Verb-Forming Suffixes

A verb-forming suffix is a morpheme that turns a noun, an adjective, or another verb into a new verb. Compared to noun-forming and adjective-forming suffixes, the verb-forming inventory is small — about seven productive items — but these few suffixes do enormous work, because every new technology, discipline, social movement, and trend in Portuguese eventually gets a verb. Digitalizar, virtualizar, desintermediar, publicitar, empresariar — all of these were coined by applying a standard suffix to an existing stem.

This page covers the suffixes that actually build new verbs in modern European Portuguese. It shows you what each suffix attaches to, what semantic flavour it carries (causation, becoming, repetition), and how the parasynthetic em-/en- + -ecer pattern — a distinctive PT productivity — fills an entire class of "become X" verbs. It also treats regressive derivation, the opposite mechanism where a verb is formed by chopping the ending off an existing noun.

Portuguese has three verb classes, and three verbalizing endings

Before looking at the suffixes individually, one structural point: every Portuguese verb belongs to one of three conjugation classes, defined by the vowel of the infinitive ending.

All productive verb-forming suffixes in PT-PT produce verbs of the first or second class. The third class (-ir) is frozen — no new verbs are created in -ir. When you coin a verb in Portuguese, you build it in -ar (the default) or -ecer (for inchoative "become X" senses). The -ear, -ejar, -izar, -ificar suffixes are all sub-patterns of the first conjugation, since they end in -ar.

-ar — the default verbalizer

If Portuguese needs a verb from an existing noun or adjective, and no special semantic flavour is wanted, it simply adds -ar to the stem. This is the zero-suffix option in the verb-forming inventory: minimal morphology, maximal generality.

Semantic flavours. When -ar is the only suffix, the verb's meaning has to be filled in from context and from the base. Some tendencies:

• Denominative (from a noun): the verb means "to perform the action related to X" or "to use X." Pescar = to catch fish, martelar = to hammer, telefonar = to make a phone call.
• Deadjectival (from an adjective): the verb often means "to make X" or "to become X." Limpar = to make clean, secar = to make / become dry. Deadjectival -ar verbs that mean "become X" compete with -ecer verbs (see below).

Productivity: -ar is the most productive verb suffix in PT-PT. New nouns and adjectives regularly get -ar derivatives: um podcast → podcastar (colloquial, "to podcast"), um tweet → tuitar or twittar (variable spelling). Most neologisms default to this suffix.

-ear — iterative or denominative

A sub-variant of -ar that adds a slight iterative or habitual flavour: the action is repeated, gradual, or involves a back-and-forth motion. Many -ear verbs are now lexicalized — you learn them as items rather than coin them — but the pattern is still faintly productive for certain semantic classes.

Stress shift. Verbs in -ear show a characteristic stress pattern in the present tense: stressed forms gain a -i-. Passear → eu passeio, tu passeias, ele passeia, nós passeamos, eles passeiam. This is irregular and marks the class visibly. First-conjugation verbs in plain -ar do not have this alternation.

Productivity: low. -ear is mostly lexical today. New verbs defaulting to -ear rather than plain -ar are rare in PT-PT.

-ejar — slight duration or low intensity

An even more specialized sub-variant with a distinctive semantic niche: the action is low-intensity, flickering, intermittent, or characteristic of a type. Mostly literary or descriptive register today.

Register: -ejar verbs are markedly literary or descriptive when they carry the "show/gleam" sense. In everyday speech, verdejar would be replaced by estar verde or ficar verde. Festejar, by contrast, is fully neutral — it belongs to the same family only by shape, not by meaning.

Productivity: very low. -ejar is not coined freely today.

-izar — technical verbalization (English -ize)

The productive cognate of English -ize / -ise. Attaches primarily to adjectives and abstract nouns to form a verb meaning "to make X" or "to convert to X." Highly productive in scientific, administrative, and journalistic PT-PT.

AO90 alert. -izar verbs built on adjectives that had a silent c in the pre-2009 spelling lost that c under the Acordo Ortográfico 1990: actualizar → atualizar, activar → ativar, exactizar (never a word, but the pattern) — the silent consonant is gone.

False friends with -ar. A handful of English verbs in -ize correspond to PT-PT verbs in plain -ar, not -izar: English to criticize = PT criticar (not criticizar); English to emphasize = PT enfatizar OR dar ênfase a; English to recognize = PT reconhecer (with a totally different suffix). Do not assume every English -ize becomes PT -izar — check the specific verb.

Productivity: very high. New verbs in -izar are coined regularly in academic, technical, and administrative PT-PT. Algoritmizar, uberizar, platformizar, youtubizar (informal) — if it is a neologism from an abstract base, -izar is the default choice.

-ificar — causative "to make X" (English -ify)

Cognate of English -ify. Attaches to adjectives and to some abstract nouns to form a verb meaning "to make X" or "to convert into X." Often more technical or elevated than plain -ar; competes with -izar on some bases.

Form. The suffix is -ificar, with the i coming from the Latin-origin combining form. Some bases show stem changes: simples → simpl-ificar (drops final -es), belo → belezar / embelezar (goes a different way, with -ezar). Learn each pair.

Productivity: moderate. -ificar is less freely productive than -izar today, but it is still alive. New coinages appear in technical language: gamificar (to gamify), commodificar / mercadorizar (to commodify — competing forms).

-ecer — inchoative "to become X"

A second-conjugation suffix — the only productive member of the -er class for new coinages. -ecer forms inchoative verbs meaning "to become X" or "to acquire the quality X." The base is typically an adjective or a noun, and the verb is often built simultaneously with the prefix em-/en-, a construction called parasynthesis.

