ficar: stay, become, be located

The short answer

Ficar is one of the busiest verbs in Brazilian Portuguese. Its core idea is "to stay" or "to end up", and from there it covers several English verbs: Fiquei em casa (I stayed at home), Ele ficou bravo (he got angry), Onde fica o banheiro? (where's the bathroom?), Pode ficar com o troco (keep the change).

How to form it

Ficar is a regular -ar verb with one spelling change: before -ei, the c becomes qu to keep its hard sound, so the eu past is fiquei.

For commands, speech uses fica (Fica tranquilo!, don't worry!) and careful writing uses fique (Fique à vontade, make yourself at home).

When to use it

• Stay, remain: Hoje vou ficar em casa. A gente ficou três dias em Belém.
• Get, become + adjective, for moods and changes: ficou bravo (got angry), fiquei feliz (I was happy about it), o céu ficou escuro (the sky went dark), o bolo ficou pronto (the cake was done).
• Be located, for places that don't move: Onde fica a farmácia? Florianópolis fica no Sul.
• Keep, take: Pode ficar com o troco. In a shop, Fico com essa means "I'll take this one".
• Keep doing, spend time doing + gerund: Fiquei esperando meia hora (I was stuck waiting for half an hour).
• Turn out, come to: A foto ficou linda. Quanto ficou? (How much does it come to?)
• Suit: Essa cor fica bem em você.

• Ontem choveu e eu fiquei em casa.It rained yesterday and I stayed at home.stay
• Quando viu a conta, o Thiago ficou bravo.When he saw the bill, Thiago got angry.get, become
• Com licença, onde fica a rodoviária?Excuse me, where's the bus station?be located
• A gente ficou quarenta minutos esperando o ônibus.We were stuck waiting for the bus for forty minutes.keep doing

Contrasts and traps

• estar or ficar? Estar describes a state, ficar the change into it: Ela está nervosa (she is nervous) but Ela ficou nervosa (she got nervous). In the past this matters a lot: estava triste = was sad, ficou triste = became sad.
• Location: ficar or estar? Use ficar for buildings, streets and cities. For things and people that move around, use estar, or cadê in speech: Onde está a chave? Cadê o João?
• ficar or tornar-se? Tornar-se (informally virar) is for big, lasting changes of identity: Ela se tornou médica. Moods and everyday results take ficar.
• nervoso in Brazil often means upset or angry: O motorista ficou nervoso can mean the driver lost his temper.
• ficar com alguém (informal) means having a casual romance with someone. To arrange to meet a friend, say marcar com alguém: Marquei com a Bia às oito.
• No reflexive pronoun: fiquei em casa, never me fiquei.

If you speak Spanish

Ficar covers three Spanish verbs: quedarse (me quedé en casa → fiquei em casa), quedar for location (¿dónde queda? → onde fica?) and ponerse with moods (se puso nervioso → ficou nervoso). Drop the pronoun, write -ei for eu (fiquei, not fiqué), and remember that quedé con Ana (to meet up) is marquei com a Ana.