TOP 50 most used Verbs by the Portuguese [European Portuguese]

ByCarla

The 50 Most Common Portuguese Verbs

If you are learning Portuguese, you know how complex its grammar can be. Many aspects leave foreigners feeling confused. Besides learning the most common verbs, you also need to understand verb conjugation. For example, you must distinguish between regular and irregular verbs, identify the right conjugations and pronouns, and get their inflection right.
Below, you will explore the 50 most used verbs by Portuguese natives. First, get an introduction to Portuguese verb conjugation.

An Introduction to Verb Conjugation in Portuguese

In Portuguese, verbs are divided according to their endings. Verb endings fall into one of three groups: -ar, -er, and -ir. Additionally, there are three main moods: the indicative mood, the conditional mood, and the subjunctive mood.

Regular Verbs Vs. Irregular Verbs

Regular verbs follow predictable patterns when conjugated in different tenses and persons. Besides, they usually share endings with others of their group. On the contrary, irregular verbs change their stems or endings, making them less predictable. They often preserve older forms, creating exceptions within grammar.
The particularity of Portuguese is that it does not apply irregular verbs as exceptions. Instead, many irregular verbs are among the most common. Hence, learners must memorize irregular forms individually.

The 10 Most Common Verbs in Portuguese

In this video, you will learn about the most common Portuguese verbs. To get you started, discover the 10 most used verbs.
  • Ser – to be (essential/permanent)
  • Estar – to be (temporary/state)
  • Ter – to have
  • Haver – to exist / there is, there are (also used in compound tenses)
  • Ir – to go
  • Fazer – to do, to make
  • Dizer – to say, to tell
  • Ver – to see
  • Dar – to give
  • Poder – can, to be able to
As you can see, there are two verbs (Ser and Estar) to represent the English verb To Be. You can learn more about these verbs in: Ser And Estar – The Verbs To Be in Portuguese From Portugal.

European Vs. Brazilian Portuguese

Additionally, there are many grammatical differences between European and Brazilian portuguese. Thus, the variant you are learning will also dictate the type of resources you use for learning.

The 50 Most Common Portuguese Verbs – Watch The Video!

In the following video, you will learn about different verb tenses and conjugations. You will discover how to conjugate the verbs in the present tense and put them in context. Besides, you will get some tips on how to use these verbs to sound like a native, and get access to a downloadable PDF.

Keep Exploring the Portuguese Language

Check out these language-learning resources that will help you continue exploring European Portuguese:
Feel free to reach out to us with further questions about Portuguese verb conjugation and other matters! Use the comment section below or send us a direct message through the red chat icon on the bottom right corner of your screen. Stay tuned for more!

Ready to become fluent in European Portuguese?

For the last decade, we’ve been working on putting together the best possible European Portuguese course. After much research, feedback from our students, and a number of iterations, we think we’ve got it! 😉

As a base, we used scientifically proven techniques to help with master pronunciation, phrase construction, oral understanding, grammar, and all the necessary bits to get you to fluency. At the same time, having learned foreign languages ourselves, we know the process needs to be engaging, varied, and enjoyable. The whole thing is presented as an adventure. It’s a course like no other, trust us!

Learn more about The Journey and start your free trial here.

Similar Posts

94 Comments

  2. This one lesson made everything I learned so far *click* and it makes sense O: I’m going to keep a cheat sheet nearby to practice, thank you c:

    Reply

  3. THANK YOU CARLA! this is so helpful <3 i'm moving to Lisbon this month and i'm studying as much as possible

    Reply

  5. Ola Carla,
    Will you please make all your videos with dual languages just like this one. It’s PERFECT and both languages are compatible with each other.
    This is your BEST video ever.
    Muito obrigado.

    Reply

    1. Porque para algumas pessoas é formal e para outras não… É um tópico de grandes debates entre muitos portugueses 😌 se quiser ser formal, é melhor jogar pelo seguro e usar “o senhor” ou “ a senhora” e não a palavra “você”. Ou simplesmente usar a forma do verbo apropriada, omitindo o pronome “você” 👍🏽

      Reply

    1. De nada 🙂 unfortunately we can’t change it once the video has been uploaded.. Oh well, i guess it shows who’s paying attention 😜

      Reply

  15. I’m guilty of saying “vou ir”

    <- A Portuguese-Canadian trying to talk Portuguese while visiting Portugal

    Reply

  18. Hi Carla. Thank you for this very helpful video. Can you tell me if there is a difference in the pronounciation between the verb form for voce, ela, ele and voces, elas, eles? For example: “voce volta” and “voces voltam” — does the verb sound the same? Thank you so much!

