The verbs in the list above are in their infinitive form. That’s why the English translation usually starts with “to” (to help, to dance, etc.).
All Portuguese infinitives end in the letter r, and the three regular conjugation patterns are classified into -ar, -er, and -ir verbs. We’ll learn about -er and -ir verbs soon. For now, let’s look at the -ar verbs.
Conjugation
Regular verbs ending in –AR are conjugated in the present tense by removing the -AR infinitive ending and adding one of the following personal endings:
| Regular -ar Verbs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| First | (eu) -o | (nós) -amos |
| Second | (tu) -as | |
| Third | (você, ele, ela, a gente) -a | (vocês, eles / elas) -am |
Now that we can conjugate some verbs, let’s be sure we understand how to put them into complete sentences.
Basic sentence structure: statements
The basic structure of simple sentences in Portuguese is the same as in English: subject – verb – object. Since the verb will be conjugated differently according to the different subjects, the verb ending will often make it perfectly clear who is doing the action and you can leave the subject off unless you want to clarify or emphasize who is doing the action. However, it is quite common to use the pronouns «você» and «vocês» since they share the third person conjugations.
- Compro meus livros na livraria. (I buy my books in the bookstore.)
- Estudamos português. (We study Portuguese.)
- A professora explica a gramática. (The professor explains the grammar.)
- Onde você mora? (Where do you live?)
Basic sentence structure: yes-no questions
Yes-no questions are also quite simple in Portuguese, and there are two ways of expressing them: either they have the same word order as a simple sentence and are spoken with a rising intonation instead of falling, or the verb and subject are reversed (verb – subject – object). Just be sure to put the upside-down question mark at the beginning and the upside-right question mark at the end of each question. Also note that Portuguese does NOT use an auxiliary or helping verb like English (do/does).
- Estudamos português? (Do we study / are we studying Portuguese?)
- Explica a professora a gramática? (Does the professor explain the grammar?)
Basic sentence structure: negation
Answering affirmatively is easy, you just say “sim” (yes) and state your answer. To make a negative sentence, just put the word “não” before the verb (subject – no – verb – object). The Portuguese word “não” means both “no” and “not”. And remember that Spanish does NOT use the auxiliary or helping verb (do/does).
- Não estudamos francês. (We do not study French.)
- A professora não explica a tecnologia. (The professor doesn’t explain the technology.)
- Não, os estudantes não escutam música na sala de aula. (No, the students do not listen to music in the classroom.)
Modal verbs
Some verbs can have another verb as their object; these are called modal verbs. The same person needs to be doing both actions, and the second verb is *not* conjugated.
- Preciso de ir ao banheiro. (I need to go to the bathroom.)
- Desejo estudar um idioma de cada continente. (I want to study one language from each continent.)
