Ver (To See) — Full Conjugation

Ver means to see — physically, metaphorically, cinematically (ver um filme), and in everyday phrases like vemo-nos amanhã (see you tomorrow). It is one of the most frequent verbs in the language, and it is irregular in almost every tense. Worse (for the learner), several of its forms collide with forms of a completely different verb: vir (to come). The classic trap is the future subjunctive: se eu vir means if I see, and se eu vier means if I come. Mix them up and you invert the meaning of a whole sentence.

This page lays out every form of ver, tense by tense, with flags where confusion with vir is most likely. The one piece of good news: once you have the present (vejo, vês, vê, vemos, veem), the past participle (visto), and the future subjunctive (vir, vires, vir...), the rest of the paradigm follows fairly predictable paths built on two stems: ve- and vi-.

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Note that the gerund vendo is homographic with:

• vendo = 1sg present of vender (I sell)
• a venda = "the sale" (noun, different accent/article)

Again, context always disambiguates.

Present indicative — presente do indicativo

The first-person singular takes the irregular -j- (shared with pôr → ponho, ter → tenho, and others). The tu form has a circumflex on the open e, and the 3pl ends in -eem after the 1990 Orthographic Agreement (previously spelled vêem).

In Portugal, the pre-Acordo spelling vêem is still routinely seen in older books, and many adults still write it that way — but the official post-1990 form is veem (two adjacent e's, no circumflex).

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Built on the regular stem vi- with standard -er imperfect endings. The i in the 1pl and 2pl forms carries a written accent (víamos, víeis) to mark that the stressed vowel is the í and to block the i+a / i+e sequence from being read as a falling diphthong.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Irregular but learnable: the preterite stem is simply vi-, and the endings are regular.

Collision alert: vimos is both the preterite of ver (we saw) and the present of vir (we come). Context is your only guide — adverbs (ontem vimos = yesterday we saw; agora vimos = now we come) and sentence context do the work.

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

Uses the same vi- stem. Notice the accent on víramos and víreis — same stress-marking rule as the imperfect.

The 3pl viram is identical to the preterite 3pl — the literary simple pluperfect is disambiguated by the other persons and by context.

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

Everyday way to say had seen: imperfect of ter + visto.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Repeated/ongoing action. Tenho visto muitas séries este verão = I've been watching a lot of series this summer.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Built on the infinitive ver + standard future endings. Fully regular in its formation rule.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Built on the irregular vej- stem from the 1sg present.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Built on the vi- stem. Note the written accent on víssemos (proparoxytone, so the stressed í needs a mark) and vísseis.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

This is the form that collides with vir. The future subjunctive of ver is built on the vi- stem + the standard future-subjunctive endings. In the 1sg and 3sg, the result is vir — identical in spelling to the infinitive of vir (to come).

The future subjunctive of vir is built on vier-: vier, vieres, vier, viermos, vierdes, vierem. So:

• Se eu *vir o teu irmão, digo-lhe. = If I *see your brother, I'll tell him.
• Se eu *vier à tua festa, trago a Sofia. = If I *come to your party, I'll bring Sofia.

Mixing these up inverts your meaning. Memorize the pair.

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 takes a circumflex — vê, not ve.

Negative (present subjunctive with não):

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Identical in form to the future subjunctive.

Note: the personal infinitive of ver uses the infinitive stem (ver-), while its future subjunctive uses the preterite stem (vi-). So for ver, unlike regular verbs, the personal infinitive and the future subjunctive are different:

• Personal infinitive: para verem = for them to see
• Future subjunctive: quando virem = when they see

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Usage patterns

1. Ver + direct object (see something / watch something):

In everyday Portuguese, ver covers both to see (physical perception) and to watch (TV, a film, a game).

2. Ver + infinitivo (see someone do something):

This construction — ver + direct-object pronoun + infinitive — is the equivalent of English see + object + bare verb.

3. Ver-se (see oneself; meet up):

The reflexive meaning is literal (ver-se ao espelho = to see oneself in the mirror), but the most common everyday use is the plural vemo-nos = we'll see each other / see you.

4. Ter a ver com (have to do with):

One of the highest-frequency idioms. Note: a ver com, not que ver com.

5. Vê lá se... (make sure that... / watch out that...):

An idiomatic warning or reminder, very common in speech.

Ver vs vir — the contrast

The two verbs collide in a handful of forms. The list of collisions is:

The gerund and past participle of vir are both vindo — same form, different function (distinguished by auxiliary: estou vindo ≈ colloquial progressive; tenho vindo = present perfect compound). Ver uses vendo for the gerund and visto for the participle.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Ver is highly irregular. Memorize three stems: ve- (infinitive, future, conditional, imperfect), vej- (present subjunctive + 1sg present + imperative você), and vi- (preterite, pluperfect, imperfect and future subjunctive, past participle's cousin visto).
• The past participle is visto — irregular. The gerund is vendo.
• The 3pl present is veem under the 1990 Orthographic Agreement. The older vêem is still widely seen in print but no longer standard.
• The future subjunctive of ver is vir, identical to the infinitive of vir (to come). Memorize the pair: se eu vir = if I see; se eu vier = if I come.
• The tu imperative takes an accent: vê, not ve.
• The imperfect and imperfect subjunctive 1pl/2pl forms take written accents on the stressed í: víamos, víeis, víssemos, vísseis.
• Ter a ver com (not ter que ver com) is the fixed idiom for to have to do with.