Comer means to eat. It is completely regular and is the textbook model for the entire -er conjugation in Portuguese — if you learn comer perfectly, you can conjugate hundreds of other -er verbs (beber, aprender, correr, vender, comer's neighbors) by simply swapping the stem. There are no stem changes, no spelling tricks, and no irregular forms. This page gives you the clean paradigm to anchor everything else.
How the -er pattern works
A regular -er verb has three parts: the stem (com-), the theme vowel (e), and the ending that marks person and tense. Compared to English, Portuguese packs a lot of information into the ending: where English needs a separate pronoun ("I eat," "we eat"), the Portuguese ending often makes the pronoun optional — como already means "I eat," comemos already means "we eat." The theme vowel e is what distinguishes -er verbs from -ar verbs (theme vowel a) and -ir verbs (theme vowel i); it surfaces clearly in forms like comemos and comeríamos.
Presente do indicativo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | como |
| tu | comes |
| você / ele / ela | come |
| nós | comemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | comem |
The first person como ends in -o (true of nearly all -ar/-er/-ir verbs), and the você/ele/ela form come is the bare stem plus theme vowel.
Eu não como carne, sou vegetariana.
I don't eat meat, I'm vegetarian.
A gente come pizza toda sexta-feira.
We eat pizza every Friday.
Pretérito perfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | comi |
| tu | comeste |
| você / ele / ela | comeu |
| nós | comemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | comeram |
Note that comemos (nós) is identical in the present and the preterite — Portuguese -er and -ir verbs share this overlap, and only context disambiguates. The third-person comeu ends in -eu, the signature preterite ending of -er verbs.
Ontem eu comi demais e passei mal à noite.
Yesterday I ate too much and felt sick at night.
Quem comeu o último brigadeiro?
Who ate the last brigadeiro?
Pretérito imperfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | comia |
| tu | comias |
| você / ele / ela | comia |
| nós | comíamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | comiam |
The -er imperfect uses -ia endings (not -ava, which belongs to -ar verbs). Use it for habits and ongoing past states: "I used to eat."
Na casa da minha avó, a gente comia até não poder mais.
At my grandma's house, we used to eat until we couldn't anymore.
Futuro do presente & futuro do pretérito (conditional)
Both are built on the full infinitive comer-.
| Pronoun | Futuro do presente | Futuro do pretérito |
|---|---|---|
| eu | comerei | comeria |
| tu | comerás | comerias |
| você / ele / ela | comerá | comeria |
| nós | comeremos | comeríamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | comerão | comeriam |
In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, the simple future is usually replaced by ir + infinitive: vou comer rather than comerei. (informal)
Quando você chegar, a gente já vai ter comido.
By the time you arrive, we'll already have eaten.
Eu comeria essa feijoada inteira se pudesse.
I'd eat this whole feijoada if I could.
Presente do subjuntivo
-er verbs take -a endings in the present subjunctive (the "opposite vowel" rule: -ar verbs go to -e, -er/-ir verbs go to -a).
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | coma |
| tu | comas |
| você / ele / ela | coma |
| nós | comamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | comam |
A mãe insiste que as crianças comam mais legumes.
Mom insists that the kids eat more vegetables.
Imperfeito & futuro do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Imperfeito do subjuntivo | Futuro do subjuntivo |
|---|---|---|
| eu | comesse | comer |
| tu | comesses | comeres |
| você / ele / ela | comesse | comer |
| nós | comêssemos | comermos |
| vocês / eles / elas | comessem | comerem |
The future subjunctive of regular -er verbs happens to look identical to the personal infinitive — both are comer, comeres, comer, comermos, comerem. This coincidence does not hold for irregular verbs.
Se você comesse menos açúcar, dormiria melhor.
If you ate less sugar, you'd sleep better.
Quando vocês comerem tudo, podem sair da mesa.
When you finish eating everything, you may leave the table.
Imperativo
| Pronoun | Afirmativo | Negativo |
|---|---|---|
| tu | come | não comas |
| você | coma | não coma |
| nós | comamos | não comamos |
| vocês | comam | não comam |
In Brazil people often mix the tu affirmative come with the otherwise você-based system, so at the dinner table you'll hear both Come tudo! and Coma tudo! for "Eat it all!" (informal)
Come logo que a sopa está esfriando!
Eat up, the soup is getting cold!
Non-finite forms
| Form | Result |
|---|---|
| Infinitivo | comer |
| Infinitivo pessoal (eu / você / ele) | comer |
| Infinitivo pessoal (nós) | comermos |
| Infinitivo pessoal (vocês / eles) | comerem |
| Gerúndio | comendo |
| Particípio | comido |
Meaning, idioms, and register
The core meaning is simply to eat. A few common collocations:
- comer fora — to eat out / dine out
- comer bem — to eat well (a healthy or generous diet)
- comer feito um leão — to eat like a horse (literally "like a lion")
- comer com os olhos — to eye something hungrily ("eat with your eyes")
A gente quase nunca come fora, é caro demais.
We almost never eat out, it's way too expensive.
Depois que comecei a malhar, passei a comer melhor.
After I started working out, I began eating better.
A register warning for comprehension only: in very informal Brazilian slang, comer is also used as a coarse term for having sex (with the subject as the active partner). (vulgar) You should recognize this so you understand jokes and casual speech, but in normal contexts the verb is entirely neutral and means "eat" — the sexual reading depends heavily on context and a human object. Do not avoid the verb; just be aware of the double meaning.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu como carne ontem.
Incorrect — ontem (yesterday) needs the preterite, not the present.
✅ Eu comi carne ontem.
I ate meat yesterday.
❌ Eles comeram → 'comeron'.
Incorrect — that's Spanish; Portuguese 3rd-person plural preterite is -eram, not -eron.
✅ Eles comeram tudo.
They ate everything.
❌ Nós comemos pizza amanhã (meaning future).
Ambiguous — comemos is present/preterite; for a clear future use vamos comer.
✅ Nós vamos comer pizza amanhã.
We're going to eat pizza tomorrow.
❌ Quero que você come mais.
Incorrect — after quero que you need the subjunctive coma.
✅ Quero que você coma mais.
I want you to eat more.
❌ Estou comer agora.
Incorrect — the progressive uses the gerund, not the infinitive.
✅ Estou comendo agora.
I'm eating right now.
Key Takeaways
- Comer is a fully regular -er verb and the model for the whole class.
- Watch the present/preterite overlap in comemos — context decides the tense.
- Present subjunctive takes -a endings: coma, comas, coma, comamos, comam.
- Know the idioms (comer fora, comer bem) and be aware of the slang sense for comprehension only.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Second Conjugation: -er VerbsA1 — The Brazilian Portuguese -er class — regular endings modeled on comer, why so many -er verbs are irregular, and how the imperfect merges -er with -ir.
- The Three Conjugation Classes (-ar, -er, -ir)A1 — How Brazilian Portuguese sorts every verb into three classes by infinitive ending, and what that tells you about its conjugation.
- BeberA1 — Conjugation and usage of beber — to drink — the textbook model for regular -er verbs in Brazilian Portuguese.
- AprenderA1 — Full conjugation and usage of aprender (to learn), a model regular -er verb with the obligatory 'aprender a + infinitive'.
- CorrerA1 — How to conjugate and use correr (to run) in Brazilian Portuguese — a regular -er verb — plus the everyday idioms correr atrás de, correr risco, and the figurative 'tá tudo correndo bem'.
- Present Indicative: Regular -er VerbsA1 — How to conjugate regular -er verbs in the Brazilian Portuguese present indicative — and why so many common -er verbs are irregular.