Comprar (To Buy) — Full Conjugation

Comprar means to buy or to purchase. It is a first-conjugation (-ar) verb, perfectly regular in every form, and you will use it from your first trip to the mercado onwards. On the grammatical side, comprar is easy: the endings are the default -ar endings, no spelling changes, no stem changes. What deserves attention — because English and Spanish handle it differently — is the preposition Portuguese uses for buying something from someone.

In English we say "I bought it from him." In Portuguese, the person you buy from is introduced by a, not by de: Comprei-o a ele. This looks counter-intuitive because a usually means "to," but in Portuguese a single preposition can mark both the source and the destination of a transfer, depending on the verb. Learning this pattern with comprar unlocks several other verbs (pedir, tirar, roubar) that work the same way.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Note: European Portuguese distinguishes the nós preterite (comprámos, with an acute accent) from the present (compramos, no accent). This orthographic distinction is specific to European spelling; Brazilian Portuguese writes both as compramos.

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

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

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

Affirmative:

Negative:

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Usage: "comprar algo a alguém" — buy something from someone

This is the construction that learners most often get wrong. In Portuguese:

• comprar algo a alguém — to buy something from someone, OR to buy something for someone. Context (and often the presence of other information) decides which reading.
• comprar algo para alguém — to buy something for someone (unambiguous).

Because the same construction with a can mean either "from" or "for," native speakers usually reserve a for the "from" reading when the direction matters, and use para for the "for" reading. The "for" reading of a is more common with indirect-object pronouns (comprei-lhe um presente = I bought him a gift).

Same pattern with other verbs

This "receive/take from someone = a + person" pattern extends to:

• pedir algo a alguém — to ask something of/from someone
• tirar algo a alguém — to take something from someone
• roubar algo a alguém — to steal something from someone
• emprestar algo a alguém — here the a is "to" (lend to); the reverse, "to borrow from someone," uses pedir emprestado a alguém

Common uses and expressions

• fazer compras — to go shopping (literally "to do purchases"). The idiomatic way to say "go shopping" — you do not say ir comprar for general shopping, though you can say ir ao supermercado or ir às compras.
• ir às compras — to go shopping (equally common alternative to fazer compras)
• comprar a crédito — to buy on credit
• comprar a pronto — to pay in cash / pay upfront
• comprar em segunda mão — to buy second-hand
• comprar caro — to pay a lot for (literally "to buy expensively"). Comprei caro. = I paid a lot for it.
• comprar barato — to buy cheaply
• comprar em saldos — to buy in the sales
• comprar a olho — to buy without inspecting, blindly
• comprar gato por lebre — (idiom) to be sold something under false pretences; literally "to buy cat for hare"

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Comprar is fully regular, a textbook -ar verb. Past participle comprado; gerund comprando.
• The person you buy from is introduced by the preposition a: comprei-o ao vendedor. Do not use de here.
• The same a can also mean "for" (the beneficiary), especially with indirect-object pronouns. If the reading is ambiguous, use para to mean "for."
• For "to go shopping," use fazer compras or ir às compras — not ir comprar.
• The European Portuguese nós preterite comprámos carries an acute accent that distinguishes it from the present compramos.