Vocabulary · Brazilian Portuguese
Verbs in Brazilian Portuguese
The most common Portuguese verbs, the 100 Brazilians use most, in order: each with its meaning, an example sentence and audio, and a link to every form of it in the conjugator. Learn the top 25 and you can already say most of what you need.
100 words, each with audio · Quiz and flashcards
Verbs in Portuguese, with audio
The top 25
| Listen | Portuguese | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| estarirregular | to be (state, location) | Eu estou muito cansado hoje.I'm very tired today. | |
| irirregular | to go; will (future) | Amanhã eu vou ao médico.Tomorrow I'm going to the doctor. | |
| serirregular | to be (identity, trait) | Meu pai era professor de história.My father was a history teacher. | |
| terirregular | to have | Eu tenho dois gatos em casa.I have two cats at home. | |
| poderirregular | can, to be able to | Você pode me ajudar com isso?Can you help me with this? | |
| fazerirregular | to do; to make | O que você vai fazer no sábado?What are you going to do on Saturday? | |
| saberirregular | to know | Eu não sei onde ela mora.I don't know where she lives. | |
| quererirregular | to want | Eu quero aprender a nadar.I want to learn to swim. | |
| dizerirregular | to say; to tell | Ela disse que vai chegar tarde.She said she's going to arrive late. | |
| verirregular | to see | Eu vi seu irmão ontem na rua.I saw your brother on the street yesterday. | |
| achar | to think; to find | Eu acho que ele tem razão.I think he's right. | |
| ficar | to stay; to become | Eu vou ficar em casa hoje.I'm going to stay home today. | |
| haverirregular | there to be (há) | Há muitas pessoas na fila.There are a lot of people in line. | |
| precisar | to need | Eu preciso de mais tempo.I need more time. | |
| dever | must, should; to owe | Você deve descansar um pouco.You should rest a little. | |
| falar | to speak, to talk | Ela fala inglês muito bem.She speaks English very well. | |
| virirregular | to come | Você vem à festa amanhã?Are you coming to the party tomorrow? | |
| darirregular | to give | Ela me deu um livro de presente.She gave me a book as a present. | |
| esperar | to wait; to hope, expect | Espera um pouco, já estou indo.Wait a bit, I'm on my way. | |
| pensar | to think | Eu pensei muito na minha família hoje.I thought about my family a lot today. | |
| deixar | to let; to leave | Deixa eu te ajudar com isso.Let me help you with that. | |
| sairirregular | to go out; to leave | Ela saiu de casa às sete.She left home at seven. | |
| parecer | to seem; to look like | Você parece cansado hoje.You look tired today. | |
| acontecer | to happen | O que aconteceu com você?What happened to you? | |
| olhar | to look | Olha que céu bonito!Look what a beautiful sky! |
26–50
| Listen | Portuguese | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| conseguirirregular | to manage to, can; to get | Não consegui dormir ontem.I couldn't sleep last night. | |
| sentirirregular | to feel | Eu sinto falta da minha família.I miss my family. | |
| pegar | to take, grab; to catch | Vou pegar o ônibus das oito.I'm going to catch the eight o'clock bus. | |
| voltar | to return, to come back | Eu volto em cinco minutos.I'll be back in five minutes. | |
| tentar | to try | Vou tentar chegar mais cedo.I'll try to arrive earlier. | |
| gostar | to like | Ela gosta muito de chocolate.She really likes chocolate. | |
| ouvirirregular | to hear; to listen | Você ouviu esse barulho?Did you hear that noise? | |
| chegar | to arrive; to reach | Ele chegou atrasado no trabalho.He arrived late at work. | |
| entender | to understand | Eu não entendi a pergunta.I didn't understand the question. | |
| levar | to take, carry; to take (time) | Vou levar as crianças à escola.I'm going to take the kids to school. | |
| encontrar | to find; to meet | Não consigo encontrar meu celular.I can't find my phone. | |
| conhecer | to know (person, place); to meet | Eu conheci minha esposa na faculdade.I met my wife in college. | |
| matar | to kill | Esse calor vai me matar.This heat is going to kill me. | |
