Assistir

Assistir is one of the first verbs that trips up English speakers, because it looks exactly like assist but almost never means that. In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, assistir is the verb you use to say you watched a movie, a game, or a show, or that you attended an event. It is a regular -ir verb, so once you know one regular -ir verb you know all of assistir's endings — the only real difficulty is the preposition and the false-friend trap.

Meanings

There are two distinct verbs hiding under one spelling, and they behave differently:

1. assistir a = to watch / to attend / to be present at (intransitive, takes the preposition a). This is the everyday meaning.
2. assistir (no preposition, direct object) = to assist / to aid / to give medical care to (transitive). This is formal and far less common — you hear it in legal, medical, and bureaucratic contexts.

The preposition "a" — and dropping it

Textbook (and prescriptive) grammar says assistir meaning "to watch/attend" requires the preposition a: assistir *ao jogo, assistir à palestra*. The a contracts with the article (a + o = ao, a + a = à).

In colloquial Brazilian speech, however, this a is very often dropped, and assistir is treated like a normal transitive verb: assistir o jogo, assistir um filme. Virtually every Brazilian says this in conversation.

So you will hear both assistir ao filme (careful/formal: keep the a) and assistir o filme (colloquial: drop it). For exams, formal writing, and to sound educated, keep the a. In casual conversation, dropping it is completely normal and won't mark you as wrong.

Conjugation

Assistir is a fully regular -ir verb. The endings are identical to partir, abrir, decidir. Note that Brazilian Portuguese uses six person slots and drops vós entirely; tu is regional and in most of Brazil it takes the você (3rd-person) form anyway.

Presente do indicativo

Pretérito perfeito

Pretérito imperfeito

Futuro do presente

Futuro do pretérito (conditional)

Presente do subjuntivo

Imperfeito do subjuntivo

Futuro do subjuntivo

Imperativo

Formas nominais (non-finite)

Usage in context

Notice the difference in the last example: there is no preposition because it is the to give aid meaning. The victim is a direct object, not something you "watch."

False-friend warning

This is the single most important point about assistir. English assist = help; Portuguese assistir (in its everyday sense) = watch/attend. The overlap with "assist" only survives in a narrow formal meaning of giving aid, and even there Brazilians more often reach for atender, socorrer, or ajudar.

PT-PT contrast

In European Portuguese, assistir is used the same way for "to watch/attend" and also keeps the a: assistir ao jogo. The colloquial dropping of a (assistir o jogo) is much more typical of Brazilian speech; in Portugal it is often considered an error even informally. Also note that the European progressive would be estar a assistir ("estávamos a assistir"), whereas Brazil uses the gerund: estávamos assistindo.

Common Mistakes

The first error — using assistir for ajudar — is the classic transfer error from English. Train yourself to feel that assistir points your eyes at a screen or a stage, never your hands at a task.