Today we’re going to start a series about Portuguese verbs. First, we’re going to start with the easiest tense (present), working with regular verbs.

In spoken Portuguese, the four tenses you will most frequently hear are eu (I), você/ele/ela (you/he/she), nós (we) and vocês/eles/elas (all of you/them/them), so we’re going to focus on them.

Let’s use falar (to say/speak) as an example. With regular verbs in the present tense, we cut off the last two letters of the infinitive. With an “ar verb”, we add “o,” “a,” “amos” and “am.”

Eu: falo    [ee-ew fah-loo]

Você/Ele/Ela: fala         [voh-say/eh-lee/eh-lah fah-lah]

Nós: falamos         [nois fah-lah-mos]

Vocês/Eles/Elas: falam     [voh-says/eh-leez/eh-las fah-lam]

Let’s look at an “er” verb, comer (to eat). Here, we follow the same rules, except instead of an “a,” we use “e.”

Eu: como    [ee-ew coh-moo]

Você/Ele/Ela: come      [voh-say/eh-lee/eh-lah coh-mee]

Nós: comemos     [nois coh-meh-mos]

Vocês/Eles/Elas: comem    [voh-says/eh-leez/eh-las coh-menn]

Finally, let’s look at an “ir” verb, assistir (to watch). This time, we use “e,” “imos,” and “em.”

Eu: assisto   [ee-ew ahs-eest-oo]

Você/Ele/Ela: assiste     [voh-say/eh-lee/eh-lah ahs-ees-chee]

Nós: assistimos     [nois ahs-ees-chee-mos]

Vocês/Eles/Elas: assistem    [voh-says/eh-leez/eh-las ahs-ees-tehnn]