4. Regular Verbs

a. Regular Verbs

AR		ER		IR
Spanish	Portuguese	Spanish	Portuguese	Spanish	Portuguese
acabar	acabar	aprender	aprender	abrir	abrir
amar	amar	beber	beber	asistir	assistir
ayudar	ajudar	comer	comer	decidir	decidir
cantar	cantar	correr	correr	dormir	dormir
esperar	esperar	entender	entender	partir	partir
mandar	mandar	responder	responder	sentir	sentir
visitar	visitar	vender	vender	vestir	vestir

Subject Pronouns
Spanish	Portuguese	Spanish	Portuguese
yo	eu	nosotros	nós
tú	tu você	vosotros	vós vocês
él	ele	ellos	eles
ella	ela	ellas	elas
usted	o senhor a senhora	ustedes	os senhores as senhoras

Observation

Like Spanish, Portuguese has three verb conjugations, AR, ER, IR. They are similar to Spanish (except for a small set of verbs that are IR in Spanish but ER in Portuguese. See below). One of the major differences is that the Portuguese word for "you" is "você." Portuguese speakers do not generally use the second person "tu." This does vary from region to region and from one dialect to another, but "você" is heard everywhere. This greatly facilitates verb conjugations because "você" is conjugated with the same endings as the third person "ele" and "ela." One doesn't have to learn the second person conjugations. (This is analogous to not having to learn "thou" and "ye" in order to understand most written English.)

The formal "o senhor" and "a senhora" may be used instead of "você" but fortunately they are all conjugated with the same third person endings. Similarly the formal "os senhores" and "as senhoras" can be used instead of " vocês." Another common occurence in oral speech is to use "a gente" in the place of "nós." "A gente" is conjugated with third person endings, even though it means "we." For example, "A gente fala português." means "We speak Portuguese."

b. Present Tense

Present Tense
Spanish				Portuguese
yo	tomo como abro	nosotros	tomamos comemos abrimos	eu	tomo como abro	nós	tomamos comemos abrimos
él, ella, usted	toma come abre	ellos, ellas, ustedes	toman comen abren	ele, ela, você	toma come abre	eles, elas, vocês	tomam comem abrem

c. Preterite Tense

Preterite Tense
Spanish				Portuguese
yo	tomé comí abrí	nosotros	tomamos comimos abrimos	eu	tomei comi abri	nós	tomamos comemos abrimos
él, ella, usted	tomó comió abrió	ellos, ellas, ustedes	tomaron comieron abrieron	ele, ela, você	tomou comeu abriu	eles, elas, vocês	tomaram comeram abriram

Observation

There are two major differences between Spanish and Portuguese preterite endings. First we see the third person endings in Portuguese have falling diphthongs, "tomou, comeu, abriu" which contrast quite sharply with the raising diphthongs in Spanish, "comió, abrió." The second difference is that ER verbs in Portuguese retain the theme vowel for both the present and preterite endings. Unlike Spanish "comemos - comimos," Portuguese "comemos" means both "we eat" and "we ate."

d. Imperfect Tense

Present Tense
Spanish				Portuguese
yo	tomaba comía abría	nosotros	tomábamos comíamos abríamos	eu	tomava comia abria	nós	tomávamos comíamos abríamos
él, ella, usted	tomaba comía abría	ellos, ellas, ustedes	tomaban comían abrían	ele, ela, você	tomava comia abria	eles, elas, vocês	tomavam comiam abriam

e. Present Subjunctive

Present Tense
Spanish				Portuguese
yo	tome coma abra	nosotros	tomemos comamos abramos	eu	tome coma abra	nós	tomemos comamos abramos
él, ella, usted	tome coma abra	ellos, ellas, ustedes	tomen coman abran	ele, ela, você	tome coma abra	eles, elas, vocês	tomem comam abram

Observation

In a general sense, most of the instances of the subjunctive in Spanish can be transferred to Portuguese. The major difference is the use of the future subjunctive in Portuguese which is described separately.

f. Imperfect Subjuntive

Present Tense
Spanish				Portuguese
yo	tomara comiera abriera	nosotros	tomáramos comiéramos abriéramos	eu	tomasse comesse abrisse	nós	tomássemos coméssemos abríssemos
él, ella, usted	tomara comiera abriera	ellos, ellas, ustedes	tomaran comieran abrieran	ele, ela, você	tomasse comesse abrisse	eles, elas, vocês	tomassem comessem abrissem

Observation

In Spanish there are two forms of the imperfect subjunctive, i.e., "tomara - tomase." In Portuguese there is only one form, "tomasse."

 

g. Spanish IR verbs > Portuguese ER

Spanish	Portuguese
batir	bater
escribir	escrever
gemir	gemer
hervir	ferver
morir	morrer
ocurrir	ocorrer
recibir	receber
sufrir	sofrer
vivir	viver

Examples:

• Queremos escrever para todos que recebem a revista.
  • Queremos escribir a todos que reciben la revista.
• Dizem que o tio sofreu muito e finalmente morreu.
  • Dicen que el tío sufrió mucho y finalmente se murió.

Observation:

There are a few verbs that end in IR in Spanish but are ER in Portuguese. These are generally associated with third conjugation verbs from Latin (ere).

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