Shortcuts for Learning European Portuguese

August 18, 2020

This guide will focus on how to learn European Portuguese fast! Did you know that each Portuguese verb can have over 50 different forms? 😱 With so many different tenses and moods to account for, not to mention learning both regular and irregular verbs, it can feel like a never-ending task. Luckily, to communicate comfortably as a Portuguese beginner, you can get by studying a much smaller subset of conjugations for only the most commonly used forms.

The best way to save yourself time (and sanity!) is to learn the patterns and shortcuts for European Portuguese.

As mentioned in the Portugal News, we put together this “cheat sheet” to show you how to learn European Portuguese fast and get the maximum communicative power out of what you know. Building this foundation gets you talking in basic conversations earlier, which means you’ll pick up additional skills more naturally over time.

Shortcuts Using the Present Tense

Start by learning the presente do indicativopresent tenseCommunity Slow audio Play audio verb endings for regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs, as well as for the most common irregular verbs. Here are a few suggestions for which verbs to study first:

• serto be(permanent)Community Slow audio Play audio Verb estarto be(temporary)Community Slow audio Play audio Verb irto goCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb
• terto haveCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb poderto be able to (can, may)Community Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine gostarto likeCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb
• falarto speakCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb comerto eatCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

As for the rest of the verbs, try to learn some of the infinitive forms, but don’t worry about the conjugations just yet. You can use this first set of verbs to talk about a wide variety of actions and can even refer to the present, past, or future, if you get a little creative. Now let’s see how we can maximize our knowledge of the present tense in the following shortcuts.

Use “estar + a + infinitivo” for the Present Continuous Tense

The present continuous tense is a bit simpler in European Portuguese compared to Brazilian Portuguese, because it utilizes the pattern verb estar + a + verb in the infinitive, instead of using the gerund form of the verb. This means you only have to conjugate estar when you want to talk about an ongoing action that is happening at the moment. For example:

Estou a comerI am eatingCommunity

Estás a dormir?Are you sleeping?Community

Estamos a falar portuguêsWe are speaking PortugueseCommunity

Estão a correrThey are running, You(pl.) are runningCommunity

Avoiding the Present Perfect Continuous

Similarly, you can use verb andar + a + infinitive when you want to talk about something that you have been doing. This is strictly informal, but it’s a good way to avoid the present perfect continuous tense, which is more advanced.

Ando a comer melhorI've been eating betterCommunity

Ando a aprender portuguêsI've been learning PortugueseCommunity

Alternatively, you can use the word há (from the verb haver) with the present tense to talk about something you have been doing for a certain period of time. For example:

Há 2 anos que escrevoI've been writing for 2 yearsCommunity

Moro aqui há três mesesI've been living here for 3 monthsCommunity

Avoiding the Future Tense

There are also European Portuguese shortcuts that let you use the present tense to talk about the future. Here we go avoiding things again! It’s okay, because our focus right now is on how to learn European Portuguese fast. In other words, we want to quickly develop a basis for the language that we can use to get talking early and then build upon over time.

In fact, sometimes the shortcuts are actually more common to hear, especially in spoken language. The actual future tense, also known as futuro do indicativoCommunity Slow audio Play audio , is typically only used in more formal or literary contexts. In everyday conversations, it’s much more common (and much easier!) to use one of the following options:

ir + infinitivo

Guess what? To talk about the future, you only have to know how to conjugate one verb in the present tense: irto goCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb .

Ir

to go

Indicativo

Presente

Eu vou ao cinema e ela vai ao teatroI go to the cinema and she goes to the theatreCommunity Slow audio Play audio irto goCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

eu voui goindicativo > presenteCommunity tu vaisYou ^sing.,inf. goindicativo > presenteCommunity ele / ela vaiHe / She goesindicativo > presenteCommunity você vaiyou goindicativo > presenteCommunity nós vamoswe goindicativo > presenteCommunity eles / elas vãothey goconjuntivo > presenteCommunity Slow audio Play audio View Conjugation Verb vocês vãoyou goconjuntivo > presenteCommunity

Once you have that memorized, you can just add the infinitive form of another verb onto the end to say that you are going to do something. This is known as the informal future tense:

Vou comerI am going to eatCommunity

Vais chegar em breve?Are you going to arrive soon?Community

Ela vai morar láShe is going to live thereCommunity

Vamos correrWe are going to runCommunity

Note: There is not an “a” before the infinitive verb like there was with the last shortcut (and like there is in Spanish)!

Present tense + context

Sometimes, you can simply use the present tense to imply a future action (I do → I’ll do), but only if it’s clear from the context that you are referencing the future.

For example, if you add single words such as amanhãtomorrowCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adverb or depoisafter, laterCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adverb , or groups of words mentioning dates or times of day, the listener will know you are talking about the future, not the present.

Depois passo cáI'll stop by laterCommunity

Faço anos na próxima semanaMy birthday's next weekCommunity

Provamos o bolo depois de jantarWe'll taste the cake after dinnerCommunity Slow audio Play audio

Even without these references to dates and times, sometimes the context makes it abundantly clear. For example:

Se ela gostar, eu trago os outros doisIf she likes (it) , I'll bring the other twoCommunity

We’re mentioning something that may or may not happen, so you know we’re referencing a time in the future with eu trago.

