Living languages manufacture new verbs constantly. Somebody posts a photo online — ela postou ("she posted"). Somebody likes it — eu dei like or, increasingly, eu likei. A government makes a policy more modern — modernizou a política. These are not grammatical accidents; they are the output of a well-defined Portuguese verb-derivation machinery that has been running for about a thousand years and shows no sign of slowing down.
Every new Portuguese verb is built by the same logic: take a noun, an adjective, or a loan-word, attach a productive suffix that makes it a verb (almost always in the first conjugation, -ar), optionally add a prefix for meaning-modification, and plug into the regular paradigm. Understanding this machine does two things for you: it lets you recognise and decode hundreds of verbs you have never seen before, and it lets you understand the shape of Portuguese lexical innovation in the twenty-first century.
The suffix map — what each ending does
Portuguese has five major productive verb-forming suffixes. Each carries a slightly different flavour, but all of them produce -ar verbs, all are fully regular, and all can be attached to nouns or adjectives to make causative or activity verbs.
| Suffix | Typical source | Meaning added | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -izar | adj. / noun (often of Greek or Latin origin) | cause to become X, do X systematically | modernizar — to modernise |
| -ificar | adj. / noun (Latin origin) | cause to become X, render X | simplificar — to simplify |
| -ear | noun / adjective (native origin) | frequentative or activity reading | branquear — to whiten |
| -ejar | noun (often of nautical / rural register) | activity, tendency | velejar — to sail |
| -ar (bare) | noun | do what the noun describes | estacionar — to park |
These are not quite interchangeable, and there are subtle reasons why one is chosen over another in any particular coinage. The rest of the page unpacks each one.
-izar — the dominant modern suffix
-izar is Portuguese's most productive verb-forming suffix today, and the one you will meet most often in technical, academic, and journalistic writing. It typically attaches to a noun or adjective of Greek or Latin origin and creates a verb meaning "to cause to become X" or "to do X systematically." It is the direct descendant of Greek -ίζειν (which gave English -ize / -ise) and is entirely cognate in meaning.
O governo quer modernizar o sistema de saúde até 2030.
The government wants to modernise the healthcare system by 2030.
A empresa está a digitalizar todos os arquivos em papel.
The company is digitising all the paper archives.
É preciso democratizar o acesso à cultura.
We need to democratise access to culture.
A directora resolveu centralizar as decisões no escritório central.
The director decided to centralise decisions at the head office.
The -izar verbs are everywhere: globalizar, realizar, organizar, utilizar, simbolizar, analisar (note spelling: analisar keeps the -isar with s, irregularly), caracterizar, personalizar, economizar, industrializar, privatizar, humanizar, autorizar.
A subtle orthographic note: with the 1990 orthographic agreement, the -izar / -isar distribution was simplified, but a small class of verbs keeps -isar with s where etymology demands it:
- -izar (the productive suffix): modernizar, globalizar, utilizar, realizar, autorizar
- -isar (old native verbs with s in the stem): analisar (from análise), pesquisar (from pesquisa), paralisar (from paralisia), avisar (from aviso)
You can tell which is which by asking whether the base noun/adjective has an s in it (análise, pesquisa, aviso → -isar) or not (moderno, globo, real → -izar).
-izar as a conscious new-coining tool
When a Portuguese-speaking institution or writer needs a new verb for a new concept, -izar is almost always the tool they reach for. Recent examples:
- virar viral → viralizar ("to go viral")
- agenda → agendizar (rare, but attested, "to put on the agenda")
- género → generizar (gender-neutralise)
- contentor → conteinerizar (from container, "to containerise")
Not all of these are fully accepted in normative dictionaries, but they are intelligible to any speaker because the suffix is so transparent.
-ificar — the intensive causative
-ificar is the second major causative suffix, from Latin -ficare. It means "to make X" with slightly more intensity or deliberateness than -izar. Most -ificar verbs are built on Latin or Greek adjectives, and many have -izar near-synonyms; the distribution is partly historical.
