Valer (To Be Worth) — Full Conjugation

Valer means to be worth — worth a price, worth the effort, worth doing. It belongs to a very small club of -er verbs (alongside doer and the reflexive valer-se) that shows a consonantal alternation between l and lh in the stem. The rule is simple once you see it: wherever the ending begins with -o or -a (that is, in the first-person present and everywhere in the present subjunctive), the l becomes lh to preserve the palatal sound that would otherwise be lost before those vowels. So you say eu valho (I am worth), not eu valo, and que ele valha (that he be worth), not que ele vala.

Everywhere else, valer is regular. And once you have the conjugation, the payoff is idiomatic: valer a pena (to be worth it) is one of the highest-frequency expressions in everyday Portuguese.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Note the l → lh in the first-person singular. All other forms are regular.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Fully regular. Use for past habits, background, and ongoing past states. Naquela altura, um euro valia mais do que hoje. = At that time, a euro was worth more than today.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Fully regular.

Note that valemos is identical in the present and preterite for -er verbs. Context tells you which is meant — unlike -ar verbs, there is no accent-based distinction available.

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

Synthetic literary form. In speech, use the compound pluperfect.

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

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Tem valido muito a pena estudar português = It has been very worth it to study Portuguese.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Fully regular.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional

Esse quadro valeria uma fortuna se fosse autêntico. = That painting would be worth a fortune if it were genuine.

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

The l → lh alternation appears in every form of the present subjunctive, since all endings start with -a. This is where learners most often slip.

The set-phrase Deus me valha! (God help me! — literally may God be worth-to-me) preserves this subjunctive and is still common in speech, especially from older speakers.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Fully regular (no l→lh here, because the endings don't start with a or o).

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Fully regular. Used after se, quando, enquanto for future possibilities.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

Valer is rarely used in direct commands because its meaning (to be worth) doesn't lend itself to ordering someone around. When it does appear — mostly in set expressions — it follows the standard pattern.

Affirmative:

Negative (present subjunctive with não):

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Usage patterns

1. Valer + money or price (be worth a specific amount):

2. Valer a pena (be worth it — the core idiom):

Literally to be worth the sorrow/trouble, this is the everyday expression for "it's worth it." It can be followed by an infinitive: vale a pena ir (it's worth going), or used on its own: vale a pena (it's worth it).

3. Valer mais (be worth more; be better):

Often used in the construction mais vale + infinitivo = it's better to...

4. Valer como (count as, pass for):

5. Valer-se de (take advantage of, make use of):

The reflexive form means to avail oneself of, to fall back on.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Valer is an -er verb with a single irregularity: l → lh before endings starting with -o or -a. This affects the first-person present (valho) and every present-subjunctive form (valha, valhas, valha, valhamos, valham).
• Everywhere else — imperfect, preterite, future, conditional, imperfect and future subjunctive — valer is fully regular.
• Valer a pena is the core idiomatic construction. Learn it as a unit: vale a pena + infinitivo = it's worth doing something.
• Mais vale + infinitivo means it is better to.
• The set phrase Deus me valha! preserves the present subjunctive in a still-living exclamation.