Descer (To Go Down) — Full Conjugation

Descer means to go down — down stairs, down a hill, down a mountain, down in price, down from a bus, down in rank, or down a scale of any kind. It is the direct opposite of subir (to go up), and the two verbs are learned together in every Portuguese textbook for a reason: they share the same semantic domain (vertical and metaphorical motion) and their usage patterns mirror each other.

Grammatically, descer is a regular second-conjugation (-er) verb with one orthographic wrinkle: the stem desc- needs ç before the vowels -a- and -o- to preserve the soft /s/ sound. So you write desço (I go down), desça (present subjunctive), but desces, desce, descemos, descem with plain c. This is the same rule that governs crescer, conhecer, parecer, and every verb whose stem ends in -cer.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Desço as escadas a correr = I run down the stairs. Cedilha only in the eu form.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Past habits, descriptions, actions in progress. Descia a rua quando o vi = I was going down the street when I saw him.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Completed past actions. Desci do autocarro na paragem errada = I got off the bus at the wrong stop.

Note: the nós form descemos is identical in the present and preterite. Context disambiguates.

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

Literary / formal writing only. In speech, use the compound form.

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

Everyday had gone down. Imperfect of ter plus descido.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Repeated / ongoing action up to now. Os preços têm descido = prices have been coming down (lately).

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Formal / written. In speech, vou descer, vais descer is far more common.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional

Desceria já, mas estou à espera de uma chamada = I'd go down now, but I'm waiting for a call.

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

All forms carry ç because the endings start with -a. Built from desço → desç- + subjunctive endings.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Se descesses o preço, vendia-se logo = if you lowered the price, it would sell immediately.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Quando desceres na próxima paragem, espera-me = when you get off at the next stop, wait for me.

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:

Notice once more that the tu affirmative (desce) comes from the present indicative, but the tu negative (não desças) uses the subjunctive — which restores the ç.

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Identical in form to the future subjunctive.

Usage notes — prepositions and senses

descer (transitive, no preposition) — to go down X

Descer a escada, descer a rua, descer a montanha — the thing being descended is a direct object.

descer + de + transport — to get off (a bus, train, bike, boat)

This is the standard way to say get off a bus/train in European Portuguese. Sair de is also possible but less common for this meaning.

descer de + amount/price — to come down by / to

Note: descer de + X para Y = to go down from X to Y. Desceu de 5 euros para 3 = it went down from 5 to 3.

descer a (somewhere) — to go down to

Movement to a lower-located place. Common with descer à rua, descer à cave, descer à praia.

Metaphorical descents

Descer is productive for figurative going-down:

• descer a temperatura / a febre — (for) the temperature / fever to drop
• descer de nível — to drop in standard, to get worse
• descer ao pormenor — to go down into the details
• descer ao fundo do poço — to hit rock bottom
• a noite desceu sobre a cidade (literary) — night fell over the city

descer vs subir

The two verbs pattern identically:

One asymmetry: to get on transport, European Portuguese uses subir a / para or entrar em, not subir de. To get off, it uses descer de or sair de.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Descer is a regular -er verb with the orthographic c → ç rule before a, o.
• The cedilha appears in the eu present (desço), the entire present subjunctive (desça, desças, desça, desçamos, desçam), and the subjunctive-derived negative imperative and você/nós/vocês affirmatives.
• Remember the key prepositions: descer X (direct object), descer de + vehicle (get off), descer de X para Y (go down from X to Y), descer a + place (go down to).
• Descer pairs with subir as direct opposites; their patterns mirror each other almost perfectly.
• The past participle is regular: descido. No complications there.
• When teaching yourself, pair descer and subir in every drill — they reinforce each other and match a semantic domain that English speakers already have.