Ler means to read. It looks like a tiny, harmless verb — only three letters — but it is genuinely irregular, and its present tense is one of the small set of forms that even fluent learners misspell. The whole verb hangs on one quirk: where a regular verb keeps a single stem, ler splits into a stem with an -i- (leio) and a bare stem (lê, lemos). Get that pattern right and the rest follows. Get it wrong and you produce forms that simply don't exist in Portuguese.
Why ler is irregular
A regular -er verb like comer keeps the same stem (com-) throughout: como, come, comemos. Ler can't do this because its root is just l-, which is too thin to carry the endings on its own. So the language inserts a glide. In the eu form an -ei- appears (leio), and in forms where the stress falls on the ending you get a long ê (lê, lemos). This is exactly the same machinery that drives ver (vejo / vê) and crer (creio / crê) — the three verbs are usually taught together, and you can see them side by side on the irregular ver/ler/crer page.
Indicative tenses
Presente do indicativo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | leio |
| tu | lês |
| você / ele / ela | lê |
| nós | lemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | leem |
Three spelling traps live in this one table. The lê form (3rd singular) keeps its circumflex — it's a stressed, closed ê. The leem form (3rd plural) is spelled with two e's and no accent at all under the 1990 spelling reform; pre-reform texts wrote lêem, but that circumflex is gone in modern BR. And leio is the only form with the -i-.
Eu leio um pouco todas as noites antes de dormir.
I read a little every night before going to sleep.
Ela lê três livros por mês, é impressionante.
She reads three books a month, it's impressive.
Meus alunos não leem o suficiente.
My students don't read enough.
Pretérito perfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | li |
| tu | leste |
| você / ele / ela | leu |
| nós | lemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | leram |
The preterite is short and clean: li, leu, leram. Note that lemos is identical in present and preterite — context decides. The eu form li has no accent (it's a one-syllable word ending in a stressed -i).
Já li esse livro duas vezes.
I've already read that book twice.
Você leu a mensagem que mandei ontem?
Did you read the message I sent yesterday?
Pretérito imperfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | lia |
| tu | lias |
| você / ele / ela | lia |
| nós | líamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | liam |
The imperfect is regular — the irregularity disappears once you leave the present. Endings are the standard -er/-ir imperfect set -ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, -iam. Note the acute on líamos.
Quando criança, eu lia gibi escondido na aula.
As a kid, I used to read comics secretly in class.
Futuro do presente
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | lerei |
| tu | lerás |
| você / ele / ela | lerá |
| nós | leremos |
| vocês / eles / elas | lerão |
Built regularly on the infinitive ler. In everyday BR speech you'll hear vou ler far more often than this synthetic future.
Futuro do pretérito (conditional)
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | leria |
| tu | lerias |
| você / ele / ela | leria |
| nós | leríamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | leriam |
Eu leria esse livro de novo numa boa.
I'd happily read that book again.
Subjunctive
Presente do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | leia |
| tu | leias |
| você / ele / ela | leia |
| nós | leiamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | leiam |
The present subjunctive is built on the eu form leio: drop the -o and add the -a endings, so the -i- glide carries through the whole paradigm: leia, leiamos, leiam. This is the same logic as ver → veja. Note that leiamos has no accent (the stress sits on the a).
Quero que você leia isso com calma.
I want you to read this carefully.
É importante que as crianças leiam todos os dias.
It's important that children read every day.
Imperfeito do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | lesse |
| tu | lesses |
| você / ele / ela | lesse |
| nós | lêssemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | lessem |
Built on the preterite stem (le- from leram). The nós form lêssemos takes a circumflex on the closed e.
Se eu lesse mais devagar, entenderia melhor.
If I read more slowly, I'd understand better.
Futuro do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | ler |
| tu | leres |
| você / ele / ela | ler |
| nós | lermos |
| vocês / eles / elas | lerem |
The future subjunctive of ler is identical to the infinitive in the eu/ele forms. This tense is extremely common after quando and se referring to the future.
Quando você ler o contrato, me avisa.
When you read the contract, let me know.
Imperative
| Pronoun | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tu | lê | não leias |
| você | leia | não leia |
| nós | leiamos | não leiamos |
| vocês | leiam | não leiam |
In most of BR the everyday command form is leia (você), which is identical to the present subjunctive. The affirmative tu form lê is the bare present indicative.
Leia as instruções antes de montar o móvel.
Read the instructions before assembling the furniture.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Infinitivo pessoal — eu | ler |
| Infinitivo pessoal — tu | leres |
| Infinitivo pessoal — você/ele/ela | ler |
| Infinitivo pessoal — nós | lermos |
| Infinitivo pessoal — vocês/eles/elas | lerem |
| Gerúndio | lendo |
| Particípio | lido |
The gerund lendo and participle lido are both regular. Estou lendo ("I'm reading") is the standard BR progressive — note that BR uses estar + gerúndio, whereas PT-PT prefers estar a ler.
Passei a tarde inteira lendo no sofá.
I spent the whole afternoon reading on the couch.
Prepositions and usage
Ler is normally transitive — you read something directly, with no preposition: ler um livro, ler o jornal. To say you read about a topic, use ler sobre; to say you read something in a source, use ler em.
Li sobre esse caso no jornal de hoje.
I read about that case in today's newspaper.
A handy idiom: ler a sorte de alguém (to read someone's fortune) and ler nas entrelinhas (to read between the lines).
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu leo o jornal todo dia.
Incorrect — the eu form needs the -i- glide.
✅ Eu leio o jornal todo dia.
I read the newspaper every day.
❌ Eles lêem muito devagar.
Incorrect — under the AO90 spelling reform, leem has no circumflex.
✅ Eles leem muito devagar.
They read very slowly.
❌ Quero que você lê este artigo.
Incorrect — after 'quero que' use the subjunctive leia.
✅ Quero que você leia este artigo.
I want you to read this article.
❌ Eu li sobre o livro inteiro ontem.
Incorrect — direct objects take no preposition; 'ler sobre' means read ABOUT a topic.
✅ Eu li o livro inteiro ontem.
I read the whole book yesterday.
❌ Estou a ler agora.
Understood but PT-PT; BR uses the gerund.
✅ Estou lendo agora.
I'm reading right now.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Present Indicative of Ver, Ler, and CrerA2 — Three short irregular -er verbs — ver (see), ler (read), crer (believe) — that share a -j-/-i- intrusion in the eu form and a double-vowel ending in the third-person plural.
- Pretérito Perfeito of Dar, Ler, Rir, and CrerA2 — How to conjugate the short verbs dar (to give), ler (to read), rir (to laugh), and crer (to believe) in the Brazilian Portuguese preterite.
- AprenderA1 — Full conjugation and usage of aprender (to learn), a model regular -er verb with the obligatory 'aprender a + infinitive'.
- 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.