Podes clarificar o que queres dizer?
Can you clarify what you mean?
É preciso simplificar este processo burocrático.
We need to simplify this bureaucratic process.
A escola procura diversificar as ofertas curriculares.
The school is seeking to diversify its curriculum offerings.
O novo software permite quantificar os dados com precisão.
The new software allows us to quantify the data precisely.
Common -ificar verbs: justificar, especificar, identificar, qualificar, classificar, modificar, verificar, amplificar, purificar, dignificar, glorificar, unificar.
The difference between -izar and -ificar is mostly idiomatic and historical. When both exist (simplificar / simplizar), the language has already made a choice, and you follow it. When neither exists and a speaker has to coin one, -izar is the default instinct today.
-ear — frequentative and activity verbs
-ear is an older productive suffix that attaches to native Portuguese nouns and adjectives. It tends to give verbs a frequentative or activity flavour — something done repeatedly, or the activity associated with a noun. The verbs it produces belong to the -ear irregular class (see verbs ending in -ear), which has a predictable spelling alternation with -eia in the stressed forms.
Passeamos pelo Jardim da Estrela todas as tardes.
We stroll through the Jardim da Estrela every afternoon.
A parede foi branqueada de fresco com cal.
The wall was freshly whitewashed with lime.
O moinho estava a bloquear o caminho.
The mill was blocking the way.
Desde que se reformou, anda a folhear o jornal todas as manhãs.
Since he retired, he's been leafing through the newspaper every morning.
Common -ear verbs: passear (from passeio), guerrear (from guerra), semear (from semente), falsear (from falso), barbear (from barba), bloquear (from bloco), folhear (from folha), nomear (from nome), cabecear (from cabeça), planear (from plano).
The semantic flavour: -ear often implies something done with regularity or as an occupation. Because the verbs in this class take the -eia stem alternation (passeio, passeias, passeia), you can usually spot them by listening for that diphthong in the stressed present indicative and subjunctive forms.
-ejar — activity with a regional or rural flavour
-ejar is related to -ear and produces similar meanings, but attaches to a smaller set of bases and often has a rural, nautical, or regional flavour. It is less productive today than the other suffixes.
Passámos o fim-de-semana a velejar no Tejo.
We spent the weekend sailing on the Tagus.
O campo verdeja com a chuva da primavera.
The fields turn green with the spring rain. (literary)
Os miúdos gracejam com o avô sempre que o vêem.
The kids joke around with their grandfather whenever they see him.
Common -ejar verbs: velejar (to sail, from vela 'sail'), gracejar (to joke, from graça), verdejar (to turn green, literary, from verde), pestanejar (to blink, from pestana), apedrejar (to stone, from pedra), gotejar (to drip, from gota).
Modern Portuguese rarely coins new verbs with -ejar; it survives mostly in fixed items. For new coinages, -izar or a bare -ar is the default.
Bare -ar — the simplest derivation
The simplest way to make a verb in Portuguese is to take a noun and add -ar directly. This is how most new loanwords enter the language: postar, tuitar, bloguear (variant), escanear, fotografar, fotocopiar.
Ela postou uma foto nova no Instagram ontem.
She posted a new photo on Instagram yesterday.
Vou tuitar a ligação assim que puder.
I'll tweet the link as soon as I can.
Podes escanear este documento para mim?
Can you scan this document for me?
Estacionámos o carro mesmo em frente à porta.
We parked the car right in front of the door.
The -ar attachment is the minimal case: just drop the noun ending (or the foreign word's ending) and add -ar. The resulting verb is a fully regular first-conjugation verb.
