Fazer (To Do/Make) — Full Conjugation

Fazer is one of the two or three most important verbs in Portuguese. It means to do and to make — Portuguese, like Spanish and Italian, does not distinguish between these two concepts the way English does. But fazer does much more than that: it reports the weather (faz frio), announces birthdays (fazer anos), measures elapsed time (há dois anos — though here the verb is haver), expresses attempts and performances (fazer uma pergunta, fazer um discurso), and appears in dozens of idioms (fazer de conta, fazer as pazes, fazer-se de parvo).

It is also highly irregular. The present tense has a z/ç alternation, the preterite is strong (fiz, fez), the future and conditional are built on a contracted stem far-, the past participle is feito (not fazido), and the verb is one of the few that still commonly appears in the literary mesoclitic forms (far-se-á, far-nos-ia). If you want to read Portuguese newspapers or literature, you will meet every one of these forms.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

The 1sg form switches z→ç to preserve the /s/ sound before o.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Regular from the stem faz-.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

The classic Portuguese strong preterite: the stem shortens to fiz-, the stress lands on the stem (not the ending) in 1sg and 3sg, and the 3sg ends in -ez.

Notice how fiz and fez have the stress on the stem itself. In regular -er verbs the 3sg ending would be -eu (comeu, bebeu); here the preterite ending has been absorbed into the short stem. This same pattern appears in dizer → disse, disse, querer → quis, quis, poder → pude, pôde.

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

Built on the preterite stem fiz- with pluperfect endings. Literary/formal.

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

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Contracted stem far-. This same shortening happens in dizer → dir- and trazer → trar-.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional

Same contracted stem far-.

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Built on the 1sg present stem faç-.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Built on the preterite stem fiz-.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Also built on the preterite stem fiz-.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

The tu affirmative is the short form faz (derived from the present 3sg faz, not faze).

Affirmative:

Negative:

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Like all personal infinitives, built on the infinitive stem — regular.

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Mesoclise — when pronouns climb into the middle

In future and conditional forms, when a clitic pronoun attaches and no preceding element pulls the pronoun forward (proclisis), European Portuguese inserts the pronoun inside the verb form. This is mesoclise (mesóclise). It is alive and well in formal and literary EP; you will meet it in newspapers, legal writing, and prepared speeches.

The logic: farei-lhe is ungrammatical in EP (no enclisis to a future/conditional). Instead, the pronoun is tucked between the stem far- and the ending -á / -ia. This is one of the most visible differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese, where Brazilian speakers would simply front the pronoun: ele lhe fará.

Usage: the many meanings of fazer

Fazer is a light verb — a verb that combines with many noun complements to form fixed expressions. Below are the most useful.

Weather

Portuguese uses fazer for temperature-related weather (frio, calor, vento, sol). For rain and snow it uses specific verbs (chover, nevar) or estar a + infinitive.

Age / birthdays

Shopping, activities, deeds

Light-verb patterns with nouns

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Fazer has three stems: faz- (present, imperfect, infinitive), fiz- (preterite and everything built on it — imperfect subjunctive, future subjunctive, simple pluperfect), and far- (contracted future and conditional).
• The present 1sg is faço (z→ç before -o), and the whole present subjunctive is built on faç-.
• The past participle is the irregular feito. There is no fazido.
• The tu imperative is the short form faz (not faze). The negative switches to subjunctive: não faças.
• Mesoclise is alive in EP formal registers: far-se-á, dir-lhe-ei, ver-nos-íamos. Recognize it when you read news and literature.
• Fazer is a light verb: faz frio, fazer anos, fazer compras, fazer uma pergunta. Learn the high-frequency expressions as fixed units.