Brazilian Portuguese leans heavily on a small set of "light verbs" — tomar, fazer, dar, ter, pegar — that carry little meaning of their own but team up with specific nouns to express enormously common everyday actions. The trouble for English speakers is that English maps these actions onto different verbs: we "take" a shower but "make" a decision, where Portuguese uses tomar for both. Pick the English-literal verb (fazer um banho for "take a shower") and you instantly sound foreign. This page gives you the high-frequency pairings, grouped by light verb, so you can learn them as fixed chunks.
TOMAR — "take / have" actions
Tomar covers showering, drinking, and many "take" actions where English would never use "take."
| Collocation | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| tomar banho | take a shower / bath | NOT *pegar / fazer banho |
| tomar café | have coffee / have breakfast | "tomar café da manhã" = eat breakfast |
| tomar uma decisão | make a decision | NOT *fazer uma decisão |
| tomar cuidado | be careful / take care | "Toma cuidado!" = Watch out! |
| tomar conta (de) | take care of / look after | tomar conta de uma criança |
| tomar remédio | take medicine | NOT *fazer remédio |
| tomar sol | sunbathe | literally "take sun" |
Vou tomar banho e já desço pra gente jantar.
I'll take a shower and come right down so we can have dinner. (informal)
Toma cuidado com o degrau, tá escorregadio.
Be careful with the step, it's slippery. (informal)
A vizinha toma conta das crianças quando eu trabalho.
The neighbor looks after the kids when I work.
FAZER — "do / make" actions
Fazer is the workhorse "do/make" verb, but it also collocates with nouns where English uses a completely different verb — most famously fazer uma pergunta ("ask a question") and fazer falta ("to be missed").
| Collocation | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| fazer uma pergunta | ask a question | NOT *perguntar uma pergunta |
| fazer um favor | do a favor | "Me faz um favor?" |
| fazer compras | go shopping | "fazer mercado" = grocery shopping |
| fazer aniversário | have a birthday / turn (an age) | "Ela faz aniversário amanhã." |
| fazer sentido | make sense | "Não faz sentido." |
| fazer falta | to be missed / be sorely needed | "Você me faz falta." |
| fazer as pazes | make up / make peace | after an argument |
Posso te fazer uma pergunta meio pessoal?
Can I ask you a kind of personal question? (informal)
Sua avó faz aniversário no domingo, não esquece.
Your grandmother has her birthday on Sunday, don't forget. (informal)
Sei que a gente brigou, mas eu queria fazer as pazes.
I know we fought, but I wanted to make up. (informal)
Desde que você mudou, você faz muita falta aqui.
Ever since you moved, you're really missed here.
DAR — "give" and a world of expressions
Dar ("to give") generates a huge family of collocations, many idiomatic. The high-frequency literal-ish ones below are essential at A2.
| Collocation | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| dar aula | teach / give a class | "Ela dá aula de inglês." |
| dar uma olhada | take a look | NOT *ver uma olhada |
| dar certo | to work out / go right | "Vai dar certo!" |
| dar um jeito | sort it out / find a way | very Brazilian; see jeitinho |
| dar uma risada | have a laugh | "demos uma boa risada" |
| dar conta (de) | handle / cope with | "Não dou conta de tudo." |
| dar problema | cause a problem / go wrong | "O carro deu problema." |
Deixa eu dar uma olhada no seu celular pra ver o que tá rolando.
Let me take a look at your phone to see what's going on. (informal)
Relaxa, a gente dá um jeito nisso.
Relax, we'll figure this out. (informal)
Não sei se vou dar conta de tanta coisa essa semana.
I don't know if I can handle so much this week.
TER — states expressed as "having"
Where English uses to be + adjective ("I'm scared," "I'm in a hurry"), Portuguese often uses ter + noun ("I have fear," "I have hurry"). This is a major structural difference English speakers must internalize.
| Collocation | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ter razão | to be right | NOT *estar certo for "be right" in argument |
| ter medo (de) | to be afraid (of) | "Tenho medo de altura." |
| ter saudade (de) | to miss / long for | untranslatable noun; see saudade |
| ter vontade (de) | to feel like / want to | "Tô com vontade de sair." |
| ter sorte | to be lucky | "Você teve sorte!" |
| ter pressa | to be in a hurry | "Não tenho pressa." |
Você tem razão, eu não devia ter falado aquilo.
