pattern for plans

Take vou or vai and add the infinitive: Vou trabalhar amanhã. Only the first verb changes with the person: vou goes with eu (“I”), vai with você, ele, ela and a gente. A gente means “we” but takes vai, the same form as ela: A gente vai morar aqui. The second verb stays trabalhar or morar for everyone. You can usually drop eu, because vou already means “I”. Vai is shared by several people, so say who you mean when it isn't clear. Hoje and amanhã can go at the start or the end of the sentence.

vou / vai trabalhar / morar aqui / hoje / amanhã.

A place or an action?

What comes after vou gives the sentence its meaning. With a place, you say where you're going: Amanhã vou ao mercado. With a verb, you say what you're going to do: Amanhã vou trabalhar. English uses “to” for both; Portuguese puts ao or para before a place and no preposition before a verb. Compare Vou para casa (“I'm going home”) with Hoje vou trabalhar em casa (“Today I'm going to work at home”). Para points toward home, while em says where the work happens.

Moving day

A neighbor meets someone new in the building. Vou, sim is a very common way to say yes: repeat the verb and add sim (“yes”). Não means “no”. Listen once, then cover B's lines and say them yourself.

Your turn

Try these before you look at the sentences below. Say that today you're going to work at home, starting with Hoje vou… Say that tomorrow you're going to the market. Ask a friend if they're going to work tomorrow. Say that she's going to live here. Then listen and compare.

One to recognize: trabalharei

In formal writing you may come across Trabalharei amanhã. It's close in meaning to Vou trabalhar amanhã, but the future is in the verb's ending. In everyday Brazilian speech, people say vou trabalhar. For now you only need to recognize this form, not make it.

What to remember

For a plan, use vou or vai plus trabalhar or morar: Vou trabalhar amanhã. For a destination, use vou or vai plus ao mercado or para casa: Amanhã vou ao mercado. Vou goes with eu; vai goes with você, ele, ela and a gente. Hoje means “today” and amanhã means “tomorrow”.

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