Vestir (To Dress / To Wear) — Full Conjugation

Vestir means to dress (someone), to put on (an item of clothing), or to wear — where "wear" is the momentary action of having just put something on or the formal, dressier way of saying what someone has on. It belongs to the e → i stem-changing group of -ir verbs: whenever the stressed vowel of the stem e would fall under stress, it shifts to i. This affects the 1sg present (visto, not vesto) and all six forms of the present subjunctive (vista, vistas, vista, vistamos, vistais, vistam). Everywhere else, vestir conjugates as a fully regular -ir verb.

Learners also have to distinguish vestir from usar (to wear, habitually or for a period) and pôr (to put on, the quick action). The rule of thumb: vestir emphasizes dressing and outfits; pôr is a quick, often specific action (pôr o chapéu = to put on the hat); usar is about habitual wearing or what you have on as a state.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

The e → i change appears in eu visto only. All other forms keep the e.

Note that the 1sg visto is identical to the past participle of ver (seen). Again, context disambiguates: eu visto a camisola = I put on the sweater; o quadro que tinha visto = the painting I had seen.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Fully regular; no stem change (the stress falls on the ending).

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Fully regular.

The nós form vestimos is identical in the present and preterite — standard for -ir verbs.

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

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

The e → i change affects every form here, because the subjunctive endings all start with -a and the stem vowel stays stressed throughout.

The form vista is homographic with the past participle of ver used as a feminine noun (a vista = the view). Syntactic context (presence of que, a clitic, or a verb of ordering) resolves the ambiguity.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

No stem change here.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

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 keeps e (stem stress on the ending, no stem change), while você uses the subjunctive form with i.

Negative (present subjunctive with não — all forms with the i-stem):

This gives a learner-visible asymmetry within the imperative: affirmative veste (tu), but negative não vistas (tu). Portuguese learners often trip on this because the two feel contradictory — but the negative always uses the subjunctive, and the subjunctive always has the i-stem.

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Usage patterns

1. Vestir + direct object (put on / wear a garment):

The direct object is the article of clothing. Portuguese does not use a possessive or definite article where English would say "his shirt" — the garment relationship is already implied.

2. Vestir-se (dress oneself, get dressed):

The reflexive is the everyday way to talk about getting dressed. Complement with de + material/style/colour.

3. Vestir de + colour/style (dress in a particular way):

4. Vestir bem / mal (dress well / badly):

A common way to evaluate someone's style without listing items.

5. Vestir-se como (dress as / dress like):

For costumes or style comparisons.

Vestir vs usar vs pôr — the three wearing verbs

Portuguese distinguishes three verbs where English uses put on and wear:

• vestir — to dress (someone), to put on (a full garment), or to wear (focus on the outfit). Emphasizes the act of dressing or the overall appearance.
• usar — to wear habitually, or to have something on as a steady state. The neutral, everyday option for describing what someone wears.
• pôr — to put on (a quick, specific action, especially for accessories like hats, glasses, earrings, shoes).

A helpful rule: if the sentence focuses on the garment or outfit, use vestir; if it focuses on a habitual state, use usar; if it focuses on a quick action with a specific item, use pôr.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Vestir is an e → i stem-changing -ir verb. The change appears in the 1sg present (visto) and in all six forms of the present subjunctive (vista, vistas, vista, vistamos, vistais, vistam).
• Everywhere else — imperfect, preterite, future, conditional, imperfect and future subjunctive — vestir is fully regular.
• Distinguish vestir (focus on the act of dressing / the outfit), usar (habitual state, what someone has on), and pôr (quick specific action, especially for accessories).
• The affirmative tu imperative is veste (with e); the negative is não vistas (with i — from the subjunctive).
• Don't mistake the 1sg visto (I put on) for the past participle of ver (seen). Context tells them apart.
• The reflexive vestir-se is the default verb for to get dressed; pair it with de + description (vestir-se de preto, vestir-se de noiva).