Kilo Lingo

Ch 1 · Lesson 18

Three verb families: falo, fala, falamos

Nearly every verb ends in -ar, -er or -ir ( is the famous odd one out), and each family takes a predictable set of present-tense endings: drop the ending, add the person's.

The short version

Brazilian Portuguese needs fewer endings

.

You speak very well.
Why?

Brazil has largely standardised on for everyday address, and takes the same verb form as and . So one ending covers three pronouns, and the present tense a learner actually needs has four forms rather than the six most textbooks print. That is a real saving; take it.

Every Portuguese verb belongs to one of three families, named for the ending of its infinitive: -ar, -er or -ir. Learn three sets of endings once, and most verbs you meet can be conjugated on sight.

The three families

ending (changes with the person)What do the colours mean?
FamilyExampleEnglishSize
-to speakthe largest, still growing
-erto eatfar smaller, closed
-to leavefar smaller, closed

New verbs join the -ar family: Brazil turned English delete into deletar, and deleto . is I delete the file.

To conjugate, drop the family ending and add the person ending:

falar: drop -ar, add -o: falo, I speak
  • . - I speak Portuguese.

The Portuguese conjugation chart: present tense

All three families side by side, in the forms Brazil uses:

Person-ar: -er: -ir:
/ /
/

Three things to notice in the colour:

  1. is -o in every family. . - I eat bread.
  2. -er and - share their endings except with . but : we eat, we leave.
  3. One form covers , and . . - You speak well.
Six panels following the same woman with long hair and a bow through her day: the alarm clock rings beside her bed while she is still asleep; she stretches as she gets up, the sun at the window; she has breakfast at a table with a bowl, toast and a cup; she talks on the phone; she shops, holding a full bag in front of the shelves; she comes home to her house in the evening.
  1. .
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .
  5. .

Her day in the present tense: the -ar verbs end in -a (acorda, liga, volta), the -er and -ir verbs in -e (come, dorme).

EP: also uses , with its own ending: ?, do you speak Portuguese? Most textbooks print six rows including and vós; Brazil needs four.

Going further: The simple past and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.

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Lesson 18 of 40 in this chapter

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What do the colours mean?