A1 · ser, estar, ter and há
ser — being what stays
Six forms, none regular — and no article in front of your job.
At a glance
- Remember
- What stays put takes ser.
- Form
- eu souI am
- Signal words
- sou
- és
- é
- somos
- são
- Trap
- Wrong:Sou um professor.Right:Sou professor.
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 (irregular) person ending
| I am | eu sou |
| you are | tu és |
| he is, she is, you are | ele / ela / você é |
| we are | nós somos |
| you are, plural and formal | vós sois |
| they are, you are (plural) | eles / elas / vocês são |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The subject is left out unless it is being stressed.
Sou de Munique.I am from Munich.
A job and a nationality take no article.
A minha irmã é professora.My sister is a teacher.
The time of day takes ser.
São três horas.It is three o'clock.
você goes with the third person.
Você é de Lisboa?Are you from Lisbon?
Example sentences
Sou alemão, de Berlim.I am German, from Berlin.
Ela é muito simpática.She is very nice.
São duas horas em ponto.It is exactly two o'clock.
Somos quatro em casa.There are four of us at home.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
« I am a teacher » needs its article in English and loses it here. Sou um professor is built correctly and says something else — « I am one of the teachers », one of a group already known. Naming your profession is sou professor, bare. The same goes for nationality: sou alemão, never sou um alemão, which would make you one German out of several under discussion.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
sou, és, é, somos, sois, são. It is the most irregular verb in the language, and it earns the trouble, because it turns up in every other sentence.
Ser covers everything that makes somebody who they are: origin, job, nationality, character, appearance — and the time and the date.
The subject is usually not there at all. Sou alemão is « I am German »; the ending has already said who. English cannot drop « I », so this is a habit to build rather than one to carry over, and writing eu every time is not wrong — it is emphatic, which is worse, because it emphasises nothing.
A job and a nationality take no article: Sou médico, not sou um médico. English insists on « a doctor » and Portuguese refuses it.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: ser