Buscar is the verb you reach for when you go somewhere to get someone or something and bring it back — to fetch, to pick up. It also means to search for / seek, especially in more formal or abstract contexts. It is a regular -ar verb whose only twist is the c→qu spelling change before e (busquei, busque). The real learning challenge is distinguishing it from its close cousins procurar, pegar, and the directional pair levar/trazer.
Core meanings
- buscar = to fetch / pick up (go get and bring back). This is the dominant everyday meaning in Brazil, almost always with ir buscar: ir buscar alguém no aeroporto (pick someone up at the airport).
- buscar = to search for / seek (more formal, often abstract): buscar uma solução, buscar emprego, buscar a verdade.
Eu vou buscar meu filho na escola às três.
I'm going to pick up my son from school at three.
A empresa busca novos talentos para a equipe.
The company is seeking new talent for the team. (formal)
buscar vs. procurar vs. pegar
This trio overlaps with English "get / look for / pick up," so English speakers blur them. Keep the distinctions:
- buscar — go to a place, get the thing, and bring it back. Motion + retrieval. Vou buscar o bolo na padaria.
- procurar — to look for / search (you don't necessarily find it; the focus is the searching). Estou procurando minhas chaves.
- pegar — to grab / take / pick up in your hand, often without the round-trip journey. Pega aquele copo pra mim.
Estou procurando um apartamento perto do metrô.
I'm looking for an apartment near the subway. (the search, not the fetching)
Pega o controle remoto aí na mesa, por favor.
Grab the remote from the table there, please.
Vou buscar o controle remoto que ficou no carro.
I'll go get the remote that was left in the car. (trip + retrieval)
The c→qu spelling change
Like ficar, tocar, and brincar, buscar must protect its hard /k/ sound. Before an e, the c is written qu: pretérito busquei, present subjunctive and imperative busque, busquem.... The pronunciation is unchanged; only the spelling adapts.
Conjugation
Presente do indicativo
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| eu | busco |
| tu / você | busca |
| ele / ela | busca |
| nós | buscamos |
| vocês | buscam |
| eles / elas | buscam |
Pretérito perfeito
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| eu | busquei (c→qu) |
| tu / você | buscou |
| ele / ela | buscou |
| nós | buscamos |
| vocês | buscaram |
| eles / elas | buscaram |
Pretérito imperfeito
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| eu | buscava |
| tu / você | buscava |
| ele / ela | buscava |
| nós | buscávamos |
| vocês | buscavam |
| eles / elas | buscavam |
Futuro do presente
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| eu | buscarei |
| tu / você | buscará |
| ele / ela | buscará |
| nós | buscaremos |
| vocês | buscarão |
| eles / elas | buscarão |
Futuro do pretérito (conditional)
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| eu | buscaria |
| tu / você | buscaria |
| ele / ela | buscaria |
| nós | buscaríamos |
| vocês | buscariam |
| eles / elas | buscariam |
Presente do subjuntivo
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| (que) eu | busque (c→qu) |
| (que) tu / você | busque |
| (que) ele / ela | busque |
| (que) nós | busquemos |
| (que) vocês | busquem |
| (que) eles / elas | busquem |
Imperfeito do subjuntivo
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| (se) eu | buscasse |
| (se) tu / você | buscasse |
| (se) ele / ela | buscasse |
| (se) nós | buscássemos |
| (se) vocês | buscassem |
| (se) eles / elas | buscassem |
Futuro do subjuntivo
| Pessoa | Forma |
|---|---|
| (quando) eu | buscar |
| (quando) tu / você | buscares |
| (quando) ele / ela | buscar |
| (quando) nós | buscarmos |
| (quando) vocês | buscarem |
| (quando) eles / elas | buscarem |
The future subjunctive keeps c (its endings start with a or consonants, never e).
Imperativo
| Pessoa | Afirmativo | Negativo |
|---|---|---|
| você | busque | não busque |
| nós | busquemos | não busquemos |
| vocês | busquem | não busquem |
Formas nominais (non-finite)
| Forma | Conjugação |
|---|---|
| Infinitivo impessoal | buscar |
| Infinitivo pessoal | buscar / buscares / buscar / buscarmos / buscarem / buscarem |
| Gerúndio | buscando |
| Particípio | buscado |
Usage in context
Você pode me buscar no aeroporto amanhã de manhã?
Can you pick me up at the airport tomorrow morning?
Ontem eu busquei as crianças na escola debaixo de chuva.
Yesterday I picked up the kids from school in the rain.
Quando você buscar o carro na oficina, me avisa.
When you pick up the car from the shop, let me know.
A gente ainda busca uma explicação para o que aconteceu.
We're still searching for an explanation for what happened.
Espero que ele busque ajuda profissional logo.
I hope he seeks professional help soon.
Vai lá buscar um copo d'água pra vovó, por favor.
Go get a glass of water for grandma, please.
buscar in the levar/trazer family
Buscar fits into the directional system of levar (take away from here) and trazer (bring toward here). Buscar is the go-and-retrieve move: you leave, go to where the thing is, and come back with it. That is why it pairs so naturally with ir ("vou buscar") — the going is built into the meaning.
PT-PT contrast
Conjugation is identical in Portugal. The two varieties agree on buscar = fetch/seek, but European Portuguese uses ir buscar even more pervasively for routine "pick up" situations, and uses procurar with similar boundaries. The progressive again differs: estar a buscar (PT) vs. estar buscando (BR).
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu buscei meu irmão na rodoviária.
Incorrect spelling — the 1sg preterite needs c→qu: busquei.
✅ Eu busquei meu irmão na rodoviária.
I picked up my brother at the bus station.
❌ Estou buscando minhas chaves há meia hora e não acho.
Odd register — for 'searching (and not finding)', procurar is more natural here.
✅ Estou procurando minhas chaves há meia hora e não acho.
I've been looking for my keys for half an hour and can't find them.
❌ Busca aquele livro na estante pra mim. — when you just want it handed over
Misleading — if no trip is involved, use pega (grab).
✅ Pega aquele livro na estante pra mim.
Grab that book from the shelf for me.
❌ Quando eu busquer o carro...
Incorrect — the future subjunctive is 'buscar', no qu (endings don't start with e).
✅ Quando eu buscar o carro, te ligo.
When I pick up the car, I'll call you.
The recurring trap is overusing buscar where Brazilians would say procurar (pure searching) or pegar (simple grabbing). Anchor buscar to the idea of a round trip: you go, you get, you return. And never forget the c→qu before e in busquei and busque.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Levar vs Trazer vs Buscar: Carrying VerbsA2 — How deixis decides between levar (take away), trazer (bring here), and buscar/pegar (go fetch, grab) in Brazilian Portuguese.
- Spelling-Change VerbsA2 — Verbs that change spelling — but not sound — to protect a consonant's pronunciation across the conjugation.
- ProcurarA2 — The fully regular -ar verb 'procurar' (to look for, search, seek), with no spelling change (procuro, procurei, procure), the optional 'procurar por', the formal 'procurar + infinitive' (to try to), and the contrast with 'buscar'.
- PegarA1 — The high-frequency -ar verb 'pegar' (to grab, take, catch, pick up), its g→gu spelling change (peguei, pegue), the double participle pego/pegado, and essential BR expressions like 'pegar o ônibus' and 'pegar no sono'.
- TrazerA1 — How to conjugate and use trazer (to bring) in Brazilian Portuguese — a highly irregular -er verb — covering its tricky stems (trago, trouxe, trarei, traga, trouxer) and its deictic contrast with levar (to take).