The -ar class is by far the largest in Brazilian Portuguese — and the most welcoming to learners, because almost every new verb that enters the language joins it (deletar, postar, googlar). Master the five endings on this page and you can conjugate thousands of verbs with total confidence.
How it works
To conjugate a regular -ar verb in the present indicative, drop the -ar from the infinitive to get the stem, then add the ending that matches the subject.
Using falar (to speak) as our model, the stem is fal-:
| Subject | Ending | Form |
|---|---|---|
| eu | -o | falo |
| você / ele / ela | -a | fala |
| nós | -amos | falamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | -am | falam |
Eu falo português um pouco.
I speak a little Portuguese.
Ela fala muito rápido, mal consigo acompanhar.
She talks really fast, I can barely keep up.
Nós falamos sobre isso ontem.
We talked about this yesterday.
What about "tu"?
You may have learned that Portuguese has a tu form. In Brazil this is regional. In standard form, tu takes the ending -as (tu falas) and survives in parts of the Northeast and in Rio Grande do Sul. But in colloquial speech across much of Brazil — including Rio de Janeiro — speakers use tu with the third-person verb instead: tu fala (informal). And there is no vós form at all in Brazilian Portuguese — forget it entirely; you will never need it.
Tu fala sério? Não acredito!
Are you serious? I don't believe it!
The "a gente" twist
In everyday Brazilian speech, a gente ("we," informal) is heard at least as often as nós — arguably more. The catch: a gente takes the third-person singular verb, the same form as você/ele/ela, not the -amos form.
| Meaning | Subject | Verb |
|---|---|---|
| we speak (more formal/written) | nós | falamos |
| we speak (informal, very common) | a gente | fala |
A gente fala inglês em casa.
We speak English at home.
A gente compra o pão ali na esquina.
We buy the bread over there on the corner.
See the a gente page for the full story. The one error to avoid: never say a gente falamos.
Watch out: falamos = present AND preterite
The nós present form falamos is spelled and pronounced identically to the nós preterite (past) form. "Nós falamos" can mean "we speak" or "we spoke." Context — time words, the surrounding conversation — does all the disambiguating.
Todo dia nós falamos por telefone.
Every day we speak on the phone.
Ontem nós falamos por telefone.
Yesterday we spoke on the phone.
Same verb form; only todo dia vs. ontem tells you the tense. This is not a mistake or a typo — it's a permanent feature of the -ar class, and learners need to expect it.
Common high-frequency -ar verbs
Every verb below follows falar's pattern exactly. Learn the model and you get them all.
| Infinitive | Meaning | eu form |
|---|---|---|
| morar | to live (reside) | moro |
| trabalhar | to work | trabalho |
| estudar | to study | estudo |
| comprar | to buy | compro |
| precisar | to need | preciso |
| gostar | to like | gosto |
(One member of this list, chegar, has a spelling change in some tenses — cheguei — but its present indicative is perfectly regular: chego, chega, chegamos, chegam. See spelling-change verbs.)
Eu moro num apartamento pequeno, mas adoro.
I live in a small apartment, but I love it.
Vocês estudam para a prova de amanhã?
Are you all studying for tomorrow's test?
Eu preciso de mais tempo, sinceramente.
I honestly need more time.
Gostar needs "de" — always
This is the -ar verb that trips up nearly every English speaker. Gostar ("to like") cannot take a direct object the way English "like" does. It requires the preposition de before whatever you like. Think of it less as "I like X" and more as the older English "I am fond of X."
Eu gosto de café.
I like coffee.
Você gosta de viajar?
Do you like to travel?
A gente gosta muito daqui.
We really like it here.
Note daqui = de + aqui, and de contracts with articles too: de + o = do, de + a = da.
Ela gosta do irmão dele.
She likes his brother.
Asking questions
No auxiliary verb is needed. Keep the word order and let intonation (or a question mark) carry the question.
Você fala inglês?
Do you speak English?
Vocês moram juntos?
Do you all live together?
To negate, place não right before the verb: Eu não falo francês.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu gosto muito Lisboa.
Incorrect — gostar requires 'de' before the thing liked.
✅ Eu gosto muito de Lisboa.
I really like Lisbon.
❌ A gente falamos português.
Incorrect — 'a gente' takes the third-person singular verb.
✅ A gente fala português.
We speak Portuguese.
❌ Ela falam muito rápido.
Incorrect — a singular subject takes -a, not the plural -am.
✅ Ela fala muito rápido.
She talks really fast.
❌ Você faz morar aqui?
Incorrect — there is no 'do/does' auxiliary; just use the verb.
✅ Você mora aqui?
Do you live here?
❌ Nós falemos sobre isso.
Incorrect — -emos is the -er ending; -ar verbs use -amos.
✅ Nós falamos sobre isso.
We talk about this.
Key Takeaways
- Endings: -o, -a, -amos, -am (with regional -as for tu; no vós).
- A gente means "we" but takes the singular -a verb, never -amos.
- falamos is identical in present and preterite — context decides.
- Gostar de always needs its preposition.
- Questions are made by intonation, negatives by não — no "do" auxiliary.
Now practice Portuguese
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- 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.
- Present Indicative OverviewA1 — What the Brazilian Portuguese present indicative covers — and why it does the work English splits between simple and progressive.
- 'A Gente' as Colloquial 'Nós'A1 — How a gente became the everyday word for we in Brazil — and why it takes a singular verb.
- Spelling-Change VerbsA2 — Verbs that change spelling — but not sound — to protect a consonant's pronunciation across the conjugation.