Brazilian Portuguese Present Tense: A Beginner Guide to Regular Verbs — Practice

Find the infinitive ending: -ar, -er, or -ir

Most Portuguese verbs in the dictionary end in -ar, -er, or -ir. These endings help you recognize the main regular verb groups: falar (to speak), comer (to eat), and abrir (to open). To conjugate a regular verb in the present, remove the infinitive ending and add an ending that matches the subject.

Start with verbs you need for daily life. Falar helps you describe languages, comer helps you discuss food, and morar helps you say where you live. The present can describe routines and current facts. Context tells you which meaning is intended, so pair each form with a natural sentence rather than learning only a chart.

Conjugate regular -ar verbs with falar

For a regular -ar verb such as falar, the common present forms are eu falo, você/ele/ela fala, nós falamos, and vocês/eles/elas falam. A gente also uses fala. In Brazil, you will often hear você and a gente in everyday conversation. The same broad pattern appears in estudar (to study), trabalhar (to work), and morar (to live).

Notice that você and ele/ela share fala, and vocês and eles/elas share falam. A pronoun or context can make the subject clear. Use this pattern to talk about a routine, then change the verb while keeping the sentence frame.

Compare common -er and -ir verbs

Regular -er verbs include comer (to eat) and aprender (to learn). Regular -ir verbs include abrir (to open) and assistir (to watch). For example, você come, você aprende, você abre, and você assiste. The endings differ between groups, but the subject still guides the form. Practice one verb from each group in the same sentence frame.

Some very common verbs are irregular, including ser, estar, ir, and ter. Do not force them into the regular patterns in this guide. Learn those high-frequency verbs separately and use this article as a dependable starting point for regular verbs. Knowing which pattern applies is more useful than trying to memorize every verb at once.

Practice verb endings with a daily routine

Choose three actions from your day and say who does each one. Use eu for yourself, você for one person, a gente or nós for a group including you, and vocês for multiple listeners. Repeat with a new regular verb. This simple substitution drill helps you retrieve the endings during a real conversation.

When listening, notice the verb ending and its subject together. If the pronoun is omitted, use the situation to infer who is acting. For a broader overview, connect this lesson to Real Life Portuguese guides on subject pronouns and the present-tense verbs learners hear most often. I Speak Portuguese offers teacher-led practice if you want feedback on speaking aloud.

Remember: Identify the infinitive ending first, then match the subject: falar, comer, and abrir each give you a regular present-tense pattern to reuse.

Check your understanding

Choose the English meaning of each Portuguese example. Answer before looking back at the tables. These questions check the written examples in this guide; they are not a listening or proficiency test.

Recall the Portuguese, then say it

Read the English prompt and say a Portuguese version before opening the answer. The answer shows the example from the lesson; other natural translations may also work. Compare the meaning and the situation rather than counting a different word as automatically wrong.

1. I speak Portuguese with my teacher.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Eu falo português com a minha professora.

2. We eat at home during the week.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   A gente come em casa durante a semana.

3. They open the shop at nine.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Eles abrem a loja às nove.

4. I work near downtown.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Eu trabalho perto do centro.

5. Do you study in the morning?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Você estuda de manhã?

6. We live far from the beach.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Nós moramos longe da praia.

Make the phrase useful to you

Choose one example you could actually use. Say it once from memory, then change one detail that fits your life, such as the person, place, time, or object. Check whether your change also needs a different verb form, article, or adjective ending. If it does, compare it with the pattern in the explanation.

Identify the infinitive ending first, then match the subject: falar, comer, and abrir each give you a regular present-tense pattern to reuse.

Return to two prompts tomorrow without opening the answers first. If a phrase still feels difficult, shorten it to a useful chunk and build the complete sentence again.

Sources and your next lesson

This I Speak Portuguese practice guide builds on our Brazilian Portuguese Present Tense: A Beginner Guide to Regular Verbs lesson on Real Life Portuguese, with written recall tasks and additional speaking practice. The explanations and examples are teaching material; the practice questions are exercises, not a transcript of a recording.

To add Brazilian audio to your routine, choose a lesson in the Real Life Portuguese app. The app offers its own lessons and practice; this page does not imply that every example here has an app recording.