As mentioned, Portuguese verbs are split into three groups:
Now we’ll deal with the 2nd group: -ER verbs!
Regular -ER Verb Endings
Below are some examples of regular -ER verbs in the present tense. Notice the endings (-o, -es, -e, -emos, -em) which are added after each verb’s stem (beb–, vend–, and viv–).
Indicativo
Ela bebe vinho num copoShe drinks wine in a glass
- eu beboI drinkindicativo > presente tu bebesYou sing.,inf. drinkindicativo > presente ele / ela bebeHe / She drinksindicativo > presente você bebeyou formal drinkindicativo > presente nós bebemosWe drinkindicativo > presente eles / elas bebemthey drinkindicativo > presente vocês bebemyou pl. drinkindicativo > presente
Indicativo
Nós vendemos carrosWe sell cars.
- eu vendoI sellindicativo > presente tu vendesYou sing.,inf. sellindicativo > presente ele / ela vendeHe / She sellsindicativo > presente você vendeyou formal sellindicativo > presente nós vendemoswe sellindicativo > presente eles / elas vendemthey sellindicativo > presente vocês vendemyou pl. sellindicativo > presente
Indicativo
Há muito tempo que nós vivemos aquiWe've lived here for a long time
- eu vivoI liveindicativo > presente tu vivesYou sing.,inf. liveindicativo > presente ele / ela viveHe / She livesindicativo > presente você viveyou formal liveindicativo > presente nós vivemosWe liveindicativo > presente eles / elas vivemthey liveindicativo > presente vocês vivemyou pl. liveindicativo > presente
Here are a few more of the verbs you’ll work with in the following lessons. These will all be conjugated with the same endings:
- correrto run comerto eat escreverto write
- entenderto understand aprenderto learn responderto respond, answer
- conhecerto know (be acquainted with) , meet aparecerto appear, show up parecerto seem
- oferecerto offer, give receberto receive, get, welcome escolherto choose
- esquecerto forget encherto fill
In these lessons it would be nice to hear what the regular verb sounds like before adding the endings. For example Vender. I would like to hear how the “der” sounds when pronouncing vender.
Thanks Viv, I have added the infinitive verb audio above each verb block 🙂
Perfect! I think there are more of these sections in the verb section (haven’t looked at all of those yet). If there are more of these will you work towards added the infinitive verb audio to each verb block? I am having a hard time with Rs–sometimes my tongue works, but most of the time it doesn’t. I am looking for “R” words to practice on. Every audio helps. I believe the reason why I like your site so much (I also belong to another site) is that you have taken the time to explain stuff like the verbs. I am still not certain about the formal and informal use–but I feel much closer to understanding the others. Your program is helping me to understand what and why instead of just the how.
Thanks for your kind words! And absolutely, I’ll make a note now for us to add the audio for the infinitives of the verb to all the verbs on the site. (We have plans for revamping the verbs, so I’ll make sure this oversight is corrected in the process!) Abraço
You’v done a nice job,really helpful
I love the way you give the pronunciation of absolutely everything. Portuguese pronunciation is difficult! The gap between the written word and the way it is pronounced is huge – almost as bad as English. Coming to Portuguese as a fluent speaker of Italian, I am having a lot of difficulty with the accent.
The site is wonderful and after a brief hiatus I have decided to return to continue my listening skills. One thought about some of the verbs is that it would be nice to have some context for them..for example…I hear people say both “Vivo em Gaia” e “Moro em Gaia”…is one more correct over the other ? Obrigada !
Thank you so much, Susan! To answer your question, in that context, they are both correct and fully interchangeable. Otherwise, the verb “viver” has a broader range of meaning than the verb “morar”. As the word suggests, “morar” is about your “morada” – address. It’s all about where you physically live. The verb “viver” can also be about how you live (“Eu vivo a vida intensamente” – “I live life intensely”), what you live for (“Eu vivo para os meus filhos” – “I live for my children”), how long you live (“Ele viveu cem anos” – “He lived 100 years”) and so on 🙂
Joseph, excellent. Makes sense to me now.
Susan
Hello
I have just started this course and like student aideeom above, I speak fluent Italian. This both helps and hinders with the pronounciation. My real problem is with the final ‘m’..e.g. homem, falam, etc. It does not sound like an ‘m’. Any trick to be able to get this sound?
