Prepositions Required by Verbs | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

In English, most verbs take their object directly: I like coffee, I need money, I trust you. Portuguese is different. A large class of verbs lexically selects a preposition — they refuse to touch their object without de, a, em, com, or por in between. This is called regência verbal, verb government. The hard truth is that there is no rule that predicts which preposition a verb takes; the verb and its preposition are stored together as a single unit, the way you'd memorize an English phrasal verb (depend on, listen to, think about). Learn gostar de, precisar de, pensar em as indivisible chunks and your Portuguese will instantly sound more native.

Why the preposition is part of the verb

The cleanest way to think about this: in English you also say depend on, not just depend. You'd never say "I depend you." The preposition is welded to the verb's meaning. Portuguese simply has many more such verbs, and the prepositions rarely match the English ones.

Eu gosto muito de café com leite de manhã.

I really like coffee with milk in the morning.

Tudo depende do tempo amanhã.

It all depends on the weather tomorrow. (de + o = do)

The mismatch is the whole difficulty: English like and need take direct objects, but Portuguese gostar and precisar both demand de. There is no logic to derive — only the pairing to memorize.

Verbs that take DE

The de group is the largest. Many of these involve liking, needing, remembering, complaining, or giving up — but don't trust the semantics to predict the preposition; trust the list.

Verb + de	Meaning
gostar de	to like
precisar de	to need
depender de	to depend on
lembrar(-se) de	to remember
esquecer(-se) de	to forget
reclamar de	to complain about
desistir de	to give up on
gostar de / cuidar de	to like / to take care of
duvidar de	to doubt
aproveitar(-se) de	to take advantage of

Não esqueci de te avisar, juro que ia ligar.

I didn't forget to let you know, I swear I was going to call.

Ela vive reclamando do trânsito de São Paulo.

She's always complaining about São Paulo traffic. (de + o = do)

Verbs that take A

The a group includes verbs of watching, obeying, answering, and aspiring. Crucially, this is the group Brazilian speech most often abandons, as we'll see below.

Verb + a	Meaning
assistir a	to watch, to attend
obedecer a	to obey
desobedecer a	to disobey
responder a	to answer, respond to
aspirar a	to aspire to
recorrer a	to resort to, turn to
pertencer a	to belong to
referir-se a	to refer to

Vamos assistir ao jogo na casa do meu primo.

We're going to watch the game at my cousin's place. (standard: a + o = ao)

As crianças não obedecem à professora nova.

The kids don't obey the new teacher. (a + a = à)

Verbs that take EM

The em group covers thinking, believing, and insisting. English uses about, in, or on for these — none of which is em's usual translation, which is why this group catches learners off guard.

Verb + em	Meaning
pensar em	to think about
acreditar em	to believe in
crer em	to believe in
insistir em	to insist on
confiar em	to trust
consistir em	to consist of
tocar em	to touch (on)

Tô pensando em mudar de emprego ano que vem.

I'm thinking about changing jobs next year. (informal: tô = estou)

Confio nele de olhos fechados.

I trust him completely. (em + ele = nele)

Note confiar em takes em, where English trust takes a direct object — a classic mismatch. And em + ele contracts to nele, just like em + o = no.

Verbs that take COM

The com group involves dreaming, counting on, marrying, agreeing, and being concerned. English here uses about, on, with, or nothing.

Verb + com	Meaning
sonhar com	to dream about/of
contar com	to count on, rely on
casar(-se) com	to marry
concordar com	to agree with
preocupar-se com	to worry about
parecer-se com	to look like, resemble
importar-se com	to mind, care about
arcar com	to bear (costs/responsibility)

Sonhei com a minha avó essa noite.

I dreamed about my grandmother last night.

Pode contar comigo pra esse projeto.

You can count on me for this project. (com + mim = comigo)

Ela vai casar com o namorado de infância.

She's going to marry her childhood sweetheart.

Watch casar com: English says "marry someone" with no preposition, but Portuguese needs com. And contar com + mim becomes the special form comigo (just as com + você stays com você but com + mim/ti/si gives comigo/contigo/consigo).

When the preposition changes the meaning

Some verbs take different prepositions to mean different things. The preposition is doing real semantic work, not decoration.

Verb + prep	Meaning
pensar em	to think about (have on your mind)
pensar de	to have an opinion of
sonhar com	to dream about (while sleeping / aspirationally)
contar com	to count on someone
contar (a alguém)	to tell (someone something)
responder a	to answer (a question, a person)
responder por	to be answerable for

O que você pensa dele como chefe?

What do you think of him as a boss? (pensar de = have an opinion; de + ele = dele)

Quem responde por esse setor?

Who's answerable for this department? (responder por)

The big Brazilian caveat: spoken speech bends the rules

Here is the honest part. Prescriptive grammar demands assistir a o jogo, obedecer a os pais, responder a uma pergunta. But everyday Brazilian Portuguese routinely drops or swaps these prepositions, treating the verbs as if they took direct objects like in English.

Ontem assisti o filme novo do Tarantino.

Yesterday I watched the new Tarantino film. (colloquial: standard would be assisti AO filme)

Você pode me responder uma coisa?

Can you answer me one thing? (colloquial; prescriptive: responder A uma pergunta)

This is not random error — it is a real, widespread feature of spoken Brazilian Portuguese (informal). In writing, school, and formal registers, the prescriptive preposition is expected. The safe strategy: use the standard preposition (assistir ao jogo) in anything written or formal, and recognize the prepositionless colloquial version when you hear it.

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For the verbs in the a group especially, expect a register split: assistir ao jogo (formal/written) vs. assistir o jogo (everyday speech). Both are out there. If you're being graded or writing, keep the a. If you're chatting, do whatever sounds natural.

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There is no shortcut: the preposition is a property of the verb, not derivable from meaning. Drill the pairings as units — gostar de, pensar em, sonhar com — and contract automatically (gosto disso, penso nisso, sonho com isso).

Common Mistakes

❌ Eu gosto música brasileira.

Incorrect — gostar lexically requires de.

✅ Eu gosto de música brasileira.

I like Brazilian music.

❌ Estou pensando sobre você.

Incorrect — pensar takes em, not sobre, for 'think about someone'.

✅ Estou pensando em você.

I'm thinking about you.

❌ Ela vai casar o vizinho.

Incorrect — casar requires com before the spouse.

✅ Ela vai casar com o vizinho.

She's going to marry the neighbor.

❌ Você pode contar com eu.

Incorrect — com + mim becomes the special form comigo.

✅ Você pode contar comigo.

You can count on me.

❌ Eu confio em ele.

Incorrect — em + ele must contract to nele.

✅ Eu confio nele.

I trust him.

Key Takeaways

Portuguese verbs select their preposition lexically: gostar de, precisar de, assistir a, pensar em, sonhar com. There is no rule — memorize verb + preposition as one unit.
The preposition usually does not match the English one (confiar em = trust, casar com = marry, contar com = count on).
The preposition contracts with whatever follows: gosto disso, penso nele, assisti ao jogo.
Some verbs change meaning with the preposition: pensar em (have on your mind) vs. pensar de (have an opinion).
Brazilian speech often drops the a preposition (assistir o filme), but formal and written registers keep it.

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