Beber (To Drink) — Full Conjugation

Beber is one of the earliest verbs a learner of Portuguese needs: it means to drink, and it appears in every café, every dinner table, and every friendly invitation ("Vamos beber um café?"). It is a textbook-regular second-conjugation (-er) verb, which makes it an excellent model for the entire -er class. Every form follows the predictable pattern, with no spelling changes, no stem changes, and a fully regular past participle (bebido).

This page gives you every conjugated form of beber, organized tense by tense, together with usage notes on when Portuguese speakers prefer beber versus tomar (to take, to have), and a list of common idiomatic uses.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Use this tense for current actions, habits, and general truths. Bebo água a todas as refeições = I drink water at every meal.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Use this tense for past habits, background descriptions, and actions in progress in the past. O meu avô bebia um cálice de vinho ao jantar = my grandfather used to drink a small glass of wine with dinner.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Use this tense for completed past actions. Ontem bebi uma cerveja com os amigos = yesterday I drank a beer with friends.

Note: the nós form bebemos is identical in the present and preterite for -er verbs. Context disambiguates.

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

The simple pluperfect is a synthetic form (one word) used mainly in literary and formal writing. In speech, Portuguese uses the compound pluperfect (see below).

The third-person plural beberam is identical to the preterite; context disambiguates.

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

The everyday way to say had drunk. Formed with the imperfect of ter plus the past participle bebido.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Describes an action that has been happening repeatedly or continuously up to now. Tenho bebido muito café ultimamente = I've been drinking a lot of coffee lately.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Use this tense for future actions. In everyday speech, Portuguese often prefers ir + infinitive (vou beber) over this synthetic future, but you will encounter the synthetic form in writing and formal speech.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Describes an action that will have been completed by some future moment. Formed with the future of ter plus bebido.

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Expresses hypothetical actions or polite requests. Beberia um café, se calhar = I would drink a coffee, perhaps.

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Describes hypothetical past actions: would have drunk. Formed with the conditional of ter plus bebido.

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Used in subordinate clauses after verbs of wish, doubt, emotion, or command. Não quero que bebas mais = I don't want you to drink any more.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Used for hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situations, and in subordinate clauses triggered by a past-tense main clause. Se bebesses menos, dormias melhor = if you drank less, you would sleep better.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

A living tense in Portuguese (unlike in Spanish, where it is archaic). Used in clauses about future possibilities, especially after se (if), quando (when), and enquanto (while). Quando beberes o remédio, deita-te = when you drink the medicine, lie down.

Note: for regular verbs the future subjunctive is identical in form to the personal infinitive (see below). Context distinguishes them.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Used when a completed action in the past is felt from a perspective that calls for subjunctive mood. Espero que não tenhas bebido demais = I hope you haven't drunk too much.

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Used for contrary-to-fact past situations: had drunk, in subjunctive contexts. Se tivesse bebido menos, não estaria assim = if I had drunk less, I wouldn't be like this.

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Used for hypothetical future-completed actions: will have drunk. Quando tiveres bebido o chá, vai para a cama = when you have drunk the tea, go to bed.

Imperative — imperativo

Used for commands. The affirmative has forms for tu, você, nós, and vocês. The negative uses the present subjunctive with não. There is no imperative form for eu.

Affirmative:

Negative (identical to the present subjunctive with não):

Notice that the tu affirmative is bebe, but the tu negative switches to não bebas (subjunctive). Bebe a água! = drink the water! / Não bebas a água! = don't drink the water!

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

A Portuguese feature with no English equivalent: an infinitive that carries person endings. Used after prepositions (para, sem, antes de, depois de) and in certain subordinate clauses when the infinitive's subject is clear.

For regular verbs, the personal infinitive forms are identical to the future subjunctive. For irregular verbs, they differ.

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

A less frequent but useful form: a personal infinitive with ter as auxiliary, expressing a completed action. Depois de termos bebido o café, saímos = after we had drunk the coffee, we left.

Beber vs tomar — an important choice

For many drinkable things, European Portuguese uses both beber and tomar, but with different flavor:

• beber água / beber vinho / beber cerveja — the basic, literal choice. Focuses on the act of drinking.
• tomar um café / tomar um chá / tomar uma bebida — common when ordering or socializing at a café. Tomar is closer to English to have (as in "let's have a coffee").
• tomar um medicamento / tomar um comprimido — for medicine, always tomar, never beber.
• Beber muito — to drink a lot, often with the implication of drinking heavily (i.e. alcohol). Without further context, ele bebe muito usually means he drinks heavily.

Common uses and collocations

• beber um café — to drink / have a coffee (often interchangeable with tomar um café)
• beber à tua saúde / beber à saúde de alguém — to drink to someone's health
• beber pelas palavras de alguém — to hang on someone's every word (idiom)
• beber aos copos / beber aos goles — to drink in gulps / in sips
• dar de beber a alguém — to give someone something to drink
• beber de um só trago — to drink in one gulp
• beber como uma esponja — to drink like a fish (idiom, literally "like a sponge")

The related noun is a bebida — any drink, alcoholic or not. Bebidas quentes = hot drinks; bebidas alcoólicas = alcoholic drinks; uma bebida não alcoólica = a non-alcoholic drink.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Beber is a fully regular second-conjugation (-er) verb — a textbook example of the entire class.
• The past participle is bebido (regular); there is no irregular participle.
• In European Portuguese, tomar often replaces beber in social contexts: tomar um café, tomar um chá. For medicine, always tomar; for water, always beber.
• Ele bebe muito without further context usually implies heavy drinking of alcohol, not heavy consumption of beverages in general.
• The tu affirmative imperative is bebe, but the tu negative switches to não bebas (subjunctive).
• The related noun bebida (drink, beverage) is one of the most productive derivations — bebidas quentes, bebidas frias, bebidas alcoólicas.