Verbs of Motion in BR | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Verbs of motion are everywhere in daily speech, and in Brazilian Portuguese the tricky part is rarely the verb itself — it's the preposition that follows. Ir (to go), vir (to come), chegar (to arrive), entrar (to enter): each one pairs with a specific preposition, and Brazilian usage famously diverges from the prescriptive standard on several of them. The most notorious is chegar em casa ("arrive home"), which every Brazilian says but which prescriptive grammar wants as chegar a casa. This page maps the verbs, their meanings, and their prepositions — both the standard and the real spoken forms.

The orientation: where the motion points

Brazilian motion verbs encode direction relative to a reference point, much as English does, but the pairings differ:

Verb	Meaning	Orientation
ir	to go	away, toward a destination
vir	to come	toward the speaker
voltar	to return / go back	back to a prior place
chegar	to arrive	reaching a destination
sair	to leave / go out	away from inside
entrar	to enter / go in	into an enclosure
subir	to go up	upward
descer	to go down	downward
passar	to pass by / drop by	through / past
andar	to walk / get around	generic movement

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The ir / vir split mirrors English go / come exactly: ir moves away from where the speaker is, vir moves toward the speaker. But watch the perspective shift — when you tell someone "I'm coming!" on your way to them, Brazilians say já vou! (literally "I already go!"), using ir because the destination is away from the speaker's current spot. This is the one place the mapping flips, and it surprises English speakers.

Já vou! Me espera só um minutinho.

I'm coming! Just wait a minute for me.

Você vem à minha festa no sábado?

Are you coming to my party on Saturday?

ir — and the great a / em / para debate

Ir takes a destination, and the preposition you choose carries both meaning and register.

ir a
- place — the prescriptive standard, neutral, suggests a visit (you go and come back). Vou ao mercado.
ir para
- place — suggests a more definitive move or longer stay; "to head to / off to." Vou para casa (I'm heading home, staying).
ir em
- place — the colloquial Brazilian form, extremely common in speech, frowned on in formal writing. Vou no mercado.

Vou ao supermercado comprar umas coisas para o jantar.

I'm going to the supermarket to buy a few things for dinner.

Depois do trabalho eu vou para casa direto.

After work I'm going straight home.

A gente vai no shopping mais tarde, quer vir junto?

We're going to the mall later, want to come along?

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Vou no mercado is one of the clearest markers of spoken Brazilian Portuguese. Prescriptively, ir should take a (vou ao mercado) or para (vou para o mercado), never em. But in everyday speech across Brazil, ir em is overwhelmingly common. Use a/para in writing; you'll hear em constantly in conversation. The distinction between a (quick visit) and para (longer stay) is covered in detail on the a vs. para page.

chegar — the most famous deviation

Chegar (to arrive) is the single most-cited example of Brazilian usage parting ways with the prescriptive standard.

Prescriptive standard: chegar a — Cheguei a casa tarde.
Universal Brazilian speech: chegar em — Cheguei em casa tarde.

Essentially every Brazilian says chegar em. Cheguei em casa, chegamos no aeroporto, cheguei no trabalho atrasado — this is not slang or regional; it is the standard spoken form nationwide. The prescriptive chegar a survives mainly in careful formal writing and in fixed expressions.

Cheguei em casa morto de cansaço ontem à noite.

I got home dead tired last night.

A gente chegou no aeroporto com três horas de antecedência.

We got to the airport three hours early.

O trem chega à estação central às dez em ponto.

The train arrives at the central station at ten sharp.

The third example uses prescriptive chegar a deliberately — it reads like a timetable or formal announcement, which is exactly the register where a still lives.

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If a Brazilian friend corrects your chegar a to chegar em, and a grammar teacher corrects your chegar em to chegar a, both are right within their domain. Chegar em is correct spoken Brazilian; chegar a is correct written standard. As a learner, say chegar em to sound natural in conversation and write chegar a on an exam.

entrar, sair, subir, descer

These verbs have stable, predictable prepositions — and here Brazilian usage and the standard agree.

entrar em — to go into. Always em, never a (this is the opposite trap from Spanish entrar a).
sair de — to leave / go out of.
subir em / a — to go up onto/to; subir can also be transitive (subir a escada).
descer de / por — to go down from/along.

Entra em casa, está começando a chover lá fora.

Come inside, it's starting to rain out there.

Saí de casa às sete e só voltei à noite.

I left home at seven and only came back at night.

O gato subiu no telhado e não quer descer.

The cat climbed onto the roof and won't come down.

Note the contrast English speakers stumble on: entrar is em, not a. "Enter the room" is entrar na sala (em + a = na), never entrar à sala. Spanish speakers especially carry over entrar a, which is wrong in Portuguese.

passar, andar, caminhar, correr

These cover movement that isn't strictly toward a destination.

passar (por / em) — to pass by, to drop by. Passei na padaria (I dropped by the bakery); passamos pela praça (we went through the square).
andar — to walk, but also generic "get around / go about." Ando de ônibus (I get around by bus); andar a pé (to go on foot).
caminhar — to walk, more specifically and deliberately (often exercise). Caminho todas as manhãs.
correr — to run.

Passa lá em casa qualquer dia desses para a gente conversar.

Drop by my place one of these days so we can chat.

Eu ando muito a pé para fugir do trânsito.

I walk a lot to escape the traffic.

Ela caminha no parque todas as manhãs antes do trabalho.

She walks in the park every morning before work.

Note the nuance between andar and caminhar: andar is the everyday, general verb (and also "to be doing / get around"), while caminhar implies purposeful walking — a stroll, a hike, exercise. Using caminhar for "I'm getting around by bus" would be wrong; that's andar de ônibus.

Means of transport: andar / ir de

For how you travel, both ir and andar pair with de + the unmarked vehicle (no article).

Prefiro ir de metrô porque é mais rápido que o carro.

I prefer to go by subway because it's faster than the car.

Em Amsterdã todo mundo anda de bicicleta.

In Amsterdam everybody gets around by bike.

The exception is "on foot," which uses a: ir a pé, andar a pé.

Common Mistakes

❌ Entrei à sala e sentei.

Incorrect — entrar takes 'em', not 'a'.

✅ Entrei na sala e sentei.

I entered the room and sat down.

❌ Vou para o banheiro um segundo. (when meaning a quick trip)

Sounds like moving in for good; for a quick trip use 'ir ao' or colloquial 'ir no'.

✅ Vou ao banheiro um segundo.

I'm going to the bathroom for a second.

❌ Cheguei a casa e fui dormir. (in casual speech)

Grammatically prescriptive, but sounds stiff in conversation.

✅ Cheguei em casa e fui dormir.

I got home and went to sleep.

❌ Estou vindo aí agora! (said as you head toward the listener)

Brazilians use 'ir' here: the destination is away from your current spot.

✅ Já estou indo aí! / Já vou!

I'm on my way there!

❌ Vou de pé até a estação.

Incorrect — 'on foot' is 'a pé', not 'de pé' (which means 'standing').

✅ Vou a pé até a estação.

I'll walk to the station.

The errors cluster around three transfer problems. First, preposition choice: English "enter" takes no preposition, so learners guess, and entrar em (not a) must be memorized. Second, the go/come perspective flip: English "I'm coming" becomes Portuguese ir (já vou), because Portuguese anchors vir to the speaker's current location, not the listener's. Third, register confusion with chegar: chegar em feels wrong to a learner who studied the prescriptive chegar a, but it is the universal spoken form. Match the preposition to the situation, and let chegar em into your speech without guilt.

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