Present indicative: regular -ar/-er/-ir verbs

What it is

The presente do indicativo (simple present) is the tense you will use most. Brazilians use it for routines, facts, states that are true now and, with a time word, plans for the near future.

Regular verbs fall into three groups by the ending of the infinitive: -ar (falar, to speak), -er (comer, to eat) and -ir (abrir, to open). Drop the ending and add the present endings to the stem: fal- + o = falo.

How to form it

• você ("you") takes the same form as ele and ela: você fala. So does a gente, the everyday Brazilian "we": a gente fala.
• nós with -mos is the "we" of writing and careful speech: nós falamos.
• -er and -ir verbs differ only in the nós form: comemos but abrimos.
• The plural ending -am / -em is unstressed and nasal: FA-lam, CO-mem. Don’t confuse it with the stressed ending -ão.
• In most forms the stress falls on the stem (FA-lo, FA-la), but in the nós form it moves to the ending (fa-LA-mos).
• A few verbs change their spelling to keep their sound: conhecer → eu conheço. They are still regular.

In everyday speech three forms per verb are enough: falo, fala, falam. In the South, the North and parts of the Northeast you will also hear tu, usually with the você form (tu fala) and sometimes with -s (tu falas). Recognise it, but use você.

When to use it

• Eu trabalho de segunda a sexta.I work Monday to Friday.a routine
• A padaria abre às seis.The bakery opens at six.a fact
• Moro em Recife.I live in Recife.true now
• Amanhã eu viajo para Fortaleza.Tomorrow I’m travelling to Fortaleza.a plan, with a time word
• A gente divide a conta?Shall we split the bill?a suggestion

For something happening at this very moment, Brazilians prefer estar + gerund: Tô trabalhando (I’m working right now), which you will meet in unit 11. Verbs like morar, entender and precisar stay in the simple present even for right now: Entendo!

Contrasts and traps

• Você falas ✗ → você fala. The -s form belongs to tu.
• A gente moramos ✗ → a gente mora. A gente looks plural but takes a singular verb.
• Eles falan ✗ → eles falam. The plural ending is spelled with -m.
• Brazilians keep subject pronouns more often than Spanish or Italian speakers, because fala alone could mean você, ele, ela or a gente. Eu moro aqui and Moro aqui are both correct.
• To answer a yes/no question, repeat the verb: Você mora aqui? — Moro. A bare sim can sound curt.

If you speak Spanish

The endings look familiar, but three things trip Spanish speakers up: você takes the 3rd-person form (você fala, never falas), the plural ends in nasal -am/-em (falam, comem), and regular verbs never split their stem vowel (volto, not vuelvo; entendo, not entiendo). Watch the false friends too: acordar means to wake up, pegar to take or catch, and morar is the normal verb for where you live.