    Reply

    1. Olá e obrigada 😊 yes there’s a difference. “am” at end of words has the same sound as the “ão”, although we don’t put the emphasis on it as we do with “ão”. Another way I could try and explain the difference would be to think of an English person who could perhaps spell those words phonetically this way: Volta = vohl’ter and Voltam = vohl’tung (without making too much of the ‘g’).
      Hope this helps!

      Reply

  21. Great video. I am confused by this, though: you say eu [gOshtu], tu [gOshtash] … but the verb you pronounce as [gUshtar] and nos [gUstamush] and eles [gOstam]. Any rule or rhyme here ? 🙂 ? O changing to U – why, based on what?
    (ditto morar – the same pattern, plus more verbs with it. All of a sudden: voltar. Clearly no U!
    What am I missing here 🙂?)

    Reply

    1. Thanks Lubomir! The sound of the vowels often changes depending on which syllable of the word is supposed to be emphasised as well as on what letter follows the vowel. So with the infinitive “gostar”, your strong syllable is “tar” ending with an “r” which means you put emphasis on that one forcing you to close the vowel from the other syllable (in this case the “o” that changes to “u” sound).

      With morar and voltar – the letter “l” after vowels tends to open them, hence the “o” in voltar being more open than the one in “morar”.

      I would like to add, though, that it’s unrealistic to expect all words to follow these rules. Just like in English you can pronounce the word “read” like ‘reed’ or ‘red’, in Portuguese you’ll have words that are spelled the same way and yet the sound of the vowel changes. For example “olho” as in ‘eye’ and “olho” as in ‘I look’ – the first “o” in the second word is more opened that the first “o” in the first one.
      Anyway, if you haven’t done so, click on the link to watch a video that may help you further with your question:
      https://youtu.be/1ijqsv-1g3k

      Reply

    2. @Portuguese With Carla – thanks for the explanation. My take in simple terms – this is a very complex topic and all these nuances point to one thing: one gotta live in Portugal to simply learn these subtleties (ouvir, ouvir, ouvir!) rather than acquire the right pronunciation by a careful study … unlike e.g. Spanish or Italian where I found it feasible. Regional sotaques make such a task even harder (compare Porto with Algarve or even Azores).
      (Your example using morar and voltar is pointing to very subtle differences in openness of “l” – whoa. The example using read and red – disagree with you, that’s a slightly different scenario 🙂 …)

      Reply

    3. @Portuguese With Carla I watched carefully the recommended video – another very good summary of the rules for pronunciation: you communicated really clear rules. However – not addressing the minutiae around “more open pronunciation owing to the ‘l’ letter” you shared above (morar vs. voltar). Again (and more generally) I have to maintain that after (longer) listening to various people from different parts of Portugal I still do NOT have a clear and unanimous understanding of what the correct (or prevailingly acceptable) pronunciation ought to be … perhaps it is just my problem, though.

      Reply

  23. Sorry, we’ve made a mistake while editing the video: sentir = to feel, it does not mean “to drink” which in Portuguese is “beber” 👍🏽

    Reply

  26. I’m not sure, but I think you (Carla) say in this video: “Eles sentem-se mais cansados *do* que o habitual.“ ? In the subtitles the “do“ is missing. Or maybe I hear something which I shouldn’t hear 😅

    Reply

    1. Sim, “Do que” = than. And if it’s not included in the subtitles, then you picked it up correctly, well done 😉 however, in informal and familiar speaking contexts the “do” is often missed by the natives.

      Reply

    2. @Portuguese With Carla Thanks for replying! I appreciate that 🙂 Okay, got it, thanks for the thorough explanation ☺

      Reply

  28. Carla, all good, but for those of us with old eyes, it is very difficult to read the faint font used for the translation up top and the sentence at the end. Thanks for considering.

    Reply

    1. Thank you and sorry – we can’t change this video now, but we’ll make sure to do better with the font for future ones. It’s tricky sometimes as Marlon is colour blind and often he sees a clear contrast when I don’t, and vice versa! 😅

      Reply

    2. @Portuguese With Carla Thank you for considering it for future videos. And please keep them coming. You two are doing a fantastic job!

