Pegar | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Pegar — to grab, take, catch, pick up — is one of the workhorse verbs of everyday Brazilian Portuguese. Where a textbook might use tomar or agarrar, real Brazilians reach for pegar constantly: you pega the bus, pega a cold, pega something off the floor, pega your keys on the way out. Grammatically it is a regular -ar verb with one spelling adjustment (g → gu before e, giving peguei and pegue) and one notable feature: a double past participle, pego (dominant in BR) and pegado (prescriptive, rare).

Conjugation tables

The only twist is orthographic: g before e would be pronounced as a "soft g" (like English j). To keep the hard /g/ sound, Portuguese inserts a silent u: peguei (not pegei), pegue (not pege). This affects the 1sg preterite and the entire present subjunctive + most imperative forms. See spelling changes.

Indicative

Pronoun	Presente	Pretérito perfeito	Pretérito imperfeito	Futuro do presente	Futuro do pretérito
eu	pego	peguei	pegava	pegarei	pegaria
tu/você	pega	pegou	pegava	pegará	pegaria
ele/ela	pega	pegou	pegava	pegará	pegaria
nós	pegamos	pegamos	pegávamos	pegaremos	pegaríamos
vocês	pegam	pegaram	pegavam	pegarão	pegariam
eles/elas	pegam	pegaram	pegavam	pegarão	pegariam

Note: the present-tense pego (eu pego) keeps a hard /g/ and needs no u — because g before o is already pronounced hard, so it is spelled plainly. The u only appears before e, where g would otherwise soften: peguei, pegue.

Subjunctive

Pronoun	Presente do subjuntivo	Imperfeito do subjuntivo	Futuro do subjuntivo
eu	pegue	pegasse	pegar
tu/você	pegue	pegasses / pegasse	pegares / pegar
ele/ela	pegue	pegasse	pegar
nós	peguemos	pegássemos	pegarmos
vocês	peguem	pegassem	pegarem
eles/elas	peguem	pegassem	pegarem

Imperative, non-finite

Pronoun	Imperativo afirmativo	Imperativo negativo
você	pegue	não pegue
nós	peguemos	não peguemos
vocês	peguem	não peguem

Form	Conjugation
Infinitivo impessoal	pegar
Infinitivo pessoal	pegar / pegar / pegar / pegarmos / pegarem / pegarem
Gerúndio	pegando
Particípio	pego / pegado

💡

The u in peguei and pegue is silent — it is a spelling device, not a pronounced vowel, that keeps the g hard /g/ before e. Without it, pegei / pege would be read with a soft /ʒ/ ("pejei"). The same trick appears in chegar → cheguei, jogar → joguei, pagar → paguei.

The double participle: pego vs pegado

Pegar is an abundant verb — it has two past participles. Prescriptive grammar once reserved pegado for compound tenses with ter/haver and pego for passives with ser/estar. In modern Brazilian usage that distinction has collapsed: pego dominates everywhere, with both auxiliaries.

Eu tinha pego o ônibus errado e acabei do outro lado da cidade.

I had taken the wrong bus and ended up on the other side of town.

O ladrão foi pego pela polícia ontem à noite.

The thief was caught by the police last night.

You will occasionally see pegado in careful formal writing ("tinha pegado"), and it is not wrong — but in speech and most writing, Brazilians say pego. See the double participle page for the full list.

💡

In BR, when in doubt use pego — it works with ter, ser, and estar alike (tinha pego, foi pego, está pego). Pegado is the textbook-prescriptive form you can recognize but rarely need to produce.

Core meanings and essential expressions

to grab / pick up / take (in hand)

Pega minha bolsa ali na cadeira, por favor.

Grab my bag over there on the chair, please.

Peguei as chaves e saí correndo.

I grabbed the keys and ran out.

to catch (transport)

In BR you pega any form of transport — bus, taxi, train, plane, an Uber. This is far more common than tomar (which sounds bookish for transport in Brazil, though standard in Portugal).

Todo dia eu pego dois ônibus pra chegar no trabalho.

Every day I catch two buses to get to work.

to catch (an illness)

Acho que peguei um resfriado no fim de semana.

I think I caught a cold over the weekend.

pegar no sono = to fall asleep

A set idiom: literally "to grab onto sleep", meaning to drift off / fall asleep.

Tomei um café tarde e não consegui pegar no sono.

I had a coffee late and couldn't fall asleep.

pegar pesado = to be tough / go hard

Idiomatic: to be hard on someone, or to push/work hard.

O treinador pegou pesado com a gente hoje.

The coach was really tough on us today.

Brazil vs Portugal

Beyond the pego/pegado preference (BR favors pego), Brazil uses pegar far more broadly than Portugal for "catch transport" — a Portuguese speaker is more likely to say apanhar o autocarro or tomar o comboio, while a Brazilian says pegar o ônibus. Note also that apanhar (common in PT for "catch/grab") is comparatively rare in everyday BR.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ontem eu pegei o ônibus das sete.

Incorrect — the 1sg preterite needs the silent u: peguei.

✅ Ontem eu peguei o ônibus das sete.

Yesterday I caught the seven o'clock bus.

❌ Pege isso pra mim, por favor.

Incorrect imperative — it's 'pegue' (with u to keep the hard g).

✅ Pegue isso pra mim, por favor.

Grab that for me, please.

❌ O ladrão foi pegado pela polícia (everyday BR).

Sounds bookish in Brazil — the natural participle here is 'pego'.

✅ O ladrão foi pego pela polícia.

The thief was caught by the police.

❌ Tomei o ônibus errado (casual BR).

Understandable but un-Brazilian for transport — Brazilians 'pegam' the bus.

✅ Peguei o ônibus errado.

I took the wrong bus.

❌ Não consegui pegar o sono.

Incorrect — the idiom requires 'no': pegar NO sono.

✅ Não consegui pegar no sono.

I couldn't fall asleep.

Key Takeaways

pegar is a regular -ar verb with a g → gu spelling change before e: peguei (preterite 1sg), pegue/peguemos/peguem (subjunctive + imperative).
The u is silent — it just keeps the g hard, like in cheguei, paguei, joguei.
Double participle: in BR use pego with all auxiliaries; pegado is rare/prescriptive.
Pegar is the everyday BR verb for grabbing, catching transport, catching an illness; key idioms: pegar no sono (fall asleep), pegar pesado (go hard).

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