English loans in modern European Portuguese
Portuguese has absorbed a large vocabulary of English-origin verbs in the last thirty years, especially in technology, sports, and digital culture. The productive pattern is: English verb stem → -ar. Some of these are fully accepted; others are colloquial and resisted by language purists.
| English verb | Portuguese verb | Register |
|---|---|---|
| post | postar | everyday (still slightly informal) |
| tweet | tuitar | everyday (informal) |
| click | clicar | everyday (accepted) |
| like | likar / dar (um) like | colloquial (purists prefer gostar) |
| scan | escanear / digitalizar | both acceptable |
| delete | deletar | colloquial (purists prefer apagar / eliminar) |
| log in | fazer login (not logar) | phrasal; logar is marginal |
| backup | fazer (um) backup (not backupar) | phrasal |
| stream | fazer streaming / emitir em direto | phrasal / paraphrase |
| implement | implementar | fully accepted |
| format | formatar | fully accepted |
| upload / download | fazer upload / descarregar | varies |
The interesting thing: not every English verb becomes a Portuguese verb with -ar. Some enter as light-verb constructions with fazer: fazer login, fazer backup, fazer streaming. This is the same "light verb + noun" pattern that Portuguese uses for many of its own native meanings — see light verb constructions. The choice between a derived -ar verb and a light-verb construction is partly euphony, partly convention.
Fiz login na plataforma e descarreguei o ficheiro.
I logged into the platform and downloaded the file.
European Portuguese, compared with Brazilian Portuguese, is slightly more resistant to loan-word derivations and tends to prefer phrasal alternatives (fazer upload rather than upar; descarregar rather than baixar). But the pressure of digital culture is making this distinction less sharp year by year.
Prefix modifications — the four big ones
Once a base verb exists, Portuguese can modify its meaning with prefixes. The four most productive verb prefixes are re-, des-, en-, and a-. Each carries a predictable meaning.
re- — repetition or reversal
Re- is the exact cognate of English re- and does the same work: it marks repetition or, less commonly, a return to an earlier state.
Tive de refazer o relatório todo porque o computador rebentou.
I had to redo the whole report because the computer crashed.
Vamos rever a apresentação antes da reunião.
Let's review the presentation before the meeting.
Ela repensou a decisão durante a noite.
She rethought the decision overnight.
É bom relembrar o que aprendemos na aula anterior.
It's good to remind ourselves (or: recall) of what we learned in the previous class.
Productive examples: reconstruir, reescrever, relembrar, reorganizar, repensar, reutilizar, recomeçar, reaparecer, reconstituir.
des- — undoing, negation
Des- marks the undoing of the base verb's action or the reversal of its state. English uses un- or dis- for similar meanings.
Ele desfez as malas assim que chegou a casa.
He unpacked his bags as soon as he got home.
Descalça os sapatos antes de entrar, por favor.
Take your shoes off before coming in, please.
O tempo vai-se desvanecendo sem darmos por isso.
Time fades away without our noticing.
Tive de desmontar a estante toda para mudar de casa.
I had to dismantle the whole bookshelf to move house.
Productive examples: desfazer, desmontar, descalçar, despir, desapertar, descansar (from cansar, "to un-tire" = rest), desligar (to turn off, from ligar "to connect"), desaparecer, desconstruir, desinstalar.
en- / em- — becoming, getting into a state
En- (and its variant em- before b or p) turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning "to put into the state X" or "to cause to become X." It is especially productive with adjectives of state or appearance.
O calor do verão engordou-o dez quilos.
The summer heat caused him to put on ten kilos. (from *gordo* 'fat')
A criança adormeceu nos meus braços.
The child fell asleep in my arms. (from *dormir*, with *a-* + *-ecer*)
Embrulha-me o presente, por favor.
Wrap up the present for me, please.
Ensina-me a fazer caldo-verde.
Teach me how to make caldo-verde.
Productive examples: encaixar (from caixa), empacotar (from pacote), engarrafar (from garrafa), endurecer (from duro), enriquecer (from rico), envelhecer (from velho), engordar (from gordo), emagrecer (from magro).