      Reply

  30. Thank you, Carla. I’m visiting Portugal next year (2023) and I already speak Spanish so I have a bit of a head start.👍🏼

    Reply

    1. Olá, Consume 👋🏽 it’s great to see you working on your Portuguese already! They’ll appreciate your efforts very much 🥰 Knowing Spanish surely helps you understand certain concepts of the Portuguese language and of course many of the words are either the same or similar, so that’s great for your understanding. I wish you all the best with your Portuguese learning journey and hope you have an amazing time in Portugal 🤗

      Reply

  31. Although I did study some brazilian portugese on duo linguo this format is better. Great teaching !

    Reply

    1. Boa pergunta 😊 the northern accents tend to pronounce the “u” more so than the rest of the country. I personally do not pronounce the “u” so much, but more like you’ve described 👍🏽

      Reply

  36. Have you noticed you say drink for sentir?. does it really mean “drink”? (at 14.44 minutes of the video).

    Reply

    1. I have, thank you Otto. I’ve pinned a comment explaining it was a mistake on our part – you should see it at the top of the comments section. Thanks again though 😉

      Reply

    1. Olá, Peter 😊 you can adjust the YouTube setting to slow the speed down. If you’re on you’re phone or tablet, you should see 3 little dots on the top right of the video – click on it and then click on playback speed – there you have a couple of options.
      On desktop or laptop a different icon is on the bottom right to adjust quality and speed as well 👍🏽

      Reply

    1. olá! You can adjust the speed on the settings. If you’re on you’re phone or tablet, you should see 3 little dots on the top right of the video – click on it and then click on playback speed – there you can slow it down.
      On desktop or laptop a different icon is on the bottom right to adjust quality and speed as well 👍🏽

      Reply

  47. Olá carla
    I am Vivek from haryana my Portuguese is very weak please tell me what i am do. Am very sad for this .😕

    Reply

    1. Olá Vivek 👋🏽 I’m sorry you’re struggling with your Portuguese! Watch this short video about a 30 day free course we put together. Don’t worry about understanding everything, just make sure to get that regular exposure to the language on a daily basis and by the end of it you will have progressed and you’ll feel more confident about it all. Exposure, practice and consistency are key 👍🏽

      Reply

    1. Vai-se tornando mais fácil à medida que se acostuma ao som do português e se expõe à língua regularmente. Just keep going 😉

      Reply

  50. We have other verbs too without these 50 verbs.. my question is: are those always remain same with All subjects?

    Reply

    1. No Portuguese verb remains the same for all the personal pronouns (eu, tu, nós, etc). Most of them are regular and will follow the pattern of the ones you saw on the video. 😉

      Reply

  52. Ever since I read that children (ages 2-4) who grow up bilingual watch a person’s mouth while that person speaks nearly twice as much as non-bilingual children I have looked for videos to learn a language that allow me to watch the speaker’s mouth while they speak. Instead of only a voice-over animation you do a split-screen to let viewers see you pronounce the words. I have found that many times more helpful than other formats. Thank you for doing this.

    Reply

    1. Watching the mouth is definitely helpful! But it doesn’t help you when on the phone, so also good to train the hearing alone by listening to audio Portuguese material 👍🏽

      Reply

  54. I dont understand why acho (eu form of achar) is pronounced like a u at the end instead of an o. and achas is pronounced like ach uh s instead of an a sound,

    Reply

    1. Bcz that’s how European Portuguese sounds like. The O is sounded like a close U while the S sounds like a Sh sound

      Reply

    2. An “o” at the end of a word or when is not part of the stressed syllable is pronounced like a short “u”. What h this video on it: https://youtu.be/WxjDC6yt_3c

      And an “a” at the end of words (without a diacritic or accent on top) or when part of a syllable that isn’t the strong one in the word is generally pronounced like a closed “a” which in English could be explained as the sound “uh” as you well noticed 👍🏽

      Reply

  58. I have a stigma about this language it’s about preference for English speakers or Spanish in North America😊 if someone speaks a dialect different it’s like scorned on I’ve got to get over this stigma embrace it😊

    Reply

  62. It’s so refreshing to see the Portuguese back I think it’s a win-win situation for the country😊

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *