As if learning 50 conjugations of each verb wasn’t enough, we also have to watch out for the dreaded irregular verbs! 🙈 In previous lessons, you learned the verb serto be - permanent , one of the most common irregular verbs in Portuguese.
But why is it called “irregular”?
Well, verbs are irregular when they don’t follow the same conjugation patterns as regular verbs. If it were regular, it would be ❌ Eu so, Tu ses, Ele se, Nós semos, Vocês sem, etc., but instead it’s:
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Vocês são os pais da meninaYou are the girl's parents
English also has irregular verbs, including “to be”. You can say I walk, you walk, she walks, but in Standard English (used here for reference), you wouldn’t say I be, You be, She bes. The conjugations for irregular verbs must be memorized.
To make sure you’re ready to face more verbs in the coming lessons, let’s get a bit more familiar with irregular verbs in Portuguese.
Hang on to your hats! 🎩👒
Irregular Verbs in Portuguese
As a reminder, when you conjugate a regular verb, you take the root (which doesn’t change) and you add an ending, which varies according to the subject, number, and tense. The rules for these endings are consistent for each set of regular verbs (i.e. depending on whether the infinitive form of the verb ends in -ar, -er, or -ir).
With irregular verbs, it’s more complicated. Some irregular verbs present changes in the root, others in the ending, and others in both.
Examples of changes in the root:
- medirto measure – Eu meçoI measureindicativo > presente (instead of “Eu medo”)
- trazerto bring – Eu tragoI bringindicativo > presente (instead of “Eu trazo”)
Examples of changes in the ending:
- fazerto do – Ele fazHe does (instead of “Ele faze“)
- estarto be – Eu estouI am (instead of “Eu esto“)
Examples of changes in both:
- fazerto do, to make – eu façoI doindicativo > presente (instead of “Eu fazo”)
- saberto know – Eu seiI knowindicativo > presente (instead of “Eu sabo”)
How can you tell whether a verb is regular or irregular?
Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to know if a verb is regular or not just by looking at the infinitive form. You just have to memorize them over time. Que confusão!What a mess!
One quick tip is that most irregular verbs end in -ir or -er. There are only a handful of -ar verbs that are irregular
But don’t worry, in the Verbs section, members can filter by the irregular tag to quickly find and practice the irregular conjugations.
Here are some of the most common verbs that include irregular conjugations:
serto be - permanent | irto go | virto come terto have estarto be | darto give | saberto know | fazerto do | quererto want | poderto be able to | dizerto tell
Being classified as irregular doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire conjugation is irregular. Some verbs are only slightly different. It could be irregular in one tense (i.e. present tense) but regular in another, or sometimes only part of a tense is affected. For example, here are 2 verbs that have regular present tense endings for everything except the eu form:
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Ele fala e ela ouveHe speaks and she listens
- eu ouçoI hearindicativo > presente tu ouvesyou sing.,inf. listenindicativo > presente ele / ela ouvehe / she hearsindicativo > presente você ouveyou hearindicativo > presente nós ouvimoswe hearindicativo > presente eles / elas ouvemthey hearindicativo > presente vocês ouvemyou hearindicativo > presente
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Eu não peço muitoI don't ask for much.
- eu peçoI ask forindicativo > presente tu pedesyou sing.,inf. ask forindicativo > presente ele / ela pedehe / she asks forindicativo > presente você pedeyou ask forindicativo > presente nós pedimoswe ask forindicativo > presente eles / elas pedemthey ask forindicativo > presente vocês pedemyou ask forindicativo > presente
A Comparison
Here’s a regular -AR verb, falar:
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Vocês falam português?Do youpl. speak Portuguese?
- eu faloI speakindicativo > presente tu falasyou sing.,inf. speakindicativo > presente ele / ela falahe / she speaksindicativo > presente você falayou speakindicativo > presente nós falamoswe speakindicativo > presente eles / elas falamthey speakindicativo > presente vocês falamyou speakindicativo > presente
And here’s an example of one of the most common irregular -AR verbs in Portuguese, estar:
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Vocês estão a comerYou pl. are eating
To compare the present tense endings:
- regular -AR verbs: -o, -as, -a, -amos, -am
- estar: –ou, –ás, –á, –amos, –ão
Extra Tips
As you start memorizing more and more irregular verbs in Portuguese, you may start to notice some similarities. For example, although the verb darto give is also irregular, it happens to be conjugated with the same endings as estarto be - temporary (above).
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Ela dá um livro ao alunoShe gives a book to the student
There are also some patterns within certain tenses of verbs that end in the same way, such as -iar and -ear, –uir, and -zir.
In other words, it’s not all completely random, so you will come across regularity within the irregularity. But it’s quite inconsistent, so trying to memorize these additional patterns and exceptions in advance is typically much more overwhelming than helpful.
