B1 · Verb + infinitive
Verbs that take a, de and em
One verb, three continuations — and « to give up » is none of them.
At a glance
- Remember
- acabar de is just now, parar de is stopping — and pensar em thinks while pensar de judges.
- Form
- pensar emto think about
- Signal words
- pensar em
- pensar de
- acabar de
- parar de
- acabar por
- Trap
- Wrong:Acabei de fumar há dois anos.Right:Parei de fumar há dois anos.
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
| to think about | pensar em |
| to think of, to judge | pensar de |
| to start doing | começar a |
| to have just | acabar de |
| to stop doing | parar de |
| to end up doing | acabar por |
| I think about it (pensar em) | (eu) penso nisso |
| you think about it | (tu) pensas nisso |
| he / she thinks about it, you think about it (você) | (ele, ela, você) pensa nisso |
| we think about it | (nós) pensamos nisso |
| you think about it, plural (elevated) | (vós) pensais nisso |
| they think about it, you think about it (vocês) | (eles, elas, vocês) pensam nisso |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
pensar em is thinking about, pensar de is judging.
Penso em ti. / O que pensas deste filme?I am thinking of you. / What do you make of the film?
acabar de is to have just; to stop is parar de.
Acabo de chegar. / Parei de fumar.I have just arrived. / I stopped smoking.
começar por names the first step; acabar por is to end up doing it.
Começa a chover. / Acabou por aceitar.It is starting to rain. / He ended up agreeing.
decidir takes nothing, decidir-se a is bringing oneself to it.
Decidi partir. / Decidi-me a falar com ele.I decided to leave. / I brought myself to speak to him.
Example sentences
O que pensas da proposta dele?What do you make of his proposal?
Pensa em fechar a janela.Remember to close the window.
Acabou por perceber.He understood in the end after all.
Para que serve? — Serve para abrir latas.What is it for? — It is for opening tins.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
« I finished smoking » and « I stopped smoking » are nearly the same sentence in English and are two different verbs here. Acabei de fumar says you have this moment put a cigarette out. Giving it up two years ago is parei de fumar há dois anos, or deixei de fumar. Nothing in the English warns you.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Some verbs take a different preposition according to the sense, and the preposition is half the meaning. Pensar em is to think about something; pensar de is to have an opinion of it. Servir para is to be for a purpose; servir-se de is to help oneself to.
Acabar is the one worth slowing down for, because it takes three continuations. Acabar de is « to have just » — or « to finish doing »: acabei de ler o livro. Acabar por is « to end up doing it after all ». And plain acabar with a noun is « to finish » in the ordinary sense: acabei o livro.
To say that somebody gave up a habit, the verb is not acabar at all but deixar de or parar de: parei de fumar. So « just » and « finish » can both be acabar de, while « give up » never is — and that is the one reading English most easily pushes onto it.
Começar astarts an actioncomeçar pornames the first step Decidir takes no preposition at all, while decidir-se a is the bringing-oneself-to-it. These are learnt in pairs; learnt singly, half of each is missing.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: acabar · pensar · decidir · servir · chegar · começar · falar · abrir