Reflexive Verbs for Daily Routines | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

Describing your daily routine is one of the most useful things you can learn to do early in Portuguese — it is how A2 conversations get started, how a new teacher gets to know you, how you present yourself in a classroom or a hostel kitchen. It is also a small ecosystem of reflexive verbs, which makes it a perfect place to practise the clitic placement rules. This page gives you the full vocabulary of a Portuguese day — morning, midday, evening — with complete paradigms for the two cornerstone verbs levantar-se and deitar-se, plus a narrative text you can adapt to describe your own routine. The single most important thing to pay attention to: which verbs are reflexive in Portuguese, which are not, and where Portuguese differs from Spanish and French.

What's reflexive and what isn't — the shortlist

Start here. Get this right and everything else follows.

Action	Portuguese	Reflexive?	Spanish (for reference)
to wake up	acordar	NO	despertarse (yes)
to get up	levantar-se	YES	levantarse (yes)
to shower	tomar duche / duchar-se	often NO (tomar duche is more common)	ducharse (yes)
to wash (oneself)	lavar-se	YES	lavarse (yes)
to brush teeth	lavar os dentes	NO (takes direct object)	cepillarse los dientes (yes)
to comb one's hair	pentear-se	YES	peinarse (yes)
to shave	barbear-se / fazer a barba	YES (barbear-se) / NO (fazer a barba)	afeitarse (yes)
to put on makeup	maquilhar-se	YES	maquillarse (yes)
to get dressed	vestir-se	YES	vestirse (yes)
to have breakfast	tomar o pequeno-almoço	NO	desayunar / desayunarse
to go to work	ir para o trabalho / deslocar-se para o trabalho	NO (ir) / YES (deslocar-se)	ir al trabajo (no)
to have lunch	almoçar	NO	almorzar (no)
to come home	voltar / voltar para casa	NO	volver a casa (no)
to have dinner	jantar	NO	cenar (no)
to rest	descansar	NO	descansar (no)
to go to bed	deitar-se	YES	acostarse (yes)
to fall asleep	adormecer	NO	dormirse (yes)
to sleep	dormir	NO	dormir (no)

The key pattern: most verbs of physical self-care (dressing, washing, grooming, getting up, going to bed) are reflexive in Portuguese, but the "bookend" verbs of sleep — acordar ("to wake up"), adormecer ("to fall asleep"), dormir ("to sleep") — are NOT. This is one of the sharpest differences from Spanish, where the reflexive despertarse and dormirse are standard.

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If you are coming from Spanish: untrain the instinct to add -se to acordar and dormir. Acordo-me is not how a Portuguese person wakes up in the morning. They acordam — full stop. The same goes for dormir: eu durmo bem, not eu durmo-me bem. Saying vou-me embora used to be more common and is still heard, but vou embora without the pronoun is the modern standard.

Full paradigm: levantar-se

This is the workhorse verb of Portuguese mornings. Memorize the paradigm in the present indicative.

Subject	Affirmative	Proclitic (after trigger)	English
eu	levanto-me	não me levanto	I get up
tu	levantas-te	não te levantas	you get up
ele / ela / você	levanta-se	não se levanta	he/she gets up
nós	levantamo-nos	não nos levantamos	we get up
eles / elas / vocês	levantam-se	não se levantam	they get up

Levanto-me sempre antes do meu marido — ele é dorminhoco.

I always get up before my husband — he's a heavy sleeper.

A que horas te levantas?

What time do you get up?

Ela nunca se levanta antes das nove.

She never gets up before nine.

Levantamo-nos cedo porque as crianças vão à escola.

We get up early because the kids go to school.

Eles levantam-se com o nascer do sol.

They get up at sunrise.

Full paradigm: deitar-se

The evening counterpart.

Subject	Affirmative	Proclitic (after trigger)	English
eu	deito-me	não me deito	I go to bed
tu	deitas-te	não te deitas	you go to bed
ele / ela / você	deita-se	não se deita	he/she goes to bed
nós	deitamo-nos	não nos deitamos	we go to bed
eles / elas / vocês	deitam-se	não se deitam	they go to bed

Deito-me sempre depois das onze, mesmo sabendo que faz mal.

I always go to bed after eleven, even knowing it's bad for me.

Tu deitas-te muito tarde, não é?

You go to bed really late, don't you?

Os miúdos deitam-se às nove durante a semana.

The kids go to bed at nine during the week.

The morning — typical sequence

Here is a standard Portuguese morning, verb by verb. The goal is not just vocabulary; notice how the pronoun placement changes depending on whether a trigger is present.

Acordo todos os dias às sete, mesmo ao fim de semana.

I wake up every day at seven, even at weekends.

Acordar, remember, is not reflexive. No pronoun.