As you continue to learn more verbs and verb tenses, you’ll also find out that some verbs have spelling variations, even though they are considered “regular”. For example, chegar is a regular verb, but it becomes eu cheguei in the simple past tense, instead of eu chegei. In other words, it’s phonetically regular (no change in how it sounds), so the u just helps it match the spelling for that particular sound in Portuguese..
Other Common Irregular Portuguese Verbs
Here are a few more present tense conjugations for some common irregular Portuguese verbs:
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Eu posso fazer tudoI can do everything
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Eu quero pão no meu pratoI want bread on my plate
- eu queroI wantindicativo > presente tu queresyou sing.,inf. wantindicativo > presente ele / ela querhe / she wantsindicativo > presente você queryou wantindicativo > presente nós queremoswe wantindicativo > presente eles / elas queremthey wantindicativo > presente vocês queremyou wantindicativo > presente
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Eles dizem o que pensamThey say what they think
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Ela tem cabelo compridoShe has long hair
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Eles fazem o que queremThey do what they want
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Vocês vão pintar a vossa casa?Are you pl. going to paint your house?
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Ele vê o que se passaHe sees what's going on
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Amanhã eu venho mais cedoTomorrow I will come earlier
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Ele odeia chuvaHe hates rain
- eu odeioI hateindicativo > presente tu odeiasyou sing.,inf. hateindicativo > presente ele / ela odeiahe / she hatesindicativo > presente você odeiayou hateindicativo > presente nós odiamoswe hateindicativo > presente eles / elas odeiamthey hateindicativo > presente vocês odeiamyou hateindicativo > presente
Help! 😧
Remember, this takes time. Along the way, you can reference our Verbs section for help with conjugating both regular and irregular verbs in different tenses! Phew! 😌
Comments
Should ter not be included here?
Hey, Shirley. Oh, it certainly could – “ter” is also a highly irregular verb. This is not an extensive list, though, just a few examples. I’ll add it anyway, since it’s a verb that we use all the time and good to know.
In the third person plural of “ver” and “ler” you need two “e”s because you need eyes to see and read and “eyes” has two “e”s; whereas, you don’t need eyes to have (ter) something (one “e” with a circumflex)
That’s precisely what Portuguese teachers often say to help students memorize the different conjugations 🙂 Definitely don’t take it literally, but keep it in mind as a convenient mnemomic.
God, its much harder than i thought!
I suppose there is no easy way to learn verbs, it just depends upon how good your memory is as to how quickly you can memorise them!
For the irregular ones, it does come down to some memorization. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it!) many of the most common verbs are irregular, which means you’ll also often hear certain conjugations in context. That can make it easier to pick some of it up within common phrases without explicitly having to memorize.
I like to learn
Are there any tips on hearing the difference between they see and they come?
Good question – this is a tough one. We actually talk about this in one of our podcasts: As Senhoras Que Bebem Cerveja . Skip to about the 5:50 mark and listen to Rui’s pronunciations. It’s hard to hear, but basically with veem, the first e is more like “eh”, whereas with vêm it’s more like a nasalized “ay”.
The difference between the conjugation for ver and those for vir has always been difficult for me. But I like the “you need two eyes to read, so therefore you need two e’s in the plural conjugations for ver” tip.
A very useful mnemonic!
In the pronunciation of the various forms of the verb « odiar” i can hear “th” instead of « d ». Am I hearing right ?
Sometimes you will hear d pronounced this way in Portuguese, with the tongue just a little more forward (sort of in between a d and a th). But you will also hear it pronounced the same as an English d. Just depends on the speaker.
Thank you ! Appreciate your assistance.
I definitely noticed this in one the shorties. The speaker said something that I heard as “de natha”. I figured what he meant was “de nada” and wondered if it was just poor audio or a regional accent.
This is probably an Iberian speech inflection. In spain it is even stronger as in therabetha for cerveza (beer) and doth for dos (two) Anthaluthia forAndalucía (Andalusia). It’ not just Portuguese that is difficult to understand!😠
Hi!
I am hearing a “th” sound in the conjugated form of “odiar” that I do not hear in the infinitive? Am I mishearing??
Olá, Misha. Yes, the female speaker pronounces it more like a “D/TH” hybrid. This is actually an accepted variation in the pronunciation of the letter D, apart from the standard hard D. Linguists have acknowledged both variations of the D in European Portuguese (harder D and the “Th” hybrid, more plosive vs. more fricative), but the “Th” hybrid is considered more prevalent in central and southern Portugal than up north, which makes some see it as just a regional variation.
For those who pronounce it like this, this variation is more common between vowels, but you might also hear it in other spots, such as at the start of words. In any case, you can always just pronounce a hard D anytime and you will never be wrong or sound odd.
