estar

Irregular in the past (estive, esteve) and the subjunctive (esteja). Estar is for how or where something is now: estou cansado, onde você está? With a gerund it makes the continuous — estou lendo, “I'm reading” — which is how Brazilians say it, where Portugal says estou a ler. Estar com and a noun describes a feeling: estou com fome, “I'm hungry”. In speech the first syllable drops: tô, tá, tamos, tão, tava. Tá on its own also means “OK”.

Examples

• Tô cansado, vou dormir cedo.

  I'm tired, I'm going to bed early.

• A gente estava jantando quando você ligou.

  We were having dinner when you called.

• Espero que você esteja bem.

  I hope you're well.

Related verbs

• ser — to be
• ter — to have
• ir — to go

In conversation and informal writing, estar loses its first syllable:

• estou → tô
• está → tá
• estamos → tamos
• estão → tão
• estava → tava
• estávamos → távamos
• estavam → tavam

Mostly found in writing. In speech Brazilians use the forms above instead.