I think of that final “m” sound as a nasalized sound that is similar to the “ng” sound in English (like at the end of the word “thing”), but more subtle. You don’t produce the “g” part, but you lightly touch the back of your tongue against the back of your mouth in the same way you do when you are about to make that “ng” sound. This is more of an unofficial answer, as I’m sure the exact pronunciation is a bit different for a native speaker, but I hope it helps get you a little closer!
I’ve seen this tip elsewhere on this sight and this has got to be the best explanation of how to make that final “m” sound!!
Super helpful! I was struggling with this sound as well, and this explanation is what I’m going with. 🙂
Thanks Molly. It’s obviously an acquired sound. Hopefully my forthcoming two weeks in Portugal I can practise…and make perfect!!
I’m finding the help with pronunciation absolutely invaluable.
Wow. That really helps. I seriously just wrote an email to the guys the lesson before this, asking for a phonetic sound for the words ending in “m”. I told them I don’t want to dread using all words ending in “m”. Ha Ha. Anxious to try your very helpful explanation.
Hi Deborah! I work for the guys and JUST finished responding to your email before I saw this comment… So you’re going to have a very similar explanation in your inbox, haha! Glad it was helpful for you!
So far, for me, the turtle has been the greatest help. One of the hardest thing about learning foreign phrases or sentences is the speed and knowing where the separate words are. The turtle totally makes it possible to hear that. Thank you. What a novel idea.
For vender why is the [e] in the conjugated forms pronounces as a diphthong? Is there a positional rule for this?
I suppose you refer to “vendem”? In standard Portuguese pronunciation, all “-em” and “-ens” endings are generally pronounced like diphthongs, which we can maybe compare to the sound of the English word “aim”. In fact, they are classified as nasal diphthongs in Portuguese 🙂
I am finding this so helpful. I especially like the practice sections with each unit. Is there an easy way to get from the practice test back to the unit? Right now I am being taken back into the verbs and have to use the navigation keys at the top to go from Learn -> back into my unit. Just checking to see if there is an easier way. Maybe add a back to unit option?
So glad this has been helpful for you! This unit has 9 lessons (the practice tests), so that’s why it keeps moving you forward through each lesson of verbs practice. If you want to go back to the view of the whole unit, look near the top left corner of the page, and you should see a circle with a left arrow in it. If you click on that, it will take you back to the main units page and then it will automatically scroll down to the unit you were on. Let me know if you get stuck!
Olá, Rui and Joel:
I is somehow comforting to see that people from so many different linguistic backgrounds struggle with the m at the end of the word/verb. Could you add the turtle to the verbs too?
I’m so impressed with your site. You are making it fun to learn and to practice! Delighted to see a fellow Canadian contributing to language learning like this!
Thank you so much! This is fun, if difficult.
Just joined today. I needed a way to practice between classes and this is really excellent.
Well, welcome Brendan and thank you very much! We’ll be around if you ever need any help or have any questions 🙂
If there was ever a language designed to give English speakers fits, it’s Portuguese! I’m getting better but it’s almost as if every phrase is a tongue twister like the famous “She sells seashells by the seashore.” And that’s easy compared to something like “Nós somos homens”! I know practice makes perfect but I’m going to need a *lot* of practice!
Been using the site for a few days and really enjoying it so far – thanks guys and gals! I’m also finding the user comments underneath the units a very useful resource too as there are some valuable issues raised and answered. So, thanks all and continue the good work!
Welcome! So glad you’re enjoying the site so far and thanks for the good feedback! 🙂
thanks for the good feedback!
Ola! Your speaker appears to me to be pronouncing viver, and the other two syllable infinitives, with emphasis on the second syllable – viv ER. But the speaker conjugating the verb seems to be emphasising the first syllable – VIV es. i would expect these two words,, viver and vives, to have the same stress. By the way, isn´t it strange (and annoying!) that this verb is .ER in Portuguese and -IR in Spanish? Grrr!
That’s right, the emphasis differs for these words. The default is for the stress to be on the 2nd to last syllable (like VI-ves), but there are a number of exceptions, one of them being words that end in “r” (like vi-VER). Check out the section titled “stress” in this learning note for more info: https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/pronunciation-guide-for-european-portuguese-vowels/
Thanks, Molly! I understand.
Could you please give all ER verb’s..thanks
There are too many to list here, but to explore some of the common ones, you can visit the Verbs section: -ER VERBS
Why do the ending of bebem and falam sound differently? Bebem sounds more like “bebei” and falam more like “falaw/falau”. I cannot understand but there is a clear difference. I expect of them both to be “falai, bebei” or “falau, bebeu”. But not both.