Levanto-me dez minutos depois, mais ou menos.

I get up about ten minutes later.

Default enclitic: levanto-me.

Primeiro, tomo duche — nunca me lavo só ao lavatório.

First, I take a shower — I never just wash at the sink.

Tomar duche (the noun + verb phrase) is non-reflexive. Lavar-se is reflexive, and here the proclitic me appears because nunca is a trigger.

Depois, lavo os dentes, penteio-me e visto-me.

Then I brush my teeth, comb my hair, and get dressed.

Lavar os dentes takes a direct object (os dentes), so it is not reflexive — Portuguese treats the teeth as the thing being washed, not the person. Pentear-se and vestir-se are reflexive; both take the enclitic -me here.

Nos dias em que trabalho no escritório, também me barbeio.

On days I work at the office, I also shave.

Barbear-se is reflexive. Here the proclitic me appears because também is a trigger.

Tomo o pequeno-almoço — normalmente café com leite e uma torrada.

I have breakfast — usually coffee with milk and a piece of toast.

Tomar o pequeno-almoço is the standard EP phrase for "to have breakfast." Note the specifically European term: in Brazilian Portuguese, the word is café da manhã. In Portugal, pequeno-almoço is fixed. The verb is tomar (non-reflexive).

Saio de casa pelas oito e vou para o trabalho de metro.

I leave home around eight and take the metro to work.

Sair ("to leave") and ir ("to go") are non-reflexive. The word para + destination is standard for "to (a place) [with intent to stay]."

The midday — work and lunch

Chego ao escritório cerca das oito e meia.

I arrive at the office around half past eight.

Trabalho até à uma, faço uma pausa para o almoço, e volto às duas.

I work until one, take a lunch break, and come back at two.

Almoço no restaurante do lado, que tem um prato do dia barato.

I have lunch at the restaurant next door, which has a cheap daily special.

De tarde, as reuniões costumam ser mais longas do que o previsto.

In the afternoon, the meetings usually drag on longer than planned.

Notice: almoçar ("to have lunch") is not reflexive, unlike some Romance-language equivalents. Same with voltar ("to come back"). Costumar + infinitive ("to usually do") is a construction you will meet constantly when describing routines.

The evening — coming home and winding down

Saio do trabalho por volta das seis e volto para casa de metro.

I leave work around six and take the metro home.

Chego a casa cansado e ligo a televisão enquanto preparo o jantar.

I get home tired and turn on the TV while I make dinner.

Jantamos em família por volta das oito.

We have dinner as a family around eight.

Depois do jantar, sento-me no sofá com um livro ou vejo uma série.

After dinner, I sit on the sofa with a book or watch a series.

Sentar-se ("to sit down") is reflexive. Default enclitic here: sento-me.

Lavo os dentes, despeço-me dos miúdos, e deito-me por volta das onze.

I brush my teeth, say goodnight to the kids, and go to bed around eleven.

Three verbs in one sentence showing the range: lavar os dentes (non-reflexive with direct object), despedir-se de (inherently reflexive, takes de), deitar-se (reflexive). Note that despedir-se is to say goodbye, a reflexive verb that always takes de.

Adormeço quase imediatamente.

I fall asleep almost immediately.

Adormecer — not reflexive in Portuguese. Unlike Spanish dormirse.

Costumo dormir umas sete horas por noite.

I usually sleep about seven hours a night.

Dormir — also not reflexive.

A full daily-routine text

Use this as a model. Substitute your own times, activities, and meals.

Acordo todos os dias às sete menos um quarto. Levanto-me logo a seguir, vou à casa de banho, tomo duche e lavo os dentes. Depois penteio-me e visto-me — normalmente jeans e uma camisa simples. Tomo o pequeno-almoço na cozinha: café com leite, uma torrada com manteiga e uma peça de fruta. Saio de casa às oito e vou para o trabalho a pé, porque moro perto. Chego ao escritório por volta das oito e vinte, faço café e começo o dia com as reuniões da manhã. Almoço ao meio-dia e meia com colegas, normalmente num restaurante perto. De tarde, respondo a emails e trabalho em projetos até às seis. À noite, volto para casa, jogo um pouco com os meus filhos, e depois jantamos por volta das oito. Depois do jantar, sento-me no sofá a ler ou a ver televisão com a minha mulher. Deito-me às onze e meia. Adormeço quase sempre com o livro ainda nas mãos.
(I wake up every day at a quarter to seven. I get up straight after, go to the bathroom, take a shower, and brush my teeth. Then I do my hair and get dressed — usually jeans and a simple shirt. I have breakfast in the kitchen: coffee with milk, a piece of toast with butter, and a piece of fruit. I leave the house at eight and walk to work, because I live nearby. I get to the office around twenty past eight, make coffee, and start the day with the morning meetings. I have lunch at half past twelve with colleagues, usually at a nearby restaurant. In the afternoon, I answer emails and work on projects until six. In the evening, I come home, play a bit with my kids, and then we have dinner around eight. After dinner, I sit on the sofa reading or watching TV with my wife. I go to bed at half past eleven. I almost always fall asleep with the book still in my hands.)

