Portuguese does not only inherit verbs — it manufactures them, constantly, from nouns and adjectives. This process, called verbalization, is one of the most alive corners of the language: every English loanword that enters Brazilian speech (deletar, printar, startar) gets fitted with a Portuguese verb suffix the moment it arrives. Understanding the verbalizing suffixes does two things for you. First, it lets you decode unfamiliar verbs by stripping the suffix to find the base. Second, and more importantly, it tells you that almost every derived or borrowed verb lands in the first conjugation (-ar) — which means you already know how to conjugate it.
The master rule: new verbs are first-conjugation
This is the most useful generalization on the page. The three Portuguese conjugation classes (-ar, -er, -ir) are not equally open. The -er and -ir classes are essentially closed — they take no new members. The -ar class is wide open. Every verb coined from a noun, an adjective, or a foreign word is -ar. So when you meet upar ("to level up" in gaming) or guglar ("to google"), you don't need to wonder how it conjugates: eu upo, ele upa, nós upamos, regular -ar throughout. See conjugation basics for the full paradigm.
Bare -ar: the default verbalizer
The simplest way to make a verb is to attach the -ar infinitive ending (with its theme vowel) directly to a noun or adjective stem. No extra suffix — just the conjugation ending. This is "zero-derivation plus -ar."
| Base | Verb | English |
|---|---|---|
| almoço (lunch) | almoçar | to have lunch |
| café | cafezar (colloq.) / tomar café | to have coffee |
| telefone | telefonar | to phone |
| sal (salt) | salgar | to salt |
| grampo (staple) | grampear | to staple (see -ear) |
Note the spelling care: almoço → almoçar keeps the ç before a to preserve /s/, and sal → salgar inserts a g (salgar, not *salar).
A gente sempre almoça junto no domingo.
We always have lunch together on Sundays.
Me telefona quando você sair do trabalho.
Call me when you leave work.
-izar: the go-to for neologisms and loanwords
-izar (English -ize / -ise) is the most consciously productive verbalizer. It builds verbs meaning "to make X / to turn into X" from adjectives and nouns, and it is the suffix Brazilians reach for when they need a brand-new technical or abstract verb.
| Base | Verb | English |
|---|---|---|
| moderno | modernizar | to modernize |
| real | realizar | to carry out, realize |
| civil | civilizar | to civilize |
| economia | economizar | to economize, save |
| terror | aterrorizar | to terrorize |
A false-friend warning: realizar most often means "to carry out / accomplish / hold (an event)," not "to realize (notice)." For the English sense of suddenly understanding, Portuguese says perceber or dar-se conta.
A empresa decidiu modernizar todo o sistema antigo.
The company decided to modernize the entire old system.
O evento vai ser realizado no próximo sábado.
The event will be held next Saturday.
-izar and English borrowings
English verbs and nouns that enter Brazilian Portuguese are usually wrapped in -ar, and often look like -izar outputs. Crucially, Brazilians prefer the bare--ar route for short, frequent tech verbs: deletar (to delete), printar (to print/screenshot), startar (to start), escanear (to scan, via -ear), guglar / gugular (to google). The English stem is borrowed, then conjugated as a perfectly regular -ar verb.
Deletei o arquivo sem querer, será que dá pra recuperar?
I deleted the file by accident — can it be recovered?
Printa essa tela e me manda no zap.
Screenshot that screen and send it to me on WhatsApp.
-ear: repeated or iterative action
-ear often (not always) carries a sense of repeated, back-and-forth, or playful action. It is conjugated like a regular -ar verb but inserts an -i- in the stressed present forms (passeio, passeias, passeia), a small irregularity worth noting.
| Base | Verb | English |
|---|---|---|
| passeio (a walk) | passear | to stroll, go out |
| cabeça (head) | cabecear | to head (a ball); to nod off |
| golpe (blow) | golpear | to strike repeatedly |
| verde (green) | verdejar / verdear | to grow green |
Vamos passear no parque antes que comece a chover.
Let's go for a walk in the park before it starts raining.
Ele cabeceou a bola e fez o gol.
He headed the ball and scored the goal.
