Present Indicative: Regular -ar Verbs

The present indicative is the tense you will use most often in Portuguese. For -ar verbs -- the largest conjugation class -- the pattern is completely predictable: remove -ar from the infinitive to find the stem, then add the appropriate ending. Master this one table and you can conjugate hundreds of verbs on the spot.

The endings

The model verb is falar (to speak). Its stem is fal-. Add the following endings:

The vós form is nearly extinct in daily European Portuguese. You will see it in prayers and older literature, but modern EP uses vocês (with 3rd person plural endings) instead.

Practice with common verbs

The same endings apply to every regular -ar verb. Here are eight high-frequency verbs in action, each using a different person to reinforce the pattern:

Pronunciation notes for European Portuguese

European Portuguese reduces unstressed vowels far more than Brazilian Portuguese. This affects how -ar conjugations actually sound in everyday speech:

• Unstressed a becomes /ɐ/: In falamos, the first a is barely audible -- it sounds closer to /fɐ'lɐmuʃ/ than the open /fa'lamoʃ/ you might expect from the spelling.
• Final -am is nasal /ɐ̃w̃/: The ending falam sounds like /ˈfalɐ̃w̃/, with a nasal glide. This is very different from the open -ão ending.
• The tu form -as sounds like /ɐʃ/: In falas, the final syllable is reduced to /ɐʃ/ with a soft "sh" sound, typical of EP.
• Final -o is reduced to /u/: Falo sounds closer to /ˈfalu/ in natural speech.

Gostar + de

The verb gostar (to like) is one of the most common -ar verbs, but it has one catch: it always requires the preposition de before whatever is liked. Omitting de is a frequent learner mistake.

When de meets the articles o/a/os/as, it contracts: de + o = do, de + a = da, etc. So "I like the book" is Gosto do livro, not Gosto de o livro.

No spelling changes in the present tense

Many learners who study -ar verbs worry about orthographic adjustments like c → qu before e, or g → gu before e, which affect verbs like ficar (to stay), chegar (to arrive), and começar (to begin). Good news: none of these spelling changes happen in the present indicative, because every present-tense ending starts with either -o, -a, or -am/-as. The "soft vowel" e that would force a spelling change only appears in other tenses -- the preterite eu fiquei, the present subjunctive que eu fique, and so on.

So in the present tense you can conjugate these just like any other regular -ar verb: Fico em casa (I stay at home), Chego às oito (I arrive at eight), Começo amanhã (I start tomorrow). The complications are saved for other tenses. For the full orthographic picture, see Spelling Changes in Verbs.

Common mistakes

1. Forgetting de with gostar. As shown above, gostar always needs de. This applies to all persons: Gostas de café? (Do you like coffee?), never Gostas café?.

2. Confusing -am with -ão. The verb ending -am is present tense and unstressed; -ão is future tense and stressed. Mixing them up changes the meaning entirely:

3. Using tu endings with você. Remember that você takes 3rd person singular endings, the same as ele/ela. Say Você fala (correct), not Você falas (incorrect).

4. Reaching for estar a + infinitive when the simple present is enough. Influenced by English "I am working," learners often say Estou a trabalhar when Trabalho is perfectly natural. In European Portuguese, the simple present covers most continuous meanings. Save estar a + infinitive for when you genuinely need to stress that something is happening at this exact moment.

Putting it all together

Here are natural sentences that use different -ar verbs and different persons, showing the present indicative pattern in typical European Portuguese contexts:

Each of these sentences follows the same formula: find the stem, add the ending for the subject. With practice, this becomes automatic. For the parallel patterns with -er and -ir verbs, see Regular -er Verbs and Regular -ir Verbs. For a broader overview of -ar verbs across all tenses, see First Conjugation: -ar Verbs.