Portuguese Verb Andar

While the Portuguese verb “andar” seems ordinary, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Often, “andar” takes on different meanings beyond walking. Read on

Walk

That’s right. “Andar” is Portuguese for  “walk”:

Ando muito todos os dias.
I walk a lot every day.

Andar é saudável.
Walking is healthy.

Means of Transport

We also use “andar” to refer to means of transport:

• Andar de bicicleta. (Cycling)
• Andar de barco. (Riding a boat)
• Andar de carro. (Driving a car)
• Andar de comboio. (Taking the train)

Notice the preposition “de” between the verb and the means of transport. There are a couple of exceptions where we use “a” instead:

• Andar a pé. (Going by foot)
• Andar a cavalo. (Riding a horse)

Here are a couple of sentences:

A Maria anda de comboio todos os dias.
Maria takes the train every day.

O Joel não gosta de andar de carro.
Joel doesn’t like driving.

Note that no destination is mentioned in the examples above. Crucially, as soon as there’s a destination, we use “ir” and not “andar”:

A Maria vai de comboio todos os dias para o trabalho.
Maria takes the train every day to work.

Andar = Estar

There are situations where “andar” and “estar” are interchangeable:

Como estás/andas?
How have you been?

A Sofia anda/está triste.
Sofia has been sad.

Now, there is a subtle difference between these two verbs. “Estar” covers both the “right now” and “lately” time frames, whereas “andar” only pertains to the latter. 

Thus, in the examples above, “estar” and “andar” are interchangeable because the implicit time frame is that of “lately”. If we switch the time frame over to “right now” or “today,” only “estar” would sound right:

Como estás hoje?
How are you today?

Hoje, a Sofia está triste.
Sofia is sad today.

This difference between the “lately” and “right now” time frames is also apparent when using the Present Continuous equivalent:

Lately
Tu estás/andas a aprender português.
You’ve been learning Portuguese.

Righ-now
Neste moemento, estou a escrever um artigo sobre o verbo andar.
At this very moment, I am writing an article on the verb andar.

As you see, in the first case (lately), either verb will do, but only “estar” is adequate in the second case.