How to Approach Verb Conjugation in Portuguese

Portuguese verb conjugation can be daunting for language learners, no doubt. But with the right approach and consistent practice, you can most definitely overcome it. 

And believe me, it is well worth your effort! A good grasp of verb conjugation is essential for effective communication – it’ll give control over changes in tense, aspect, mood, or subject to suit the context.

Let’s explore a few strategies and resources that will help you improve your Portuguese verb conjugation skills.

Start with regular conjugation

Build a strong foundation in Portuguese verb conjugation from the ground up – learn the conjugational patterns of regular verbs before anything else.

In Portuguese, there are 3 groups of regular verbs whose infinitive forms end in -ar, –er, and –ir. 

Each group follows a conjugational pattern you can apply to any regular verb belonging to that group. Once you learn those patterns well, you can conjugate any regular verb at will. And there are plenty of them…

Here’s an example in the Present tense for each group (conjugational patterns in bold):

	ANDAR	COMER	PARTIR
eu	ando	como	parto
tu	andas	comes	partes
ela	anda	come	parte
nós	andamos	comemos	partimos
vocês	andam	comem	partem
elas	andam	comem	partem

Here are a couple of reads for you to dig deeper into this topic: 
Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Present Tense
Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Past Tense

Focus on the Indicative mood

We all know that language learners dread the Subjunctive mood. I can’t blame them. But guess what, for the most part, learners do well without it. 

It is not until you become a seasoned intermediate-level learner that you want to start digging into the Subjunctive Mood. Beginners should not bother. 

Focus on the Indicative mood instead, namely the Present and Past tenses. That alone will take you far.

Here are a couple of reads for you to dig deeper into this topic: 
Portuguese Present Tense – Usage Rundown Anchored to English
Portuguese Past Tense – Usage Rundown Anchored to English

Learn well the Portuguese Past tense

The Past tense in Portuguese is tricky for many language learners. See, Romance languages tend to have distinct aspects of the Past tense. In Portuguese specifically, there are the Pretérito Perfeito and Pretérito Imperfeito.

Simply put, the former pertains to completed past actions whereas the latter relates to repetitive or continuous past actions. This might sound abstract, but you’ll eventually get the hang of it with continued practice.

Developing a solid understanding of the Perfeito vs. Imperfeito usage is a relevant milestone on your learning journey – a prerequisite to stepping into the intermediate level.

You might want to take a peek at my online course on this topic: Perfeito vs. Imperfeito.

Prioritize high-frequency verbs

There are a few verb pearls you can’t do without. These are high-frequency verbs – verbs we use all the time – that also have wide usage, that is, they mean different things in different contexts.

Here is a list of high-frequency verbs whose conjugation and usage you should learn well as soon as possible:

• Ser
• Estar
• Ter
• Haver
• Ficar
• Poder
• Ir
• Saber
• Fazer
• Dar

Now, these high-frequency verbs tend to have irregular conjugation, like Be in English. However, putting in the time to master their conjugation and usage pays off very well – it will significantly improve your speaking skills and idiomatic feel for Portuguese.

Take a look at my online course on Portuguese verb pearls: Verb Gems.

Always have a Verb App at hand

There are a handful of apps out there that will have any verb conjugated for you (in any Tense/Mood). All you need to do is to type in the Infinitive form of the verb in question and click “Conjugar/Conjugate”.  Priberam and Reverso Context are examples of such tools.