Vender means to sell. It is a completely regular -er verb, so once you know the regular -er pattern (the same one that governs comer, beber, and aprender) you already know how to conjugate vender — there are no stem changes, no spelling tricks, and no irregular forms. What makes this page worth your attention is not the conjugation but the syntax around it: which prepositions vender takes, and the ubiquitous vende-se sign you'll see on cars, houses, and shop windows all over Brazil.
How vender fits the regular -er pattern
A regular -er verb breaks into a stem (vend-), a theme vowel (e), and a person/tense ending. English forces you to add a pronoun for every person ("I sell," "we sell"), but the Portuguese ending already encodes the subject: vendo by itself means "I sell," vendemos means "we sell." The theme vowel e is the fingerprint of the -er class and surfaces clearly in vendemos and venderíamos.
Presente do indicativo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | vendo |
| tu | vendes |
| você / ele / ela | vende |
| nós | vendemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | vendem |
The first person vendo ends in -o like nearly every Portuguese verb. Note that this vendo (I sell) is a homograph of vendo meaning seeing — which is the gerund of the unrelated verb ver (to see), not of vender. The gerund of vender is vendendo. Context always separates them.
Eu vendo bolo de pote na frente da faculdade.
I sell dessert cups in front of the college.
Essa loja vende de tudo, até guarda-chuva.
That shop sells everything, even umbrellas.
Pretérito perfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | vendi |
| tu | vendeste |
| você / ele / ela | vendeu |
| nós | vendemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | venderam |
As with all regular -er verbs, the nós form vendemos is identical in the present and the preterite; only context tells you whether it means "we sell" or "we sold." The third-person vendeu carries the signature -er preterite ending -eu.
Eu vendi meu carro velho semana passada.
I sold my old car last week.
Eles venderam todos os ingressos em dez minutos.
They sold all the tickets in ten minutes.
Pretérito imperfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | vendia |
| tu | vendias |
| você / ele / ela | vendia |
| nós | vendíamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | vendiam |
The -er imperfect takes -ia endings (never the -ava endings, which belong to -ar verbs). Use it for habitual or ongoing past actions: "used to sell," "was selling."
Antes da pandemia, a gente vendia muito mais.
Before the pandemic, we used to sell a lot more.
Futuro do presente & futuro do pretérito (conditional)
Both are built on the full infinitive vender-.
| Pronoun | Futuro do presente | Futuro do pretérito |
|---|---|---|
| eu | venderei | venderia |
| tu | venderás | venderias |
| você / ele / ela | venderá | venderia |
| nós | venderemos | venderíamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | venderão | venderiam |
In everyday Brazilian speech the simple future is usually replaced by ir + infinitive: vou vender rather than venderei. (informal) The synthetic future survives mostly in writing and formal registers. (formal)
Se a oferta for boa, eu venderia o apartamento amanhã mesmo.
If the offer is good, I'd sell the apartment tomorrow.
Presente do subjuntivo
-er verbs take -a endings in the present subjunctive (the "opposite vowel" rule: -ar verbs switch to -e, -er/-ir verbs switch to -a).
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | venda |
| tu | vendas |
| você / ele / ela | venda |
| nós | vendamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | vendam |
Watch out: this subjunctive venda is identical to the noun a venda ("the sale"). Same spelling, different word.
O chefe quer que a gente venda o estoque antes do fim do mês.
The boss wants us to sell the inventory before the end of the month.
Imperfeito & futuro do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Imperfeito do subjuntivo | Futuro do subjuntivo |
|---|---|---|
| eu | vendesse | vender |
| tu | vendesses | venderes |
| você / ele / ela | vendesse | vender |
| nós | vendêssemos | vendermos |
| vocês / eles / elas | vendessem | venderem |
For regular -er verbs the future subjunctive happens to look identical to the personal infinitive (both vender, venderes, vender, vendermos, venderem). This coincidence does not hold for irregular verbs like ver, where the future subjunctive is wildly different from the infinitive.
Se você vender a moto, me avisa primeiro.
If you sell the motorcycle, let me know first.
