Present Indicative: Regular -ir Verbs | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

The -ir verbs form the third conjugation in Portuguese. To conjugate any regular -ir verb in the present indicative, remove the -ir infinitive ending to find the stem, then add the personal endings. The model verb for this class is partir (to leave / to depart).

The endings

Person	Ending	partir	English
eu	-o	parto	I leave
tu	-es	partes	you leave
ele / ela / você	-e	parte	he/she leaves; you leave
nós	-imos	partimos	we leave
(vós)	(-is)	(partis)	(you all leave)
eles / elas / vocês	-em	partem	they leave; you all leave

Eu parto para o Porto amanhã de manhã.

I leave for Porto tomorrow morning.

Nós partimos sempre às seis da manhã.

We always leave at six in the morning.

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The vós form is nearly extinct in daily European Portuguese. Modern EP uses vocês with third-person plural endings instead. You may encounter vós partis in older literature or prayers, but you do not need to produce it in conversation.

How -ir compares to -er

If you already know regular -er verbs, you are almost done. Place the two paradigms side by side and the overlap is striking:

Person	-er (comer)	-ir (partir)	Different?
eu	como	parto	No
tu	comes	partes	No
ele / ela / você	come	parte	No
nós	comemos	partimos	Yes
(vós)	(comeis)	(partis)	Yes
eles / elas / vocês	comem	partem	No

The only difference is in the nós form (-imos vs -emos) and the obsolete vós form (-is vs -eis). Every other ending is identical. This means that for most everyday speech, -er and -ir verbs are conjugated the same way in the present indicative.

Practice with common verbs

Here are eight high-frequency regular -ir verbs in natural European Portuguese sentences, each using a different person to reinforce the pattern:

Eu abro a janela de manhã para arejar a casa.

I open the window in the morning to air out the house.

Tu decides sempre no último momento!

You always decide at the last moment!

A Ana assiste a todas as aulas de história.

Ana attends all the history classes.

Nós discutimos o projeto durante a reunião.

We discuss the project during the meeting.

Eles insistem em pagar o jantar.

They insist on paying for dinner.

As crianças dividem os brinquedos entre si.

The children divide the toys among themselves.

Tu sobes as escadas ou apanhas o elevador?

Do you go up the stairs or take the lift?

Eu parto o pão ao meio antes de servir.

I split the bread in half before serving.

Notice from the last example that partir can also mean "to break / to split" depending on context -- a useful second meaning to know.

Assistir: a false friend

The verb assistir looks like English "to assist" or Spanish asistir, but in European Portuguese its primary meaning is to attend or to watch. It takes the preposition a before its object.

Assisto ao jogo no estádio todos os domingos.

I watch the game at the stadium every Sunday.

Eles assistem a um concerto no Coliseu.

They attend a concert at the Coliseu.

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Do not forget the preposition a after assistir. Say assisto ao filme (I watch the film), never assisto o filme. When a meets the articles o/a/os/as, it contracts: a + o = ao, a + a = à, a + os = aos, a + as = às.

Stem-changing -ir verbs: a warning

Many common -ir verbs look regular but undergo a stem vowel change in certain present-tense forms. The eu form is the giveaway:

dormir (to sleep) -- durmo (not dormo)
sentir (to feel) -- sinto (not sento)
servir (to serve) -- sirvo (not servo)
pedir (to ask for) -- peço (not pedo)

These verbs follow their own patterns and are covered on the stem-changes page. Everything on this page applies only to verbs whose eu form is a simple stem + -o with no vowel change (like parto, abro, decido).

Highly irregular -ir verbs

Two of the most common verbs in Portuguese end in -ir but are completely irregular: ir (to go) and vir (to come). Their present-tense forms (vou, vais, vai... and venho, vens, vem...) bear no resemblance to the regular pattern. Do not try to apply -ir endings to them -- they have dedicated pages of their own.

Common Mistakes

Even with a pattern this predictable, a handful of errors recur in learner speech. Rehearse the contrasts below until they feel automatic.

❌ Nós partemos às seis da manhã.

Incorrect -- -ir verbs use -imos, not -emos, in the nós form.

✅ Nós partimos às seis da manhã.

We leave at six in the morning.

❌ Eu dormo oito horas por noite.

Trick example -- this is correct only because dormir is a stem-changing verb (o → u). The eu form is durmo, not dormo. Make sure you know which of your -ir verbs are regular.

✅ Eu durmo oito horas por noite.

I sleep eight hours a night.

❌ Eles assistem o concerto no sábado.

Incorrect -- assistir (to attend / to watch) requires the preposition a before its object.

✅ Eles assistem ao concerto no sábado.

They attend the concert on Saturday.

❌ A Ana decidi amanhã.

Incorrect -- the eu ending is -o, not -i. Regular -ir verbs never end in -i in the present indicative.

✅ A Ana decide amanhã.

Ana decides tomorrow.

❌ Tu partis para o Porto?

Incorrect -- partis is the (obsolete) vós form, not the tu form. Tu takes -es: partes.

✅ Tu partes para o Porto?

Are you leaving for Porto?

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Two traps to watch for: (1) remembering that nós takes -imos (not -emos) in -ir verbs; and (2) checking whether a given -ir verb is truly regular or whether it stem-changes in the eu form (dormir → durmo, servir → sirvo, sentir → sinto, seguir → sigo, preferir → prefiro, pedir → peço). If you are not sure, consult the stem-changes page before producing the eu form.

For a complete overview of the -ir conjugation across all tenses, see Third Conjugation: -ir Verbs. For all three conjugation classes side by side, see The Three Conjugations: -ar, -er, -ir.