Crer

Crer means to believe. It is an irregular -er verb that patterns with ler (to read) and ver (to see) — all three share the same stem-vowel behavior, where a vowel-final stem (cre-) produces forms like creio and creem. The reason this verb sits at B1 rather than A1 is not that it is hard to conjugate — the paradigm is short — but that it is stylistically marked: in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, people overwhelmingly say achar ("I think/reckon") or acreditar ("to believe") instead of crer. Crer survives in fixed expressions, religious and philosophical contexts, formal writing, and a few set phrases. Knowing when not to use it is as important as conjugating it correctly.

When to use crer (and when not to)

In Brazil, the default verbs for "I think / I believe" are:

• achar — the everyday "I think / I reckon" (opinion, guess): Acho que vai chover.
• acreditar — "to believe" (in something, that something is true, in a person): Acredito em você.
• crer — more formal, literary, religious, or rhetorical. It feels elevated in casual conversation.

The two sentences mean nearly the same thing, but the first sounds like a lawyer or a news anchor and the second like a friend. Use crer deliberately, for register, not as your default "believe."

crer em: the core construction

Crer takes the preposition em when you believe in someone or something — faith, trust, conviction:

When believing that a clause is true, crer que (like achar que and acreditar que) introduces the clause directly. With doubt or negation, it can trigger the subjunctive:

Presente do indicativo

This table holds the whole irregularity. The first person is creio (an inserted -i-, exactly like leio, vejo → veem family). The third singular crê keeps its circumflex; the third plural creem has none (AO90). Compare the sibling verbs: ler → leio, lê, leem; ver → vejo, vê, veem. They move in lockstep.

Pretérito perfeito

The first person preterite cri is short and easy to mishear; the third person creu ends in -eu like a regular -er preterite. The nós form cremos is identical in present and preterite.

Pretérito imperfeito

Caution: the imperfect cria/criam is spelled identically to forms of the unrelated verb criar (to raise/create). In practice this is one more reason Brazilians avoid crer in the imperfect and reach for acreditava instead — cria is genuinely ambiguous out of context.

Futuro do presente

The simple future of crer is rare even in writing; it appears mostly in elevated or rhetorical prose.

Futuro do pretérito (conditional)

Subjunctive

Presente do subjuntivo

Built off the creio stem → creia, mirroring leia (from leio) and veja (from vejo).

Imperfeito do subjuntivo

Note the circumflex on the nós form crêssemos (a stressed closed e), but plain e in the others.

Futuro do subjuntivo

The bare crer is identical to the infinitive.

Imperative

The imperative is mostly literary or scriptural — Crê e serás salvo ("Believe and you shall be saved") is the kind of context where you meet it. Note that the tu affirmative crê keeps its circumflex, taken from the present indicative crê minus nothing (it's already monosyllabic).

Non-finite forms

crer vs. acreditar vs. achar

This three-way choice is the practical heart of the verb:

• achar que — your everyday opinion or guess. Lightest, most frequent. Acho que sim. (I think so.)
• acreditar (em / que) — to believe, to trust, to have faith; the neutral, all-purpose "believe." Acredito em você. / Acredito que dá certo.
• crer (em / que) — same meaning as acreditar but formal, literary, or religious. It also lives in fixed phrases: ver para crer ("seeing is believing") and crer piamente ("to believe firmly / devoutly").

Source-language note for English speakers

English "believe" maps onto Portuguese in a way that splits by register, which English doesn't do — "believe" works in both a casual chat and a sermon. So the danger for English speakers is over-using crer because it looks like the "real" translation of "believe." It is the dictionary translation, but it is the marked, formal one. Treat crer the way you'd treat English "deem" or "hold (that)" — correct, but conspicuously elevated. For "I believe you / I believe in you," Brazilians say Acredito em você, not Creio em você (which sounds like a creed). Finally, watch the PT-PT contrast: European Portuguese uses crer somewhat more freely in ordinary speech than Brazil does, so Portuguese textbooks may present it as more neutral than it feels in Brazil.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• crer conjugates with ler and ver: creio, crês, crê, cremos, creem (present).
• AO90 spelling: crê (3sg) keeps the circumflex; creem (3pl) drops it. Likewise leem, veem, deem.
• Preterite: cri, creste, creu, cremos, creram. Present subjunctive: creia / creiamos / creiam. Imperfect subjunctive nós form: crêssemos (with circumflex).
• In real Brazilian speech, prefer achar (opinion) and acreditar (belief/trust); reserve crer for formal, literary, or religious register and the fixed ver para crer.
• The imperfect cria/criam collides with criar — another reason BR avoids it in that tense.