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### Transitioning to New Habits

When you change your routine, adopt a new habit, or transition into a new way of doing things, you can use a verbal periphrasis with the verb **passar**. To say that you have "started to" do something regularly, combine **passar a** with an infinitive verb.

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To form this, conjugate **passar** to match the subject, add the preposition **a**, and leave the main action verb in its infinitive form. Since you are often talking about a change that has already taken effect, you will frequently see **passar** conjugated in the past tense (*pretérito perfeito*).

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### Adopting Conscious Consumption

This structure is particularly useful when talking about lifestyle changes, such as shifting toward minimalism or adopting conscious consumption.

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Notice that when you list multiple new habits that you have recently started, you will generally repeat the preposition **a** before each new infinitive verb.

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Starting a habit (passar a)

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
to start to (do) / to turn into (change into)	passar a
to adopt	adotar
the minimalism	o minimalismo
After reading the book, I started to adopt minimalism.	Depois de ler o livro, passei a adotar o minimalismo.
the consumption	o consumo
conscious	consciente
We started to have a quite conscious consumption.	Nós passámos a ter um consumo bastante consciente.
to reuse	reutilizar
the packaging	a embalagem
The girl started to reuse the plastic packages.	A rapariga passou a reutilizar as embalagens de plástico.
the waste	o desperdício
to recycle	reciclar
To reduce waste, they started recycling and reusing everything.	Para reduzir o desperdício, eles passaram a reciclar e a reutilizar tudo.
to accumulate	acumular
You started being more conscious and accumulating fewer things.	Tu passaste a ser mais consciente e a acumular menos coisas.
sustainable	sustentável
A life without waste is more sustainable and conscious.	Uma vida sem desperdício é mais sustentável e consciente.
All packages are recycled here.	Aqui reciclam-se todas as embalagens.
A sustainable life avoids waste.	Uma vida sustentável evita o desperdício.
I no longer accumulate too many clothes in my closet.	Já não acumulo demasiada roupa no meu armário.
Minimalism is extremely useful for saving money.	O minimalismo é utilíssimo para poupar dinheiro.
He started to adopt conscious consumption.	Ele passou a adotar um consumo consciente.