| parar | to stop | O ônibus parou na esquina.The bus stopped at the corner. | |
| passar | to pass; to spend (time) | Ela passou as férias na praia.She spent the holidays at the beach. | |
| começar | to begin, to start | A aula começa às oito.Class starts at eight. | |
| acabar | to finish, to end; to just (do) | O filme acabou muito tarde.The movie ended very late. | |
| acreditar | to believe | Eu não acredito nisso!I don't believe it! | |
| amar | to love | Eu amo minha família.I love my family. | |
| morrer | to die | A planta morreu por falta de água.The plant died from lack of water. | |
| ajudar | to help | Você pode me ajudar com a mala?Can you help me with the suitcase? | |
| usar | to use; to wear | Posso usar seu computador?Can I use your computer? | |
| desculpar | to forgive, excuse (desculpe = sorry) | Desculpe, eu não te vi.Sorry, I didn't see you. | |
| chamar | to call; to be called | Como você se chama?What's your name? | |
| pedirirregular | to ask for; to order | Vamos pedir uma pizza?Shall we order a pizza? |
51–75
| Listen | Portuguese | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| entrar | to enter, to come in | Pode entrar, a porta está aberta.Come in, the door is open. | |
| trabalhar | to work | Ela trabalha num banco.She works at a bank. | |
| contar | to tell; to count | Ela me contou uma história engraçada.She told me a funny story. | |
| perderirregular | to lose; to miss | Eu perdi o ônibus hoje.I missed the bus today. | |
| ligar | to call (phone); to turn on | Eu vou te ligar à noite.I'll call you tonight. | |
| viver | to live | Ela vive numa cidade pequena.She lives in a small town. | |
| tomar | to take; to drink | Vamos tomar um café?Shall we have a coffee? | |
| tirar | to take off, take out; to take (photo) | Tira o sapato antes de entrar.Take your shoes off before coming in. | |
| lembrar | to remember; to remind | Você lembra do nome dela?Do you remember her name? | |
| colocar | to put, to place | Coloque o leite na geladeira.Put the milk in the fridge. | |
| trazerirregular | to bring | Você pode trazer a sobremesa?Can you bring dessert? | |
| importar | to matter; to mind; to import | Não importa o que aconteça.It doesn't matter what happens. | |
| continuar | to continue, to keep on | Continue estudando, você vai conseguir.Keep studying, you'll make it. | |
| mudar | to change; to move (house) | Ela se mudou para um apartamento novo.She moved to a new apartment. | |
| procurar | to look for, to search | Estou procurando minhas chaves.I'm looking for my keys. | |
| comer | to eat | O que você quer comer hoje?What do you want to eat today? | |
| esquecer | to forget | Esqueci minha carteira em casa.I forgot my wallet at home. | |
| perguntar | to ask (a question) | Vou perguntar ao professor.I'm going to ask the teacher. | |
| andar | to walk; to ride | Eu gosto de andar na praia.I like to walk on the beach. | |
| dormirirregular | to sleep | Eu preciso dormir oito horas por noite.I need to sleep eight hours a night. | |
| ganhar | to win; to earn; to get | Nosso time ganhou o jogo.Our team won the game. | |
| descobririrregular | to discover; to find out | Eu descobri um restaurante ótimo perto daqui.I found a great restaurant near here. | |
| mandar | to send; to order, tell | Me manda uma mensagem quando chegar.Send me a message when you arrive. | |
| jogar | to play (game); to throw | Os meninos gostam de jogar futebol.The boys like to play soccer. | |
| preocupar | to worry | Não se preocupe, vai dar tudo certo.Don't worry, everything will work out. |
76–100
| Listen | Portuguese | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| mostrar | to show | Vou te mostrar as fotos da viagem.I'll show you the photos from the trip. | |
| lerirregular | to read | Eu gosto de ler antes de dormir.I like to read before bed. | |
| abrir | to open | Você pode abrir a janela?Can you open the window? | |
| escutar | to listen; to hear | Eu gosto de escutar música no carro.I like to listen to music in the car. | |