Quando vocês venderem a casa, vão sentir falta dela.
When you sell the house, you'll miss it.
Imperativo
| Pronoun | Afirmativo | Negativo |
|---|---|---|
| tu | vende | não vendas |
| você | venda | não venda |
| nós | vendamos | não vendamos |
| vocês | vendam | não vendam |
Não venda essas ações agora, espera o preço subir.
Don't sell those stocks now, wait for the price to go up.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Result |
|---|---|
| Infinitivo | vender |
| Infinitivo pessoal (eu / você / ele) | vender |
| Infinitivo pessoal (nós) | vendermos |
| Infinitivo pessoal (vocês / eles) | venderem |
| Gerúndio | vendendo |
| Particípio | vendido |
Prepositions: a, para, por
This is where vender actually demands attention. The thing sold is the direct object (no preposition). The person you sell to takes a (more formal) or, very commonly in Brazil, para. The price you sell for takes por.
- vender algo a / para alguém — to sell something to someone
- vender algo por (um preço) — to sell something for (a price)
English uses "to" for the buyer and "for" the price; Portuguese keeps them distinct with a/para versus por. Mixing them up is the single most common error.
Vendi a bicicleta para o meu vizinho por duzentos reais.
I sold the bike to my neighbor for two hundred reais.
A fazenda vende leite direto ao consumidor.
The farm sells milk straight to the consumer.
The "vende-se" construction
The passive/impersonal se turns vender into the sign you see everywhere: Vende-se ("For sale," literally "(it) sells itself"). The verb agrees in number with the thing sold, so a plural triggers vendem-se.
- Vende-se carro. — Car for sale.
- Vendem-se carros. — Cars for sale.
English has no agreement here ("for sale" is invariable), so Brazilians learning English drop the plural and English speakers learning Portuguese forget to add it. Note also that placement is informal-flexible: signs and casual speech often write Vende-se carros without agreement, but the careful written form pluralizes the verb. (formal)
Vende-se apartamento de dois quartos, aceito financiamento.
Two-bedroom apartment for sale, financing accepted.
Vendem-se filhotes de cachorro nessa loja?
Are puppies sold in this shop?
Common Mistakes
❌ Vendi o carro a duzentos reais.
Incorrect — 'a' marks the buyer, not the price; the price takes 'por'.
✅ Vendi o carro por duzentos reais.
I sold the car for two hundred reais.
❌ Eles venderon tudo.
Incorrect — that's Spanish; the Portuguese 3rd-person plural preterite is venderam.
✅ Eles venderam tudo.
They sold everything.
❌ Quero que você vende a casa.
Incorrect — after 'quero que' you need the subjunctive venda.
✅ Quero que você venda a casa.
I want you to sell the house.
❌ Vende-se apartamentos novos. (careful written register)
In careful writing the verb agrees: a plural object needs vendem-se.
✅ Vendem-se apartamentos novos.
New apartments for sale.
❌ Estou vender minhas coisas online.
Incorrect — the progressive uses the gerund, not the infinitive.
✅ Estou vendendo minhas coisas online.
I'm selling my things online.
Key Takeaways
- Vender is a fully regular -er verb; if you know comer, you know vender.
- The buyer takes a / para; the price takes por — keep them separate.
- Watch the present/preterite overlap in vendemos — context decides the tense.
- Vende-se / vendem-se is the everyday "for sale" sign, and the verb agrees with the object in careful writing.
- The first-person present vendo is a homograph of vendo "seeing" (the gerund of ver); vender's own gerund is vendendo.
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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.
- Se-Passive (Sintética Passive)A2 — The passive with se plus a third-person verb that agrees with the logical object — vende-se, alugam-se — and why Brazilians often skip the agreement.
- ComerA1 — How to conjugate and use comer (to eat) in Brazilian Portuguese — the model regular -er verb — plus key idioms and a register note on its slang sense.
- ComprarA1 — How to conjugate and use comprar (to buy) in Brazilian Portuguese — a fully regular -ar verb — including the de/para constructions for buying from and buying for.