Seguir (To Follow) — Full Conjugation

Seguir means to follow — someone walking down the street, a set of instructions, a route on a map, a social media account, a rule, a thread of conversation. It is one of the most productive verbs in everyday Portuguese because it covers everything English does with follow, keep going, continue, carry on, pursue. When a Lisbon driver tells you siga sempre em frente!, they are using seguir in its most common everyday sense: keep going straight.

Seguir has two irregularities happening at once, and they interact. First, it belongs to the e → i stem-change group (like sentir, preferir, mentir, servir): the e of the stem becomes i in the eu-present and throughout the present subjunctive. Second, because Portuguese writes the hard-g sound as gu before e and i, but just g before a and o, the stem is spelled sig- (not sigu-) whenever the next letter is o or a. This is not an exception; it is a purely orthographic adjustment. Learn it once and it applies everywhere.

Header

Present indicative — presente do indicativo

The eu form is sigo (e → i stem change, and gu → g before o). Every other form keeps e in the stem and gu in the spelling.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Regular; stem is segui- throughout. No stem change or spelling change because no -o/-a ending follows.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Regular throughout. No stem change in the preterite.

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

Literary; everyday speech uses the compound.

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

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Repeated or continuous action up to now. Tenho seguido o caso de perto — I've been following the case closely.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Built from the eu-present sigo. Every form carries the i and drops the u of gu (because the ending starts with a).

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Regular.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Regular; identical in form 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

Affirmative: the tu form is the regular segue (from the 3sg present); você, nós, vocês use the subjunctive sig- stem.

Negative (subjunctive with não):

The imperative siga! is extremely common in spoken Portuguese. On its own, siga! means go ahead!, carry on!, let's go! — it is what a driver says when the car in front is too slow to move, what a coach shouts to a team, what you say to urge someone to continue their story.

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Usage notes

Seguir em frente — the direction phrase every learner needs

If you ask a Lisbon local for directions, you will hear siga sempre em frente more often than any other phrase. Seguir em frente = keep going straight ahead. The word sempre (always) intensifies it: just keep going straight.

Seguir alguém — physical following and online following

Seguir covers both someone walking behind you on the street and someone following your Instagram account. In the social media sense, you say seguir alguém no Instagram / Twitter / TikTok, and the noun seguidor / seguidora means follower.

Seguir as regras / as instruções

Seguir + noun is the standard way to say follow rules, instructions, a recipe, a rhythm, a lead.

Seguir + a + infinitive — does it exist?

No — or at least, not in standard modern European Portuguese. To say continue doing, Portuguese uses continuar a + infinitive or continuar + gerund, not seguir a + infinitive. You may see seguir a + infinitive in Brazilian usage or older texts, but in EP it sounds odd.

However, you will hear seguir used on its own to mean go ahead / carry on — often in the imperative: siga! or podem seguir (you may proceed).

Siga! — the one-word command

Siga! is one of the most useful single words in Portuguese. Depending on context it means: go!, carry on!, next (please)!, let's go!, keep it up!. You will hear it at counters, from teachers, on TV.

Idiomatic and fixed uses

• seguir em frente — keep going straight; also move on (with life)
• seguir o exemplo de — follow the example of
• seguir o conselho de — follow someone's advice
• seguir adiante — press ahead
• seguir o seu caminho — go one's own way
• a seguir — next (adverb): e a seguir? = and next?

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Seguir has two changes in the eu-present and the entire present subjunctive: the e → i stem change (shared with sentir, mentir, preferir, servir) and the gu → g spelling adjustment before o and a. The result is sigo, siga, sigas, siga, sigamos, sigam.
• Elsewhere the stem is segui- (segues, segue, seguimos, seguem; seguia; segui, seguiu; seguirei) and the gu stays because it precedes e or i.
• Seguir em frente is the standard directions phrase: keep going straight.
• Siga! alone means go ahead! / next! / carry on! — one of the most useful single-word commands in Portuguese.
• Do not use seguir a + infinitive for keep doing; European Portuguese uses continuar a + infinitive.
• Seguir covers physical following, social-media following, following rules and instructions, and pursuing a career. It is high-frequency in every register.