| manterirregular | to keep, to maintain | Mantenha a porta fechada, por favor.Keep the door closed, please. | |
| cairirregular | to fall | O copo caiu no chão.The glass fell on the floor. | |
| terminar | to finish, to end | Já terminei o meu trabalho.I've already finished my work. | |
| comprar | to buy | Preciso comprar pão e leite.I need to buy bread and milk. | |
| cuidar | to take care of, look after | Eu cuido dos meus netos durante a semana.I look after my grandchildren during the week. | |
| pagar | to pay | Hoje eu vou pagar a conta.Today I'm paying the bill. | |
| significar | to mean | O que significa essa palavra?What does this word mean? | |
| sentar | to sit (down) | Pode sentar aqui, se quiser.You can sit here if you want. | |
| escrever | to write | Ela escreveu uma carta para a avó.She wrote a letter to her grandmother. | |
| seguirirregular | to follow; to go on | Siga em frente até a praça.Go straight ahead to the square. | |
| receber | to receive, to get | Recebi sua mensagem agora.I just got your message. | |
| roubar | to steal, to rob | Alguém roubou minha bicicleta ontem.Someone stole my bike yesterday. | |
| existir | to exist | Existe uma padaria nessa rua?Is there a bakery on this street? | |
| bater | to hit, beat; to knock | Alguém está batendo na porta.Someone is knocking at the door. | |
| conversar | to talk, to chat | Precisamos conversar sobre a viagem.We need to talk about the trip. | |
| correr | to run | Ela corre no parque todo dia.She runs in the park every day. | |
| funcionar | to work, to function | O elevador não está funcionando.The elevator isn't working. | |
| adorar | to love, to adore | Ela adora pão de queijo.She loves cheese bread. | |
| tornar | to make; to become (tornar-se) | Ela se tornou uma ótima médica.She became a great doctor. | |
| beber | to drink | Você precisa beber mais água.You need to drink more water. | |
| imaginar | to imagine | Imagine, não precisa agradecer.Don't mention it, no need to thank me. |
How Brazilians use them
The most common verbs are the irregular ones
Ser, estar, ter, ir, fazer, poder, dizer: the verbs you use most are exactly the ones that break the rules, because constant use wears words down. The good news is that the regular -ar verbs follow one pattern, and most of the rest of this list is regular.
Ser or estar?
Both mean “to be”. Ser is for what something is (sou brasileiro, é tarde), estar for how or where it is right now (estou cansado, está em casa). The verb tenses guide sets out every tense of both.
The future is ir + infinitive
Brazilians talk about the future with ir and an infinitive: vou viajar, a gente vai comer. The single-word future (viajarei) is mostly written. See the future in Brazilian Portuguese.
Practise
Quick quiz · question 1 of 8
What does desculpar mean?
These words, meanings and examples come from Verbeto's word list, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. The ranking is built from the Brazilian Portuguese subtitles of OpenSubtitles (FrequencyWords by Hermit Dave), the meanings from Wiktionary, both CC BY-SA 4.0.
Questions
What are the most common Portuguese verbs?
Ser and estar (to be), ter (to have), ir (to go), fazer (to do, to make), poder (can), dizer (to say), querer (to want), saber (to know) and ver (to see) lead the list. The table on this page has the top 100, in order.
Which Portuguese verbs are irregular?
Most of the very common ones: ser, estar, ter, ir, fazer, poder, dizer, querer, saber, ver, vir, dar, pôr and trazer, among others. They're marked “irregular” in the table. Verbs ending in -ar, like falar and gostar, are nearly always regular.
How do I conjugate them?
Each verb links to its page in the conjugator, with every tense set out the way Brazilians use them. To practise them, try the conjugation practice.
More Portuguese words
Meet these words in real Brazilian stories
A list gets you started; a story makes the words stick. Read Brazilian books and stories at your level, tap any word for its meaning in that sentence, and it becomes a card you review later.
Start reading for free