-ificar: "to make / to render"
-ificar (English -ify) builds causative verbs meaning "to make X." It is more learned and less casual than -izar, common in technical, legal, and scientific registers.
| Base | Verb | English |
|---|---|---|
| simples | simplificar | to simplify |
| justo / justiça | justificar | to justify |
| claro | clarificar | to clarify |
| puro | purificar | to purify |
Dá pra simplificar esse formulário? Tá complicado demais.
Can this form be simplified? It's way too complicated.
Ela teve que justificar a ausência por escrito.
She had to justify her absence in writing.
-ecer: the inchoative — "to become / grow X"
-ecer is special: it marks an inchoative, a verb describing a gradual change of state, "to become X" or "to grow X." This is exactly the meaning English struggles to express in one word — English needs to grow dark, to grow old, where Portuguese has a single verb. Unlike the others, -ecer verbs are second-conjugation (-er), and many insert a -c- in the present (anoiteço, anoitece).
| Base | Verb | English |
|---|---|---|
| noite (night) | anoitecer | to grow dark, fall (night) |
| velho (old) | envelhecer | to grow old, age |
| escuro (dark) | escurecer | to get dark |
| flor (flower) | florescer | to bloom, flourish |
| amanhã / manhã | amanhecer | to dawn |
No inverno, anoitece muito cedo aqui no sul.
In winter, it gets dark very early here in the south.
A gente envelhece, mas o coração continua jovem.
We grow old, but the heart stays young.
A note on prefix + suffix verbs
Many derived verbs combine a prefix and a verbalizing suffix in one move — a process called parasynthesis. Envelhecer is en- + velho + -ecer; amaciar (to soften) is a- + macio + -ar; aterrissar (to land) is a- + terra + -izar/-ssar. Neither the prefix nor the suffix exists as a separate verb — they attach simultaneously. Recognizing this stops you from hunting for a nonexistent base verb *velhecer.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu realizei que tinha esquecido as chaves.
False friend — realizar isn't 'to realize/notice'
✅ Eu percebi que tinha esquecido as chaves.
For 'realize/notice,' use perceber or dar-se conta.
❌ Eu passeo no parque todo dia.
Incorrect — -ear verbs insert -i- in stressed present
✅ Eu passeio no parque todo dia.
passear → passeio, passeia in the present.
❌ Como se conjuga 'deletar'? É irregular?
Mistaken assumption — borrowings aren't irregular
✅ deletar é -ar regular: eu deleto, ele deleta, nós deletamos.
New and borrowed verbs are regular first-conjugation.
❌ A noite anoita / o dia escura.
Incorrect stems — these are -ecer verbs
✅ anoitece / escurece.
The inchoative is -ecer: anoitecer, escurecer.
❌ Vou almosar agora.
Spelling — the ç is required
✅ Vou almoçar agora.
almoço → almoçar keeps ç before a to preserve the /s/ sound.
Key Takeaways
- The first conjugation (-ar) is the only productive verb class — every new or borrowed verb is -ar and regular.
- -izar (-ize) is the go-to for neologisms and technical verbs; bare -ar wraps short English loans (deletar, printar).
- -ear often signals repeated action and inserts -i- in the stressed present (passeio).
- -ificar (-ify) is the more learned causative; -ecer is the inchoative "become/grow X" (and is -er, not -ar).
- Watch for parasynthesis (envelhecer = en- + velho + -ecer): prefix and suffix attach together, with no standalone base verb.
Now practice Portuguese
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
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- Adjective-Forming SuffixesB1 — The productive suffixes that turn nouns and verbs into adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese — and how recognizing them lets you both decode and coin new words.
- Conjugation BasicsA1 — How Brazilian Portuguese verbs change shape to mark person, number, tense, and mood — and why pronouns are usually optional.
- Word Formation: OverviewB1 — How Brazilian Portuguese builds words from roots, prefixes, and suffixes — and why learning the morphemes multiplies your vocabulary instead of merely adding to it.
- Compound WordsB1 — How Brazilian Portuguese builds compound words by juxtaposition and agglutination — the structures, hyphenation rules, and how compounds form their plurals.