“bebem” and “falam” are supposed to end with different sounds! -em and -am sound purposely different. The -em sound is similar to “eim” and -am is similar to “aum”. So that clear difference you mention it’s how it’s supposed to be! -em and -am are different sounds.
I noticed that the pronunciation of verbs ending in “er” is different depending on who says them. The recordings of the woman for this page seem to have an added “e” on most of the verbs, yet Joel (I think it’s him, at least) does not do this. Is it just that some verbs DO in fact have an “e” added at the end when pronouncing them?
These recordings by this native speaker demonstrate a common pronunciation variation with words ending in -R (not just -er verbs) which is articulating the R to the point where it sounds like there is a ghost ‘E’ at the end (like ‘jantare’, ‘bebere’ or ‘estare’). There is a regional variation to this (where rural inner Portugal is where this variation is probably most heard), although not a clearly defined one.
All video examples are meant to demonstrate ‘real-world’ Portuguese in all its colours, which makes them inherently challenging. Whenever you’re in doubt, you can rely on the audio examples (especially the slow one) to confirm what is being said. Also, feel free to keep checking with us whenever something sounds particularly off.
I know the use of some accents in written Portuguese – on the A, the E, the O and the U , the forward accent shows emphasis, (as in ate, ja, nos, musica etc. A straight line above an A seems to iondicate a nasal sound – but what difference does the circonflex above the letter E mean? Sorry I cant type accents in this question! I;m enjoying this site!
Please allow me to correct one thing: there’s no straight lines above any letters in Portuguese! You mean the wavy til (tilde): ~ !
As for the circumflex accent above the letter E, this gives it a medium sound. This may be a bit tricky, since in many other words the E has the same sound without having that accent above it. For more on this, please check this LN on the pronunciation of European Portuguese vowels: https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/pronunciation-guide-for-european-portuguese-vowels/
🙂
Hello, I have noticed when practicing that some of the words have different pronunciation by Rui from the natives who pronounce them It is in particular the word ” os papéis ” in this unit. For example, when Rui prounces it sounds like papeish pronouncing the ”e” sound but when the native speaker pronounces it sounds more like papaish prononucing the ”a” sound. Which one is correct? Is it because of the fact that the ”e” sound has an accent? I am familiar with the way ”ei” sound is pronounced in words like ”brasileiro” or ”leite” but what about when the word has ”éi” sound? Is it pronounced like in the case of brasileiro or leite?
Olá! Well spotted. The standard/theoretical pronunciation of words ending in -éis (papéis, anéis, fiéis…) is always with an open E in European Portuguese, just as Rui (also a native speaker himself) pronounces them and just as the accent over those vowels indicates. However, in practice, there has been a gradual softening of those ending E vowels in many people’s pronunciation, so they tend to sound like medium Es. This pronunciation shift is natural and documented, so I can’t say that it’s less correct than the default option.
In any case, for you as a student, I would suggest focusing on the default pronunciation first. This is mainly for you to memorize the usual sound of an accented E (é) and reinforce that mental connection, since you’ll find that sound in many other words where the pronunciation is not variable.
Thank you very much for the swift reply! So you suggest to pronounce it like Rui does if I got it right 🙂 I of course know he is a native speaker, was just curious 😉
To sum it up, the pronunciation of éis with an accent is different from the eis without accent when at the end of any word? For example the ”eis” in the word anéis is pronounced differently than ”eis” in word faceis if I am right?
Thank you very much in advance
Yes, that’s it – the accented vowel has a more open pronunciation than the vowel without accent, at least in theory 🙂
I imagine there are some pronunciation rules but I haven’t come across them as yet. A friend told me that s is usually pronounced sh and just that little bit of information has made a huge difference. Are there more rules you could share at this time?
Yes definitely! Check the Learning Notes under the Pronunciation section here: Site Index – Pronunciation. These should be very helpful for you.
“Eles vivem no Japão” in this sentence, why is no in front of Japão?
In Portuguese, “no” is a contraction of the preposition “em” (in) and the definite article “o” (the). So, “Eles vivem no Japão” translates to “They live in Japan,” with “no” standing for “in the” before “Japão”. 🙂
This app is the best thing since sliced pão! I have tried others that advertised Portuguese but it was always Brazilian. Not to mention how lessons are set up, reviews and all the other features that make Practice Portuguese so much fun! Being French, I am used to gender and different verb endings. But pronunciation is a whole other ball game. Bravo! Obrigada!
What a wonderful comparison! We’re so glad. Obrigado, Johanne! 😀
nice