ir

One of the most irregular verbs in the language: vou, vai, vamos, vão in the present, and a past that it shares with ser — fui, foi, fomos, foram mean both “I went” and “I was”, and only the sentence tells you which. In Brazil, ir with an infinitive is the everyday future (vou viajar, “I'm going to travel”); the simple future irei sounds formal. For ir itself, Brazilians usually just say vou (“vou ao mercado amanhã”). In speech you'll hear ir no cinema where writing prefers ir ao cinema.

Examples

• Vou ao mercado depois do trabalho.

  I'm going to the market after work.

• Ontem a gente foi à praia.

  Yesterday we went to the beach.

• Se você for ao Rio, me avisa.

  If you go to Rio, let me know.

Related verbs

• vir — to come
• sair — to leave, to go out
• ser — to be

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