Portuguese Verbs “Ir” vs. “Andar” – Know When to Use Either

I’ve noticed that Portuguese language learners often use the verb Andar when they want to say Ir, and vice-versa.

This happens almost without exception in a context where means of transport and mobility are implied.

Here’s the difference. We use Andar to talk about means of transport in general. However, we switch over to Ir as soon as we also mention the final destination:

ANDAR
Eu ando de carro todos os dias.
I use my car every day.

IR
Amanhã, vou de carro até ao Porto.
Tomorrow, I am going to Porto by car.

Let’s dive in.

Andar

Conjugation

Here are a few verb forms of the regular verb andar:

	*Presente*	*Pretérito Perfeito*	*Pretérito Imperfeito*
Eu	ando	andei	andava
Tu	andas	andaste	andavas
Você Ele, ela	anda	andou	andava
Nós	andamos	andamos	andávamos
Vocês Eles, elas	andam	andaram	andavam

Learn more about Portuguese regular verbs:
Portuguese Regular Verbs and Conjugation Patterns in the Present Tense
Portuguese Regular Verbs for the Past Tense

Usage

Walk

Andar means, of course, ‘walk’:

O Pedro gosta de andar a pé.
Pedro likes to walk.

A Susana anda 9 km todos os dias.
Susana walks 9 km every day.

Greetings

We use andar when we greet other people, as in ‘What’s up’?:

Então, como andas?
Hi, what’s up?

Olá, como é que tens andado?
Hi, how have you been?

Lately

We also use andar to talk about things we’ve been doing lately:

Ando a estudar Alemão.
I’ve been reading German.

Olá, como é que tens andado?
Hi, how have you been?

Or to talk about how we’ve been getting on or feeling lately:

Ando preocupado ultimamente.
I’ve been worrying lately.

Tens andado calmo?
Have you been feeling calm?

Means of transport

We use andar to refer to means of transport:

Eu ando muito de comboio.
I use the train a lot.

A Patrícia tem medo de andar de avião.
Patrícia is afraid of planes.

Costumas andar de bicicleta?
Do you cycle often?

As mentioned in the introduction, it is in this context (means of transport) that the confusion between andar and ir arises.

Again, as soon as we mention direction or final destination, we want to use ir instead of andar. Let’s then look more closely at this other verb.

Ir

Conjugation

Here are a few conjugations for the irregular verb ir:

	*Presente*	*Pretérito Perfeito*	*Pretérito Imperfeito*
Eu	vou	fui	ia
Tu	vais	foste	ias
Você Ele, ela	vai	foi	ia
Nós	vamos	fomos	íamos
Vocês Eles, elas	vão	foram	iam

Although irregular in the Present tense, ir is regular in the Imperfect (Pretérito Imperfeito). Learn more about Portuguese irregular verbs: Portuguese Must-Know Irregular Verbs.

Usage

Go

Granted, ir is the Portuguese equivalent of go and we use it to express movement (towards a final destination).

– Onde vais?
– Vou à mercearia.

– Where are you going?
– I am going to the grocery store.

And so, we say ir de, not andar de, when we mention the means of transport that takes us to the final destination:

Hoje vou de comboio à aldeia dos meus pais.
Today, I’m taking the train to my parents’ village.

A Patrícia foi de carro a Paris.
Patrícia went to Paris by car.

Costumas ir de bicicleta para o trabalho?
Do you normally cycle to work?

Future time

Finally, we use ir as an auxiliary verb to mark the future time (analogously to the structure be going to):

Amanhã, vou estudar o dia inteiro.
Tomorrow, I’m going to study for the whole day.

Vais adorar este sumo. Prova!
You’re going to love this juice. Give it a try!

Learn more about Portuguese verb tenses: Portuguese Verb Tenses and Moods Explained: A Usage Rundown Anchored to English