Viver is a fully regular -er verb meaning to live — but in the broad sense of being alive and living one's life, not in the sense of residing somewhere. That second meaning belongs to morar, and confusing the two is the single most common mistake English speakers make, because English collapses both into the one word live. This page gives you the full conjugation and then the three constructions that make viver worth knowing well: viver de, viver + gerúndio, and the figurative uses.
Viver vs. morar — the core distinction
English says "I live in São Paulo" and "I live a good life" with the same verb. Portuguese splits them:
- morar = to reside, to have your home somewhere (an address question)
- viver = to be alive, to experience life, to get by
Eu moro em São Paulo, mas vivo viajando.
I live in São Paulo, but I'm always traveling.
Ela viveu noventa e dois anos.
She lived ninety-two years.
You would never use morar for an age or a lifespan, and using viver for a street address sounds odd (though it's tolerated when the meaning is closer to getting by — see below).
Conjugation — viver is regular
Viver follows the regular -er pattern exactly. There are no stem changes and no irregular forms — even the participle (vivido) is regular. Below are the full paradigms using the Brazilian pronoun set (note: BR has no vós; a gente and você take third-person-singular forms; vocês takes the third-person-plural form).
Present indicative (presente do indicativo)
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | vivo |
| tu (regional) | vives |
| você / ele / ela / a gente | vive |
| nós | vivemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | vivem |
Preterite (pretérito perfeito) and imperfect (pretérito imperfeito)
| Subject | Preterite | Imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| eu | vivi | vivia |
| tu | viveste | vivias |
| você / ele / ela | viveu | vivia |
| nós | vivemos | vivíamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | viveram | viviam |
Note that the nós present and preterite are identical (vivemos) — context disambiguates, exactly as with all regular -er verbs.
Future and conditional (futuro do presente, futuro do pretérito)
| Subject | Future | Conditional |
|---|---|---|
| eu | viverei | viveria |
| tu | viverás | viverias |
| você / ele / ela | viverá | viveria |
| nós | viveremos | viveríamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | viverão | viveriam |
In everyday speech the synthetic future (viverei) is rare; Brazilians say vou viver. The conditional survives better, but spoken Brazilian often replaces it with the imperfect (vivia) in casual contexts.
Subjunctive (presente, imperfeito, futuro)
The future subjunctive is alive and obligatory in Brazilian Portuguese after se, quando, enquanto, and similar conjunctions when the reference is future.
| Subject | Present subj. | Imperfect subj. | Future subj. |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | viva | vivesse | viver |
| tu | vivas | vivesses | viveres |
| você / ele / ela | viva | vivesse | viver |
| nós | vivamos | vivêssemos | vivermos |
| vocês / eles / elas | vivam | vivessem | viverem |
Enquanto eu viver, vou lutar por isso.
As long as I live, I'll fight for this.
Imperative (imperativo) and non-finite forms
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Affirmative imperative (você) | viva |
| Affirmative imperative (vocês) | vivam |
| Negative imperative (você) | não viva |
| Infinitive | viver |
| Personal infinitive (nós) | vivermos |
| Gerund | vivendo |
| Past participle | vivido |
Viva o presente — o futuro chega sozinho.
Live in the present — the future arrives on its own.
Viver de — to live on / live off
Viver de introduces the source of one's livelihood or sustenance. The preposition is fixed: it is always de, never com or por. This mirrors English live on / live off but the preposition does not translate literally.
Ele vive de música — toca em bares todas as noites.
He lives off music — he plays in bars every night.
Não dá para viver só de amor; precisamos pagar o aluguel.
You can't live on love alone; we need to pay the rent.
Durante a viagem, vivíamos de pão e café.
During the trip, we lived on bread and coffee.
Viver + gerúndio — to be always doing something
This is the construction most worth memorizing, because it has no clean English equivalent and Brazilians use it constantly. Viver + a gerund means to be always / constantly / forever doing something — usually with a tone of mild complaint, exasperation, or characterization.
Ele vive reclamando do trânsito.
He's always complaining about the traffic.
Você vive perdendo as chaves!
You're forever losing your keys!
Minha avó vivia dizendo que dinheiro não traz felicidade.
My grandmother was always saying that money doesn't buy happiness.
Notice the logic: viver here is bleached of its literal be alive meaning and works as an aspectual marker of habitual repetition. The closest English structures are to keep -ing and to be always -ing, but viver carries a stronger flavor of this is just how this person is. The imperfect (vivia + gerúndio) shifts it into the past as a recurring habit.
Figurative and idiomatic uses
Viver stretches into several figurative meanings where English would use other verbs entirely.
Quem não tem cão caça com gato — a gente vive como pode.
You make do with what you've got — we get by however we can.
Eles vivem às custas dos pais.
They live off their parents' money.
Here viver às custas de means to be financially dependent on — note the fixed plural custas and the preposition de. And the famous toast and exclamation Viva! (from the present subjunctive) is a frozen form meaning Long live…! or Hooray!
Viva os noivos!
Hooray for the bride and groom!
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu vivo em São Paulo há dez anos.
Acceptable but usually means 'I've been getting by / surviving in São Paulo' — for a plain address, BR speakers prefer morar.
✅ Eu moro em São Paulo há dez anos.
I've lived in São Paulo for ten years (as my place of residence).
❌ Ele vive com música.
Incorrect — 'live off' is viver DE, not viver com.
✅ Ele vive de música.
He lives off music.
❌ Ele vive reclama do trânsito.
Incorrect — viver in this aspectual sense takes a gerund, not a finite verb.
✅ Ele vive reclamando do trânsito.
He's always complaining about the traffic.
❌ Quando eu vivo no Brasil, vou aprender a sambar.
Incorrect — a future condition after 'quando' needs the future subjunctive.
✅ Quando eu viver no Brasil, vou aprender a sambar.
When I live in Brazil, I'm going to learn to samba.
❌ Ela viviu até os noventa.
Incorrect — viver is regular; the third-person preterite is viveu.
✅ Ela viveu até os noventa.
She lived until ninety.
Key Takeaways
- viver = be alive / live life / get by; morar = reside. Don't merge them the way English does.
- It is fully regular as an -er verb — no irregular forms to memorize.
- viver de = live on/off (fixed preposition de).
- viver + gerúndio = to be always/forever doing something — a high-frequency, slightly exasperated way to describe habits.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- MorarA1 — How to conjugate and use the regular -ar verb 'morar' (to live / reside) in Brazilian Portuguese, including 'morar em' and how it differs from 'viver'.
- 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.
- Estar + Gerúndio: The ProgressiveA1 — How Brazilian Portuguese builds the present progressive with estar plus the gerund — and why estar a comer marks you as Portuguese.
- SerA1 — How to conjugate and use ser (to be) in Brazilian Portuguese — the highly irregular verb for identity, essence, and permanent qualities, with a preterite (fui, foi, foram) it shares entirely with ir.
- Preposition 'De': Of, From, About, ByA1 — How 'de' marks possession, origin, material, and content in Brazilian Portuguese — its obligatory contractions (do, da, dele) and the verbs that demand it.