Note the overlap with -ecer: many en- + adjective verbs take the inchoative suffix -ecer to give "become X": endurecer ("become hard"), enriquecer ("become rich"), escurecer (from escuro "dark"), envelhecer (from velho "old"), engordar (from gordo "fat") — the last without -ecer but with the same meaning.
a- — moving toward, causing
A- is the least distinct of the major prefixes; it often attaches to a base and simply marks the verb as transitive or goal-directed, with little semantic contribution. In some verbs it is entirely fossilised.
O avião aterrou suavemente.
The plane landed gently. (from *terra*; *a-* + *-ar*)
Ela adoçou o café com um cubo de açúcar.
She sweetened the coffee with a sugar cube. (from *doce*)
O calor do forno amoleceu a manteiga.
The heat of the oven softened the butter. (from *mole*)
Os gatos acostumaram-se à casa nova.
The cats got used to the new house. (from *costume*)
Productive examples: aterrar, adoçar, amolecer, acostumar, aproximar, aparecer, assinalar (from sinal), abandonar.
Deadjectival verbs: from property to process
A very common Portuguese pattern is taking an adjective and making a verb from it by adding a suffix — usually -izar, -ificar, -ecer, or en- + -ecer. The resulting verb typically means "to make X" (causative) or "to become X" (inchoative).
| Adjective | Causative ("make X") | Inchoative ("become X") |
|---|---|---|
| duro | endurecer | endurecer (ambiguous) |
| velho | envelhecer | envelhecer (ambiguous) |
| rico | enriquecer | enriquecer |
| simples | simplificar | simplificar-se |
| moderno | modernizar | modernizar-se |
| forte | fortalecer / fortificar | fortalecer-se |
| fácil | facilitar | — |
| escuro | escurecer | escurecer |
The inchoative/causative ambiguity is common: o céu escureceu can mean "the sky got dark" (inchoative) or "X darkened the sky" (causative), and only context and the presence/absence of an object tell you which. Often the inchoative reading uses a reflexive: o problema simplificou-se ("the problem simplified itself"), a situação modernizou-se ("the situation modernised itself").
Denominal verbs: from things to actions
Even more productive is the pattern of taking a noun and making a verb — "to do the action associated with the noun" or "to affect with the noun."
Estacionei o carro na garagem.
I parked the car in the garage. (from *estação* 'station', via the sense 'to bring to a station/stopping-place')
O pintor pincelou a tela com cuidado.
The painter brushed the canvas carefully. (from *pincel* 'brush')
Ela maquilhou-se à pressa antes de sair.
She put her makeup on in a hurry before going out. (from *maquilhagem*)
A avó costura as calças em dez minutos.
Grandma sews the trousers in ten minutes. (from *costura* 'sewing')
Denominal verbs are a strong channel for recent loanwords, especially from English: escanear (from scan), tuitar (from tweet), postar (from post), clicar (from click).
Causatives — fazer + infinitive
Beyond single-verb derivation, Portuguese has a productive causative construction: fazer + infinitive, meaning "to make (someone) do X" or "to cause X to happen." This is an alternative to forming a lexical causative; sometimes both exist.
A professora fez-me reler o capítulo inteiro.
The teacher made me re-read the whole chapter.
O filme fê-lo chorar duas vezes.
The film made him cry twice.
O frio faz a água congelar.
Cold makes water freeze. (compare: *o frio congela a água*, same meaning with the lexical causative)
The fazer + infinitive construction is especially useful when no lexical causative exists or when the causation is more clearly agent-driven. See causative constructions.
When a verb has no accepted form yet
Because Portuguese verb-derivation is so transparent, speakers freely coin verbs on the fly that have not yet made it into dictionaries. Some are one-off nonce-words; some catch on and spread. The internet era has accelerated this process.
Estou a espanholizar-me sem querer.
I'm becoming Spanish-ified without meaning to. (one-off coinage — *espanholizar* is attested but less common than *espanholar*, which is marginally rarer)
O Twitter transformou-nos todos em tuiteiros.
Twitter turned us all into tweeters. (the noun *tuiteiro* is well-established; the verb *tuitar* is the productive partner)
Ela está sempre a likar fotos da gata dela.
