Receber | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Receber means to receive, to get. Mechanically it is easy — a completely regular -er verb, the textbook model for the class alongside comer and beber. The interest is in its range of meaning, because in Brazilian Portuguese receber stretches well beyond the English receive. It covers getting a message or a gift, but also hosting and welcoming guests (receber visitas) and — very practically — getting paid (Recebo no dia 5, "I get paid on the 5th"). Learning those everyday senses is what turns receber from a dictionary word into a verb you actually use.

Conjugation: the regular -er model

Receber takes the standard -er endings with no stem change and no spelling trap. (The c stays soft /s/ throughout because it always sits before e or i — recebo, recebe, recebi — so there is never any reason to change it.)

Indicative

Pronoun	Presente	Pretérito perfeito	Pretérito imperfeito	Futuro do presente	Futuro do pretérito
eu	recebo	recebi	recebia	receberei	receberia
tu/você	recebe	recebeu	recebia	receberá	receberia
ele/ela	recebe	recebeu	recebia	receberá	receberia
nós	recebemos	recebemos	recebíamos	receberemos	receberíamos
vocês	recebem	receberam	recebiam	receberão	receberiam
eles/elas	recebem	receberam	recebiam	receberão	receberiam

Note that recebemos is identical in the present and the preterite — we receive and we received share the form, and context disambiguates.

Subjunctive

Pronoun	Presente do subjuntivo	Imperfeito do subjuntivo	Futuro do subjuntivo
eu	receba	recebesse	receber
tu/você	receba	recebesse	receber
ele/ela	receba	recebesse	receber
nós	recebamos	recebêssemos	recebermos
vocês	recebam	recebessem	receberem
eles/elas	recebam	recebessem	receberem

In the subjunctive the b meets a/o (receba, recebamos), but the c still precedes e in the stem receb-, so it stays soft. There is no orthographic change anywhere in this verb.

Imperative, non-finite

Pronoun	Imperativo afirmativo	Imperativo negativo
você	receba	não receba
nós	recebamos	não recebamos
vocês	recebam	não recebam

Form	Conjugation
Infinitivo impessoal	receber
Infinitivo pessoal	receber / receber / receber / recebermos / receberem / receberem
Gerúndio	recebendo
Particípio	recebido

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Receber is the safest of -er verbs to conjugate — fully regular, no stem change, no spelling change. If you've learned comer (como, come, comemos, comem), just swap the stem: recebo, recebe, recebemos, recebem. Use it as your confidence-builder for the whole -er class.

Sense 1: to receive / to get

The core meaning. Receber takes a direct object — a message, a gift, an email, a call, news, a salary.

Recebi sua mensagem agora, desculpa a demora.

I just got your message, sorry for the delay.

Você recebeu o convite pro casamento?

Did you get the wedding invitation?

A gente recebeu uma notícia ótima hoje.

We got some great news today.

Sense 2: to host / to welcome guests

A distinctively warm BR use: receber on its own, or receber visitas / receber gente em casa, means to host, to have people over, to welcome guests. Brazilian culture prizes hospitality, and receber bem (to be a good host, to make guests feel welcome) is a compliment.

A gente adora receber os amigos no fim de semana.

We love having friends over on the weekend.

A dona Cida recebe super bem, sempre tem comida pra todo mundo.

Dona Cida is a wonderful host, there's always food for everyone.

Desculpa a bagunça, não tava esperando receber visita hoje.

Sorry about the mess, I wasn't expecting to have visitors today.

Sense 3: to get paid

This is the one learners rarely see in textbooks but hear constantly in real life. Used intransitively (no object) or with the amount/date, receber means to get paid / to receive one's salary. "Quando você recebe?" is simply "When do you get paid?"

Recebo no dia 5 de cada mês.

I get paid on the 5th of every month.

Esse mês ainda não recebi, tá apertado.

I haven't been paid yet this month, money's tight.

Ela recebe por fora, sem carteira assinada.

She gets paid off the books, with no formal contract.

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The pay sense pairs with pagar (to pay): your boss paga and you recebe. "Eu recebo" with no object almost always means "I get paid" — context makes it unambiguous. Compare English, where "I receive" alone sounds incomplete; Portuguese is happy to leave the object implied.

A note on the 'b': don't confuse receber with receber-look-alikes

Because receber is so regular, the only spelling risk is the single b — it is receber, not "receer" or "recever". The English cognate receive has no b sound, and conceber/perceber (conceive/perceive) share the same -ceber ending, which can help you remember it. The participle is recebido, the noun is recebimento (receipt, in the sense of "the receiving of"; the paper receipt is recibo or nota).

Common Mistakes

❌ Eu recevo muitos e-mails por dia.

Incorrect — it's spelled with b: recebo.

✅ Eu recebo muitos e-mails por dia.

I get a lot of emails a day.

❌ Ele receveu a notícia ontem.

Incorrect — preterite is recebeu (regular -er, with b).

✅ Ele recebeu a notícia ontem.

He got the news yesterday.

❌ A gente recebemos os amigos sábado.

Incorrect — 'a gente' takes 3sg agreement: a gente recebe.

✅ A gente recebe os amigos sábado.

We're having friends over on Saturday.

❌ Quando você é pago?

Unnatural in BR — use 'receber': quando você recebe?

✅ Quando você recebe?

When do you get paid?

❌ Quero que você recebe bem os convidados.

Incorrect — after 'que' use the subjunctive: receba.

✅ Quero que você receba bem os convidados.

I want you to welcome the guests warmly.

Key Takeaways

receber = to receive / get; fully regular -er verb, the model of the class.
Brazilian-specific senses worth knowing: to host/welcome (receber visitas, receber bem) and to get paid (recebo no dia 5).
Spelling: one b (recebo, recebeu, recebido) — don't write "recever".
With a gente as subject, use 3sg: a gente recebe (not recebemos).

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