Hi,
I was hoping for some clarification using ‘vir’. Apologies for the missing accents as well.
“You are coming with me”, in the lesson #9 is translated as “tu vens comigo?”
Is “tu estas a vir comigo?” also correct? If not, can you explain why?
Thanks!
It depends. In a context where “Are you coming with me?” means “Will you come with me?” (i.e. referring to the future/near future), only “Tu vens comigo?” is acceptable. If “Are you coming with me?” is describing a currently ongoing action (i.e. the person is following you around at this very moment), then “Tu estás a vir comigo?” would be a grammatically correct alternative.
This is because “estás a vir” is a structure that corresponds to the English Present Continuous, so it’s only applicable to actions that are already happening right now. On the other hand, the simple present “vens” can also be used in a future sense, as all other verbs in general. More on that here: Talking About the Future in Portuguese
Boa noite,
I’ve been told that the spelling for the 3rd person plural of ver and ler should have an accent on the first e , so vocês vêem / vocês lêem.
Is it also correct to write them without an accent?
Olá! The spellings with the accent have been dropped after the implementation of our latest spelling reform (Acordo Ortográfico). Now, these previously accented forms ending in -eem should be written without an accent, but keeping the double vowel: leem, veem, deem…
Hi everyone
It would be really helpful if on the examples the voiceover could say the conjugations as in ‘I leave’ – EU saio, TU sais etc to help me remember them!
Other than that, it’s great (mas muito dificil!!!)
Obrigada
Anne
I second that!
It will be great to download this lists in mp3 to listen a thousand times to memorize !
I’m hearing vejo as vi show is that right? Also can you help understand when I need an article in front of possession words like…Ela encontra as suas chaves
“Vi + show” would not be it! “Vejo” sounds like “beijo” (kiss), but with a V: “vei+ju”. It actually varies with the accent. In some regions it’s said “vejo” without the i sound that you find in beijo. Anyway, the most common pronunciation is that one similar to beijo. Listen to it in repeat until you master it!
As for the other question, I guess it’s safe to say that in European Portuguese you’d always put the article before the possession words. As in any rule, you may come across an exception! However, I can’t seem to find one.
Do you have worksheet practice with this? Fill in the blanks?
We don’t have worksheets, but we have online Lessons with lots of activities. If you’re a member, you can continue to the Lessons, which include multiple choice, fill in the blanks, type what you hear, speaking practice, etc. To give you an idea of what topics we cover: Units
In the “OUVIR” example box, the example for ele / ela ouve is described as “he / she he / shears” Was something cut off here?
Olá! Thank you for noticing that typo – we’ve already fixed that 🙂
I’d like to know why this phrase “Tu dás a laranja à criança” doesn’t include a definite article – I think. I typed my response as “Tu dás a laranja ao criança” but the ao was corrected to à. Insight welcomed, thanks!
Happy to help!
The phrase “Tu dás a laranja à criança” is correct as it stands because “à” is a contraction of the preposition “a” and the definite article “a”. In Portuguese, the definite article is used before the noun “criança” (which is feminine and singular) to denote a specific child, not just any child. Therefore, “à criança” translates to “to the child” in English.
The reason why “ao” is incorrect in this context is that “ao” is a contraction of “a” + “o”, which is used before masculine singular nouns. Since “criança” is a feminine noun (despite being a boy or a girl), “à” is the appropriate contraction.
🙂
Wonderful, I didn’t realise à was the contraction. Thank you.
Add Saber here, please. With its forms. It very useful finally have full material with irregular verbs.
Thanks for your comment! The verb ‘saber’, along with many others, can be found on our Verbs section 🙂
Should “preferir” not be included in here?
Hi Alex! This Learning Note includes just a few examples of irregular verbs, but it’s not a complete list. “Preferir” does indeed have some irregular conjugations.
Hi there, how do we learn the verbs from this lesson best? This is overwelming for me 🙉
Don’t worry! You don’t need to memorize all of them right away. Common irregular verbs will come up many times as you continue to work through the Units, and throughout the Shorties, so some of the process will be learning as you go.
However, I think it can sometimes help to start memorizing a few of them slowly, just to give yourself a stronger base to work from (less mental energy needed if some things are automatic).
Here’s what I would suggest: 1) Use the Verbs section to quiz yourself on irregular verbs (start with “presente” tense in the “indicativo” mood for now). These are basically drills that let you focus only on conjugating the verb. Maybe you could start with ser, ir, ter, querer, and poder for now, as those are pretty useful. 2) You can also repeat the Lessons in this Unit as many times as you’d like. 3) Keep listening to Shorties regularly, even if you don’t understand much yet. Follow along with the transcript and keep an eye/ear out for irregular verbs.