Pick out the reflexive verbs in that paragraph: levantar-se, pentear-se, vestir-se, sentar-se, deitar-se. Pick out the non-reflexives: acordar, tomar duche, lavar os dentes, tomar o pequeno-almoço, sair, ir, chegar, almoçar, jantar, voltar, adormecer. The split follows the pattern we established: physical self-care and posture verbs are reflexive; meals, movements, and sleep-bookends are not.

Talking about someone else's routine

You can easily flip the narrative into the third person to describe someone else's day.

A Rita acorda todos os dias às seis e meia.

Rita wakes up every day at half past six.

Ela levanta-se rapidamente e vai ao ginásio antes do trabalho.

She gets up quickly and goes to the gym before work.

Depois do ginásio, toma duche no clube e vai diretamente para o escritório.

After the gym, she showers at the club and goes straight to the office.

À noite, ela deita-se cedo — por volta das dez — porque se levanta tão cedo de manhã.

In the evening, she goes to bed early — around ten — because she gets up so early in the morning.

Notice how in the last example, both reflexive verbs (deita-se, se levanta) appear — the first enclitic because the clause is a simple affirmative, the second proclitic because the subordinating porque is a trigger.

Weekend variations

Ao fim de semana, acordo mais tarde — por volta das nove.

At weekends, I wake up later — around nine.

Não me levanto logo; fico uma meia hora na cama a ler.

I don't get up right away; I stay in bed for half an hour reading.

Aos domingos, não me visto até almoçar. Fico de roupão toda a manhã.

On Sundays, I don't get dressed until lunch. I stay in my dressing gown all morning.

Sábado à noite, deitamo-nos às duas ou três da manhã se saímos com amigos.

On Saturday nights, we go to bed at two or three in the morning if we go out with friends.

Notice again the alternation: não me levanto (proclitic after não), deitamo-nos (enclitic in a simple affirmative, with the nós form dropping its -s).

Common Mistakes

❌ Acordo-me às sete todos os dias.

Incorrect — acordar is NOT reflexive in European Portuguese, despite being reflexive in Spanish (despertarse). Just acordo às sete.

✅ Acordo às sete todos os dias.

I wake up at seven every day.

❌ Durmo-me cedo ao domingo.

Incorrect — dormir is NOT reflexive in Portuguese. If you mean 'fall asleep', the verb is adormecer (also non-reflexive). If you mean 'sleep', just use dormir.

✅ Durmo cedo ao domingo.

I sleep early on Sundays.

✅ Adormeço cedo ao domingo.

I fall asleep early on Sundays.

❌ Nós levantamos-nos às seis.

Incorrect — the nós form drops -s before -nos: levantamo-nos.

✅ Nós levantamo-nos às seis.

We get up at six.

❌ Lavo-me os dentes de manhã.

Incorrect — 'to brush teeth' is 'lavar os dentes'. It takes a direct object (the teeth); it's not reflexive in Portuguese.

✅ Lavo os dentes de manhã.

I brush my teeth in the morning.

❌ Ela sempre levanta-se cedo.

Incorrect placement — sempre is a trigger for proclitic position when it precedes the verb.

✅ Ela levanta-se sempre cedo. / Ela sempre se levanta cedo.

She always gets up early.

Key Takeaways

The cornerstone daily-routine reflexives are levantar-se (get up), vestir-se (get dressed), lavar-se (wash), pentear-se (comb), barbear-se (shave), sentar-se (sit down), and deitar-se (go to bed).
Acordar, adormecer, and dormir are NOT reflexive in Portuguese, despite their Spanish counterparts (despertarse, dormirse) being reflexive. This is the single most common source of interference for Spanish speakers.
Meal verbs (almoçar, jantar) and movement verbs (ir, voltar, sair, chegar) are not reflexive.
Lavar os dentes ("brush teeth") takes a direct object; it is not reflexive, unlike Spanish cepillarse los dientes.
In European Portuguese, pequeno-almoço is the word for "breakfast" — never café da manhã (Brazilian).
Remember the nós ending rule: levantamo-nos, deitamo-nos, sentamo-nos — drop the final -s of -mos before the enclitic -nos.
Proclitic triggers that appear often in routine descriptions: não, nunca, sempre, também, já, quando, porque, se. After any of these, the pronoun moves before the verb.