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Learning Portuguese verbs is crucial to learning the language as a whole. Whilst there are thousands of verbs, and many more thousands of conjugations, if you focus on a few key verbs it will get you a long way in making yourself understood—especially if you practice them with a tutor. After the “to be” verbs, ser and estar, the five most important Portuguese verbs are probably ir, ter, fazer, poder, and querer. In this post, we’ll take a look at how to conjugate those verbs for the various personal pronouns in the present, past and future tense.
A Note on Second-Person Pronouns
The most common Portuguese second-person personal pronoun is você, or vocês in the plural. It is particularly common in Brazilian Portuguese; in Portugal it is considered somewhat incorrect and is often “swallowed.” When conjugating a Portuguese verb for você or vocês, the third person singular and plural forms are used respectively. Because it is grammatically irregular, it usually does not appear on Portuguese verb tables.
Ir
EN: To go
Present
Eu vou: I go / I’m going
Tu vais: You go / You’re going
Ele/ela vai: He/she/it goes / He’s/she’s/it’s going
Nós vamos: We go / we’re going
Vós ides: You go / you’re going (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas vão: They go / they’re going
Just like in English, these can be used as an irregular way of expressing the future tense, for example, eu vou fazer café (I’m going to make coffee). In this case, the infinitive form of the future tense verb is always used. Note that “I’m going,” “he’s going,” and so on can also translate as eu estou indo, el está indo, and so on. This usage is only to indicate that a person or object is currently traveling and can not be used to express the future tense.
Vamos can also mean “let’s go” or “shall we go?”
Past perfect
Eu fui: I went
Tu foste: You went
Ele/ela foi: He/she/it went
Nós fomos: We went
Vós fostes: You went (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas foram: They went
These conjugations of ir are exactly the same as the past perfect conjugations of ser, so eu fui, as well as meaning “I went,” can also mean “I was.”
Future indicative
Eu irei: I will go
Tu irás: You will go
Ele/ela irá: He/she/it will go
Nós iremos: We will go
Vós ireis: You will go (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas irão: They will go
Ter
EN: To have
Present
Eu tenho: I have
Tu tens: You have
Ele/ela tem: He/she/it has
Nós temos: We have
Vós tendes: You have (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas têm: They have
Past perfect
Eu tive: I had
Tu tiveste: You had
Ele/ela teve: He/she/it had
Nós tivemos: We had
Vós tivestes: You had (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas tiveram: They had
Future indicative
Eu terei: I will have
Tu terás: You will have
Ele/ela terá: He/she/it will have
Nós teremos: We will have
Vós tereis: You will have (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas terão: They will have
Fazer
EN: To do; to make
Present
Eu faço: I do/make
Tu fazes: You do/make
Ele/ela faz: He/she/it does/makes
Nós fazemos: We do/make
Vós fazeis: You do/make (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas fazem: They do/make
Past perfect
Eu fiz: I did/made
Tu fizeste: You did/made
Ele/ela fez: He/she/it did/made
Nós fizemos: We did/made
Vós fizestes: You did/made (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas fizeram: They did/made
Future indicative
Eu farei: I will do/make
Tu farás: You will do/make
Ele/ela fará: He/she/it will do/make
Nós faremos: We will do/make
Vós fareis: You will do/make (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas farão: They will do/make
Poder
EN: To be able to / can (modal verb)
Present
Eu posso: I can
Tu podes: You can
Ele/ela pode: He/she/it can
Nós podemos: We can
Vós podeis: You can (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas podem: They can
When a question mark is placed at the end of a poder sentence, it becomes a request for permission or a favour. For example, eu posso sentar? means “May I sit down?” and você pode fazer café? means “Can you make coffee?”
Past perfect
Eu pude: I could
Tu pudeste: You could
Ele/ela pôde: He/she/it could
Nós pudemos: We could
Vós pudestes: You could (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas puderam: They could
Future indicative
Eu poderei: I will be able to
Tu poderás: You will be able to
Ele/ela poderá: He/she/it will be able to
Nós poderemos: We will be able to
Vós podereis: You will be able to (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas poderão: They will be able to
Querer
EN: To want
Present
Eu quero: I want
Tu queres: You want
Ele/ela quer: He/she/it wants
Nós queremos: We want
Vós quereis: You want (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas querem: They want
Past perfect
Eu quis: I wanted
Tu quiseste: You wanted
Ele/ela quis: He/she/it wanted
Nós quisemos: We wanted
Vós quisestes: You wanted (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas quiseram: They wanted
Future indicative
Eu quererei: I will want
Tu quererás: You will want
Ele/ela quererá: He/she/it will want
Nós quereremos: We will want
Vós querereis: You will want (plural/formal; antiquated)
Eles/elas quererão: They will want
Putting it into PracticeNow that you’ve seen the various conjugations of our five Portuguese verbs, we’ll look at how to use them within sentences.
I'm going to the bank.
Eu vou ao banco. Or
Eu estou indo ao banco.
He's going to succeed.
Ele vai ter sucesso.
You go to the bank; I'll stay here.
Você vai ao banco, eu vou ficar aqui.
Or
Tu vais ao banco, eu ficarei aqui.
Let's go to the beach.
Vamos à praia.
She went to the shop.
Ela foi para a loja.
I'll go to the bank.
Eu irei ao banco.
You guys have a lot of furniture.
Vocês têm muitos móveis.
They had a big business.
Eles tinham um grande negócio.
He'll have a lot of money.
Ele terá muito dinheiro.
Or
Ele vai ter muito dinheiro.
You do it like this.
Você faz assim.
Or
Tu fazes assim.
You made coffee.
Você fez café
Or
Tu fizeste café.
Let’s make a plan.
Vamos fazer um plano.
He can lift a car above his head.
Ele pode levantar um carro acima da cabeça.
May I use the bathroom?
Eu posso usar o banheiro?
Can you take a photo?
Você pode tirar uma foto?
Or
Tu podes tirar uma foto?
They could do whatever they wanted.
Eles poderam fazer o que quisessem.
Will I be able to help?
Eu poderei ajudar?
We want the best results possible.
Nós queremos os melhores resultados possíveis.
He always wanted to tell her how he felt.
Ele sempre quis dizer a ela como se sentia.
I will want regular reports.
Eu quererei relatórios regulares.
Or
Eu vou querer relatórios regulares.
Learn More Portuguese Verbs
Learning how to use Portuguese verbs is a key factor in mastering the language. If you can conjugate them correctly for tense and pronoun, it will go a long way toward making your Portuguese sound polished and fluent. However, there is a lot of information to process, and the level of complexity can be difficult for native speakers of English, which has far fewer verb conjugations. If you learn with an expert tutor, your chances of success will be much higher.