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Portuguese (Portugal)

### Verbos Defetivos (Defective Verbs)

In Portuguese, some verbs are "defective" (*verbos defetivos*). This simply means they have morphological gaps—they are missing certain conjugations in specific tenses.

Two common examples in the context of design and publishing are *colorir* (to color) and *banir* (to ban). In the present tense, these verbs completely lack a first-person singular (*eu*) form. However, forms for other subjects, like *ele*, *ela*, or *nós*, are perfectly normal and can be used directly.

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### Working Around the Gaps

Because forms like *eu coloro* or *eu bano* do not exist, you have to work around (*contornar*) the missing conjugations.

To express "I color" or "I ban", simply use an auxiliary verb—such as *costumar* (to usually do), *passar a* (to start to), or *decidir* (to decide)—followed by the defective verb in the infinitive.

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### The Verb *Falir*

The verb *falir* (to go bankrupt) is even more restricted. In the present indicative tense, it only exists for *nós* and *vós*. 

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For other subjects in the present tense, you must rephrase using the infinitive, such as *estar a falir* (to be going bankrupt) or *ir falir* (to be going to go bankrupt).

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Fortunately, defective verbs often have complete conjugations in the past tenses. For instance, you can use *falir* in the preterite (simple past) tense for any subject without needing a workaround.

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Defective verbs (colorir, falir)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
the printing shop	a gráfica
the poster	o cartaz
The printing shop went bankrupt yesterday, therefore we ourselves draw the poster.	A gráfica faliu ontem, por isso nós próprios desenhamos o cartaz.
to color	colorir
the typography	a tipografia
the palette	a paleta
She colors the typography with another palette.	Ela colore a tipografia com outra paleta.
the edition	a edição
I usually color the edition with such a palette.	Eu costumo colorir a edição com tal paleta.
to ban	banir
The director bans such typography, but we never ban that.	O diretor bane tal tipografia, mas nós nunca banimos isso.
the printing	a impressão
Although our printing shop is going to go bankrupt, the printing is fantastic.	Embora a nossa gráfica vá falir, a impressão é fantástica.
the leaflet	o folheto
I myself usually ban that color from the leaflet.	Eu própria costumo banir essa cor do folheto.
Without another edition, we go bankrupt tomorrow.	Sem outra edição, nós falimos amanhã.
The woman herself colors the leaflet with another pen.	A mulher mesma colore o folheto com outra caneta.
Although he usually colors the printing, the poster is very dark.	Embora ele costume colorir a impressão, o cartaz está muito escuro.
The printing shop itself bans another typography from the system.	A gráfica mesma bane outra tipografia do sistema.
the brochure	a brochura
the designer	o designer
I start coloring the brochure, because I am the designer.	Eu passo a colorir a brochura, pois sou o designer.
to work around	contornar
The printing press is going bankrupt, but the designer works around the problem.	A gráfica está a falir, mas o designer contorna o problema.
In short, you can't ban just any designer.	Em suma, não dá para banir qualquer designer.
To work around the flaw, I decide to color the brochure.	Para contornar a falha, eu decido colorir a brochura.