Jogar (To Play) — Full Conjugation

Jogar means to play — but only in one specific sense. In Portuguese, "play" splits into two different verbs depending on what kind of play is going on. Jogar is for structured play with rules: sports, card games, chess, video games, competitions. Brincar is for free, imaginative, unstructured play — what children do with toys, with friends, or with a dog in the park. English uses "play" for both; Portuguese does not. This single distinction is one of the most important vocabulary splits in the language.

Mechanically, jogar is a fully regular first-conjugation (-ar) verb with one spelling change: the stem ends in -g-, which must be written -gu- before the vowel e to preserve the hard /g/ sound. Without that u, the letter g before e would be pronounced /ʒ/ (like French j). So the first-person preterite is joguei (not jogei) and the present subjunctive is jogue / jogues / jogue / joguemos / joguem (not joge / joges...). This is a spelling change, not a true irregularity — the same pattern appears in pagar → paguei, chegar → cheguei, apagar → apaguei.

Header

Present indicative — presente do indicativo

All six present-indicative forms keep -g- because the ending begins with -a- or -o-, vowels that preserve the hard /g/ sound.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Here is where the spelling change first appears: the 1sg form is joguei with -gu-, because the ending -ei would otherwise soften the g.

Note: in European Portuguese, the nós preterite jogámos carries an acute accent on á to distinguish it from the present jogamos. Brazilian Portuguese drops the accent.

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 (futuro do pretérito)

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Here the spelling change appears throughout: -g- must become -gu- before the subjunctive endings in -e-.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

The endings start with -a-, so -g- is kept. The forms are identical to the personal infinitive.

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 affirmative tu form comes from the present indicative (jogas → joga, drop the -s). The remaining affirmative forms and all negative forms use the present-subjunctive stem jogu-.

Affirmative:

Negative (identical to the present subjunctive with não):

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Jogar vs. brincar — the play distinction

This is not a grammar point in the narrow sense, but without understanding it you will make mistakes that sound childish or wrong in Portuguese.

Jogar covers games with rules, competition, or scoring: sports, card games, board games, chess, video games, lotteries, gambling.

Brincar covers free, unstructured, imaginative play: playing with toys, playing pretend, fooling around, playing with a pet. It is also what you do when you are "just joking" with someone.

A useful cross-check: if an English speaker would naturally use "play a game of X" or "play against someone", use jogar. If they would say "play with" a toy, a child, or an animal, or "play pretend", use brincar.

Jogar à / jogar ao — contractions with games

Portuguese uses jogar + a + game, and because a contracts with articles, you see às / ao / aos / às. The article is often required with certain games.

Sports behave differently: football, basketball, tennis, volleyball, and most ball sports go without the article: jogar futebol, jogar ténis, jogar basquetebol. But jogar à bola ("play ball") uses à.

Jogar + preposition combinations

• jogar com — to play with / against someone: jogo com o meu irmão.
• jogar contra — to play against (emphasizing opposition): o Benfica joga contra o Porto amanhã.
• jogar por — to play for (a team or club): ele joga pelo Sporting há cinco anos.
• jogar fora — in Brazilian Portuguese, "to throw away." In European Portuguese, the verb for "throw away" is deitar fora or pôr no lixo.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Jogar is a regular -ar verb with one spelling wrinkle: -g- becomes -gu- before -e- endings. This gives you joguei (preterite 1sg), jogue/jogues/jogue/joguemos/joguem (present subjunctive), and the corresponding imperative forms.
• Jogar is for games with rules, competition, or scoring. Brincar is for free, imaginative play. Confusing them is one of the most telling errors a learner can make.
• Jogar às cartas, jogar ao xadrez, jogar ao Monopólio: some games take a + article. Most team sports do not: jogar futebol, jogar ténis, jogar basquetebol. Jogar à bola is a fixed idiom.
• Jogar fora meaning "throw away" is Brazilian. In European Portuguese, the idiom for throwing something away is deitar fora or pôr no lixo.
• In EP, the nós preterite is jogámos with an acute accent; BP writes it jogamos, identical to the present.
• Useful collocations to memorize: jogar com, jogar contra, jogar por (a team), jogar limpo / sujo, jogar bem / mal.