Presente do Subjuntivo: Regular -er and -ir Verbs | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Here is a piece of good news about Portuguese: in the present subjunctive, -er and -ir verbs collapse into a single set of endings. Where the indicative keeps them apart (come vs. parte), the subjunctive treats them identically. So learning one paradigm covers two whole verb classes. The method is the same as for -ar verbs — start from the eu form, drop the -o — but now you add -a endings instead of -e endings.

The formation rule

Take the first-person singular present indicative (eu como, eu parto), drop the -o, and add the -a endings: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -am.

Subject	comer → com- (-er)	partir → part- (-ir)
que eu	coma	parta
que você / ele / ela	coma	parta
que nós	comamos	partamos
que vocês / eles / elas	comam	partam

The tu forms (comas, partas) appear in regions that conjugate tu; with você as the default Brazilian "you," the four rows above carry most conversations.

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The "opposite vowel" rule: -ar verbs take -e endings in the subjunctive, while -er and -ir verbs take -a endings. It's a clean inversion of the indicative, where -ar uses -a (fala) and -er/-ir use -e (come, parte). The subjunctive flips the vowel.

É bom que você coma alguma coisa antes de sair.

It's good for you to eat something before going out.

Espero que a gente parta cedo amanhã.

I hope we leave early tomorrow.

Duvido que eles vendam a casa por esse preço.

I doubt they'll sell the house at that price.

As with -ar verbs, the eu form and the ele/ela/você form are identical — que eu coma and que ela coma are the same. Keep the subject pronoun when the listener might otherwise be confused.

Spelling changes: keeping the sound

Because the -er/-ir endings start with -a, the spelling adjustments are the mirror image of the -ar ones. Now we're moving from a soft consonant (before e/i in the infinitive) back to a hard position (before a), so the spelling must change to keep the consonant soft.

Verb	Change	Subjunctive (eu)	Why
proteger (to protect)	g → j	que eu proteja	keeps the soft /ʒ/ sound before a
seguir (to follow)	gu → g	que eu siga	the u was only there to harden g before i
vencer (to win)	c → ç	que eu vença	keeps the /s/ sound before a
conhecer (to know)	c → ç	que eu conheça	keeps the /s/ sound before a

Think it through with proteger. The g in proteger is soft (like the s in "measure") because it sits before e. If you naively built protega, the g before a would harden into "proteh-gah" — wrong. Writing proteja keeps the soft sound. The same logic drives vencer → vença and conhecer → conheça: a plain c before a would sound like /k/, so it must become ç to stay /s/.

Seguir works the opposite way: in the infinitive, the silent u exists only to harden the g before i (so it's "seh-geer," not "seh-jeer"). Once the ending starts with a, the g is already hard, so the u is redundant and drops: siga.

Que Deus te proteja.

May God protect you. (a common blessing / parting wish)

É importante que você siga as instruções com atenção.

It's important that you follow the instructions carefully.

Torço pra que o time vença hoje.

I'm rooting for the team to win today.

Não acho que ele conheça bem a cidade.

I don't think he knows the city well.

Stem-changing -ir verbs carry the change through

A small but high-frequency group of -ir verbs changes its stem vowel in the eu form of the present indicative — and that change rides into every person of the subjunctive, including nós. This is different from the indicative, where nós often keeps the unchanged vowel.

Take preferir: the indicative is eu prefiro, but nós preferimos (with e). In the subjunctive, the i from prefiro spreads everywhere:

Subject	preferir (e→i)	dormir (o→u)
que eu / ele	prefira	durma
que nós	prefiramos	durmamos
que vocês / eles	prefiram	durmam

This is the logic of building from eu: since eu prefiro and eu durmo already carry the vowel change, dropping the -o hands you the right subjunctive stem automatically — and nós follows along (prefiramos, durmamos), unlike in the indicative.

Prefiro que você prefira ser sincero comigo.

I'd rather you choose to be honest with me.

É melhor que as crianças durmam cedo hoje.

It's better for the kids to sleep early today.

Espero que ele sirva o jantar logo, estou com fome.

I hope he serves dinner soon, I'm hungry. (servir → sirva)

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For stem-changing -ir verbs, the subjunctive is more consistent than the indicative: the vowel change appears in all forms, nós included. Prefiramos and durmamos keep the changed vowel, whereas the indicative preferimos and dormimos don't.

More common -er and -ir verbs

These follow the plain pattern off the regular stem:

Infinitive	que eu / ele	que nós	que eles
beber	beba	bebamos	bebam
aprender	aprenda	aprendamos	aprendam
escrever	escreva	escrevamos	escrevam
abrir	abra	abramos	abram
decidir	decida	decidamos	decidam

Quero que vocês aprendam isso de coração.

I want you all to learn this by heart.

Common Mistakes

❌ Espero que você come bem.

Incorrect — come is the indicative; the -er subjunctive uses the -a ending: coma.

✅ Espero que você coma bem.

I hope you eat well.

❌ Que Deus te protega.

Incorrect — proteger needs g→j to keep the soft sound before a: proteja.

✅ Que Deus te proteja.

May God protect you.

❌ Não acho que ele conhesa a cidade.

Incorrect — conhecer keeps /s/ before a by writing ç: conheça, not conhesa.

✅ Não acho que ele conheça a cidade.

I don't think he knows the city.

❌ É importante que você segua as regras.

Incorrect — seguir drops the u once the g sits before a: siga, not segua.

✅ É importante que você siga as regras.

It's important that you follow the rules.

❌ É melhor que nós preferimos o outro plano.

Incorrect — the stem change rides into nós in the subjunctive: prefiramos.

✅ É melhor que nós prefiramos o outro plano.

It's better that we prefer the other plan.

Key Takeaways

Method: eu present indicative → drop -o → add -a, -as, -a, -amos, -am. The same endings serve both -er and -ir verbs.
The "opposite vowel" rule: -ar takes -e, -er/-ir take -a.
Spelling fixes keep the consonant soft: proteger → proteja (g→j), seguir → siga (gu→g), vencer → vença, conhecer → conheça (c→ç).
Stem-changing -ir verbs carry the change through all forms, nós included: prefira/prefiramos, durma/durmamos.

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