You're right, I shouldn't have said that.
Tô com uma saudade enorme da minha família.
I miss my family so much. (informal — note 'estar com' as a common variant)
Calma, a gente não tem pressa nenhuma.
Relax, we're in no hurry at all. (informal)
PEGAR — "catch / grab" collocations
Pegar ("to grab/catch") has its own cluster, several of which trip up learners because English uses "get," "catch," or "hit."
| Collocation | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| pegar sol | get some sun / sunbathe | compare "tomar sol" |
| pegar fila | stand in line / hit a queue | "Peguei uma fila enorme." |
| pegar trânsito | hit traffic | "Peguei muito trânsito." |
| pegar no sono | fall asleep | NOT *cair no sono usually |
| pegar um resfriado | catch a cold | "Peguei um resfriado feio." |
Saí cedo mas mesmo assim peguei um trânsito horrível.
I left early but still hit terrible traffic. (informal)
Demorei pra pegar no sono ontem, tava agitado.
It took me a while to fall asleep yesterday, I was restless. (informal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Vou fazer um banho antes do jantar.
Incorrect — English-style 'make/take a bath'; the verb for banho is 'tomar'.
✅ Vou tomar um banho antes do jantar.
I'll take a shower before dinner.
❌ Quero perguntar uma pergunta.
Incorrect — redundant; questions are 'asked' with 'fazer', not 'perguntar'.
✅ Quero fazer uma pergunta.
I want to ask a question.
❌ Eu sou com medo de cachorro.
Incorrect — fear is 'had', not expressed with 'ser'; use 'ter medo' / 'estar com medo'.
✅ Eu tenho medo de cachorro.
I'm afraid of dogs.
❌ Deixa eu ver uma olhada no documento.
Incorrect — you 'dar' (give) a look, not 'ver' (see) a look.
✅ Deixa eu dar uma olhada no documento.
Let me take a look at the document. (informal)
❌ Acho que isso não faz razão.
Incorrect — mixing collocations; you 'fazer sentido' (make sense) but 'ter razão' (be right).
✅ Acho que isso não faz sentido.
I don't think this makes sense.
Key Takeaways
- BR concentrates everyday actions on a few light verbs: tomar, fazer, dar, ter, pegar.
- The verb-noun pairing is conventional, not logical — tomar banho/decisão, fazer pergunta/falta/as pazes, dar uma olhada/certo, ter razão/medo/pressa.
- English speakers' biggest trap is transferring the English verb (fazer um banho, perguntar uma pergunta).
- States that English builds with be
- adjective often use ter / estar com + noun in Portuguese.
- Learn each noun together with its partner verb as one fixed chunk.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Collocations and Phraseology: OverviewB1 — What collocations are, why they make Brazilian Portuguese sound native rather than translated, the main types, and how they differ from idioms.
- Prepositional CollocationsA2 — The fixed preposition + noun chunks that lock countless Brazilian Portuguese adverbial meanings — de novo, de repente, de cor, à toa, à vontade, por acaso, em vão — where the preposition cannot be swapped.
- FazerA1 — Full conjugation and usage reference for 'fazer' (to do / to make) — one of the most irregular and highest-frequency verbs in Brazilian Portuguese.
- TomarA1 — How to conjugate and use tomar in Brazilian Portuguese — a regular -ar verb that is the everyday word for drinking beverages, taking medicine, taking transport, taking a shower, and making decisions.
- DarA1 — Full conjugation and usage reference for 'dar' (to give) — a highly irregular -ar verb at the heart of dozens of everyday Brazilian idioms.
- TerA1 — How to conjugate and use ter (to have) in Brazilian Portuguese — the highly irregular verb for possession, the everyday existential 'there is/are', age, physical states, and the universal compound auxiliary.