A1 · The present tense
Present tense: -er, -ir verbs
Two groups, and they part company in exactly one form.
At a glance
- Remember
- The vowel of the infinitive survives in the we-form.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The present — What holds at the moment, what is under way, or what is always the case.
- Form
- (eu) comoI eat
- Signal words
- -emos
- -imos
- -em
- -es
- Trap
- Wrong:Nós partemos às nove.Right:Nós partimos às nove.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Portuguese. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) person ending
| I eat | (eu) como |
| you eat | (tu) comes |
| he eats, you eat | (ele, ela, você) come |
| we eat | (nós) comemos |
| you eat, plural and formal | (vós) comeis |
| they eat, you all eat | (eles, elas, vocês) comem |
| I leave | (eu) parto |
| you leave | (tu) partes |
| he leaves, you leave | (ele, ela, você) parte |
| we leave | (nós) partimos |
| you leave, plural and formal | (vós) partis |
| they leave, you all leave | (eles, elas, vocês) partem |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Only the we-form and the plural you-form separate the two groups.
Comemos às oito e partimos às nove.We eat at eight and leave at nine.
The third person plural ends in -em in both groups.
Eles bebem café.They drink coffee.
The I-form ends in -o in all three groups.
Escrevo-te amanhã.I will write to you tomorrow.
The stem does not move unless the verb is one of the changers.
Vivemos aqui há dois anos.We have lived here for two years.
Example sentences
Bebo água ao jantar.I drink water with dinner.
Vocês partem hoje?Are you leaving today?
Ela escreve muito bem.She writes very well.
Não percebemos a pergunta.We do not understand the question.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The we-form is the one place where the two groups have to be kept apart, and it is exactly there that the hand slips. Partemos looks like comemos and is wrong: partir has an i in its infinitive and keeps it. The rule is small enough to state in a line and narrow enough to forget, because five forms out of six give no reason to remember it.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
For -er the endings are -o, -es, -e, -emos, -eis, -em; for -ir they are -o, -es, -e, -imos, -is, -em.
The difference lies in the first and second person plural and nowhere else: comemos against partimos. Everything else is identical, which means the price of having two groups rather than one is a single form you actually use.
That form is the only place in the present where you have to remember which infinitive a verb had. Everywhere else the two groups run together, so it is worth learning them side by side rather than one after the other.
The subject stays away here too: como às oito is « I eat at eight ».
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The verbs on this page, in every form: partir · beber · haver · escrever · viver · comer · perceber