She's always liking photos of her cat. (colloquial — purists prefer *dar like a*)
Some of these will stabilise; some will vanish. A C1 learner should be able to parse them on the fly regardless.
Common mistakes
❌ Quero simplizar este processo.
Non-existent verb — the correct form is *simplificar*.
✅ Quero simplificar este processo.
I want to simplify this process.
When both -izar and -ificar are theoretically possible for the same base, the language has usually already chosen one; you cannot pick freely.
❌ Ele anda a baixar música.
Calque from Brazilian Portuguese / Spanish — in European Portuguese, the standard verb is *descarregar*.
✅ Ele anda a descarregar música.
He's been downloading music.
Brazilian Portuguese prefers baixar for "download"; European Portuguese prefers descarregar. Baixar in EP still primarily means "lower, lower down."
❌ Dei um like em todas as fotos.
Colloquial but ungrammatical at the level of article use — *like* here is a noun needing no article, or a fixed bare expression.
✅ Dei like em todas as fotos.
I liked all the photos. / I gave a like to every photo. (colloquial; more formal: *gostei de todas as fotos*)
❌ Analizar os dados.
Spelling error — this verb keeps the *s* of *análise*.
✅ Analisar os dados.
To analyse the data.
A few verbs keep -isar with s where the base noun has s: analisar (from análise), pesquisar (from pesquisa), avisar (from aviso).
❌ O aluno quis relog na plataforma.
*Relog* is not a Portuguese verb — you can paraphrase with a phrasal construction.
✅ O aluno quis voltar a fazer login na plataforma.
The student wanted to log back into the platform.
Not every English verb survives the -ar filter cleanly; when the phonetics do not fit, Portuguese uses a phrasal construction instead.
Key takeaways
- Portuguese verbs are built from nouns, adjectives, or loanwords by attaching a productive suffix, almost always in the -ar class.
- The five major productive suffixes are -izar (the dominant modern one), -ificar (causative with Latinate bases), -ear (frequentative/activity), -ejar (older, regional), and bare -ar (direct denominal).
- Prefixes modify the base verb: re- (repetition), des- (undoing), en- / em- (becoming), a- (goal-directed or fossilised).
- New English loanwords enter Portuguese either by adding -ar directly (postar, tuitar, clicar) or by forming a light-verb construction (fazer login, fazer backup).
- The inchoative/causative pair often shares a single verb: envelhecer means both "to age someone" and "to grow old"; context and transitivity disambiguate.
- European Portuguese is slightly more resistant to direct English verb-borrowing than Brazilian Portuguese and often prefers native paraphrases (descarregar rather than baixar; emitir em direto rather than transmitir ao vivo).
- Once you internalise the suffix–prefix system, you can parse and often produce hundreds of verbs you have never formally studied — and the machinery will keep producing new ones every year.
Related Topics
- Portuguese Verb System OverviewA1 — An introduction to the Portuguese verb system: conjugation, moods, tenses, and aspects
- Verb Classes: Overview of Irregular PatternsA2 — Most 'irregular' Portuguese verbs follow patterns. A map of the main verb classes — spelling-change, stem-change, -ear, -iar, -air — plus the short list of verbs that truly are one-offs.
- Cognate Verbs (English-Portuguese)A2 — Portuguese verbs with clear English cognates that let beginners build vocabulary quickly
- False Friend Verbs (English and Spanish vs Portuguese)B1 — Portuguese verbs that look like English or Spanish verbs but mean something different
- Verbal Aspect in PortugueseB2 — Aspect is the internal temporal shape of an event — complete or ongoing, starting or stopping, habitual or one-off. European Portuguese marks aspect with a rich combination of synthetic contrasts and periphrastic constructions; this page is the full map.
- Modality and Modal VerbsB1 — How Portuguese expresses obligation, permission, possibility, ability, and volition — the modal verbs poder, dever, ter de, haver de, saber, conseguir, querer, precisar de, and the subtle nuances that separate them.