Conjugation quirk. -ecer verbs are second-conjugation, so they follow the pattern of correr, vender. They show a predictable stem alternation: first person singular adds -ç- before -o: envelheço, enriqueço, empobreço, amadureço. Present subjunctive carries the -ç- through: envelheça, enriqueça.

Transitive vs. intransitive. Most -ecer verbs can be either. Entristecer can mean "to grow sad" (intransitive) or "to make sad" (transitive): A notícia entristeceu-me = "The news saddened me." Envelhecer works the same way: O sol envelhece a pele = "The sun ages the skin."

Parasynthesis: em-/en- + base + -ar / -ecer

One of the most distinctive productivities of Portuguese verb formation is parasynthesis: a prefix (em- before b or p, en- elsewhere, occasionally a-) and a suffix (-ar or -ecer) are added simultaneously to a noun or adjective. Neither the prefix alone nor the suffix alone would produce a well-formed verb; only their combination makes one.

Test for parasynthesis. A verb is parasynthetic only if neither *prefix + base nor *base + suffix exists as an independent word.

Productivity: still active. Emoji → emojificar (rare) / emojizar (rare); tag → taguear (borrowing from English). More commonly, new verbs of "put into a container" type are coined parasynthetically: encapsular (to encapsulate), empastilhar (to make into a pill/tablet).

Regressive derivation: verb → noun (or noun → verb)

Portuguese also forms verb-related words by chopping rather than adding. The most common pattern goes verb → noun: trabalhar → o trabalho, pescar → a pesca. But the mechanism occasionally runs the other way too, noun → verb, and morphologists debate which direction is primary for each pair.

How to tell the direction of derivation. For most of these pairs, the verb is primary and the noun is regressive — the noun lacks a suffix that the verb has. Historically, PT noun o trabalho is back-formed from verb trabalhar by dropping -ar and adding a gender vowel. But in a handful of cases, the noun is older and the verb is denominal: a festa → festejar (not regressive; festa is the base, suffix -ejar is added).

When suffixes compete: -ar vs. -ecer, -izar vs. -ificar

Some adjectives can take more than one verb-forming suffix, with subtle meaning differences.

-ar vs. -ecer on adjectives

Both form verbs from adjectives, but they differ in argument structure:

• -ar tends to be transitive: limpar = "to make clean" (takes an object).
• -ecer tends to be inchoative and can be intransitive or causative: envelhecer can mean "to grow old" (intransitive) or "to make old" (transitive).

-izar vs. -ificar

Both form causative verbs. -izar is more productive today; -ificar sounds slightly more traditional or Latin-rooted. Where both exist, they are often near-synonyms with register differences.

The suffixes are usually in complementary distribution — each base takes only one of them, and you have to learn which. There is no reliable synchronic rule; the historical pattern is roughly that -ificar went with Latin-origin stems ending in certain phonological shapes, and -izar went with others or came in later.

AO90 orthography and verb formation

The Acordo Ortográfico 1990 simplified some spellings of verbs and their derivatives. The most visible changes for verb-forming suffixes:

• Silent consonants dropped: actualizar → atualizar, activar → ativar, adoptar → adotar, objectivar → objetivar, projectar → projetar.
• -pt-, -ct- in Latin-origin verbs: many verbs with an -ct- or -pt- Latin cluster had an etymological spelling before 2009. AO90 drops the silent consonant when it is not pronounced: baptizar → batizar, receptar → recetar (very rare), directar (never a real verb).
• Stems that preserve the consonant: where the consonant is pronounced in Portuguese, it stays: convicto, pacto, contacto (but contato is also used — PT-PT officially retained contacto under AO90 for the case where pronunciation varies).

Productivity at a glance

A note on neologisms and English loans

Portuguese frequently verbalizes English loanwords. The default process is: take the English stem, adapt it to PT-PT phonology, and add -ar.

PT-PT tends to be slightly more conservative than Brazilian PT in accepting direct English verbalizations. Where BR happily says deletar (to delete), PT-PT prefers apagar; where BR says bookar, PT-PT says reservar.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Portuguese has a small but powerful inventory of verb-forming suffixes: -ar (default), -ear (iterative), -ejar (low-intensity, literary), -izar (technical causation), -ificar (causation), -ecer (inchoative).
• All productive verb suffixes produce first-conjugation (-ar) or second-conjugation (-ecer) verbs. The third conjugation (-ir) is closed to new verbs.
• -izar is the most productive modern suffix for causative verbs from abstract bases: digitalizar, atualizar, modernizar, privatizar. Competes with -ificar (simplificar, purificar, justificar), which takes mostly different stems.
• -ecer forms inchoative verbs ("become X") from adjectives: envelhecer, enriquecer, empobrecer, amadurecer. Many are built simultaneously with the prefix em-/en- as parasynthetic verbs.
• Parasynthesis — simultaneous prefix em-/en-
  • suffix -ar / -ecer on a base — builds verbs like engarrafar, empacotar, embarcar, envergonhar, envelhecer, enriquecer. This is a distinctive PT productivity.
• Regressive derivation builds nouns by chopping the verb ending: trabalhar → o trabalho, pescar → a pesca, cheirar → o cheiro. It is lexicalized rather than productive today.
• AO90 dropped silent c in many verb forms: actualizar → atualizar, activar → ativar, projectar → projetar. Always use the AO90 spelling in modern PT-PT.
• When verbalizing English loans, PT-PT defaults to -ar (clicar, tuitar) but is more conservative than BR in naturalizing anglicisms, often preferring native alternatives (descarregar over downloadar).