Or, take this short dialogue, for example:

👩🏾‍🦱  Cláudia: Diz-lhe que lhe mando um beijinho.Tell her I send her a kiss.Community

👩🏾‍🦱  Cláudia: Tenho tantas saudades dela!I miss her so much!Community

🧔🏻  Tiago: Digo, simYes, I'll tell (her) .Community

Cláudia and Tiago are clearly talking about someone who is not there right now, so it is implied that Tiago will pass along Cláudia’s message later (in the future).

Avoiding the Past Tense

It’s a good idea to learn the pretérito perfeitosimple past tenseCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine , including the common irregular verbs and the regular endings for -ar verbs, -er verbs, and -ir verbs.

However, we know you want to know how to learn European Portuguese fast! There’s three common ways you can get around learning all of those endings right away and those are the following formulas: verb estar + a + infinitivo, verb acabar + de + infinitivo and verb ir + infinitivo. This way, you only need to know the pretérito perfeito tense of the verbs estarbeCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb , acabarfinishCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb and irgoCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb . Let’s go through each one now.

acabar de + infinitivo

Acabar

to end

Indicativo

Pretérito Perfeito

Ele acabou por ser ilibadoHe ended up being acquittedCommunity Slow audio Play audio acabarto end, finishCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

eu acabeii endedindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity tu acabasteYou ^sing.,inf. endedindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity ele / ela acabouHe / She endedindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity você acabouyou endedindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity nós acabámoswe endedindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity eles / elas acabaramthey endedindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity vocês acabaramyou endedindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity

Now you can say:

Acabámos de chegarWe just arrivedCommunity

Acabei de comerI just finished eatingCommunity Slow audio Play audio

You can also, sometimes, add more context to the sentence which allows you to refer to something you did earlier rather than just now:

Acabei de jantar tardeI finished eating dinner lateCommunity

Acabaste de ler o livro ontem?Did you finish reading the book yesterday?Community

estar a + infinitive

Estar

to be (temporary or accidental condition)

Indicativo

Pretérito Perfeito

Nós não estivemos juntosWe weren't togetherCommunity Slow audio Play audio estarto be ^temporaryCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

eu estivei wasindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity tu estivesteYou ^sing.,inf. wereindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity ele / ela esteveHe / She wasindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity você esteveyou wereindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity nós estivemoswe wereindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity eles / elas estiveramthey wereindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity vocês estiveramyou wereindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity

While the previous way (“acabar de”) usually indicates actions that just took place, “estar a” is used with actions that happened and ended a while ago, whether that is one hour ago or yesterday. Let’s see some examples:

Estive a fazer o almoçoI made lunchCommunity instead of Fiz o almoçoCommunity Slow audio Play audio

Eles estiveram a estudar na bibliotecaThey studied at the libraryCommunity instead of Eles estudaram na bibliotecaCommunity Slow audio Play audio

You can also add more context to these sentences to discuss actions that happened further in the past:

Estiveste a tratar da papelada na semana passadaYou took care of the paperwork last weekCommunity

Ontem estive a limpar a casaYesterday I cleaned the houseCommunity

ir + infinitive

Ir

to go

Indicativo

Pretérito Perfeito

Ele foi de férias por um mêsHe went on vacation for a month.Community irto goCommunity Slow audio Play audio Verb

eu fuii wentindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity tu fosteYou ^sing.,inf. wentindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity ele / ela foiHe / She wentindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity você foiyou wentindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity nós fomoswe wentindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity eles / elas foramthey wentindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity vocês foramyou wentindicativo > pret. perfeitoCommunity

This is an alternative to using estar a to reference the past and it means, basically, that “I went and did something”. Notice that unlike acabar and estar, there is no preposition (a or de) before the infinitive.

Fui fazer o almoçoI (went and) made lunchCommunity instead of Fiz o almoçoI made lunchCommunity Slow audio Play audio

Fui passear o cãoI took the dog for a walkCommunity instead of Passeei o cãoI walked the dogCommunity

Once again, you can add more context to the sentence to make it clear when the action happened.

Foste fazer as compras ontemYou went shopping yesterdayCommunity

Fomos buscar o cão na terça feira passadaWe went to pick up the dog last TuesdayCommunity

Present tense + context

Similar to what happens with the future tense, you can also avoid the past tense by conjugating a verb in the present simple and adding a preposition such as desdesinceCommunity Slow audio Play audio Preposition to reference the past:

Estou solteiro desde ontemI'm single since yesterday, I've been single since yesterdayCommunity

Getting Creative With What You Know

As you start adding more verbs to your vocabulary, you’re able to get creative with how you phrase things to avoid the verb conjugations you don’t know. For example, let’s see some examples of sentences we can form knowing only how to conjugate querer, poder, and ter:

Tenho de estudarI have to studyCommunity instead of Devo estudarI must studyCommunity

Eu posso ajudarI can helpCommunity Slow audio Play audio instead of Eu ajudareiI will helpindicativo > futuroCommunity

Quero ver o filmeI want to watch the movieCommunity instead of Gostaria de ver o filmeI would like to watch the movieCommunity

Vocabulary Shortcuts

Cognates

If you want to learn European Portuguese fast, you can add a lot of vocabulary quickly by focusing on cognates. Cognates are words that have a common origin, which means they are often very similar to the English translation. You can learn more in this video Joel and Rui put together on 5000 Portuguese words you already know!

Let’s take a look at some of the common spelling patterns when going from English → Portuguese. Keep in mind that these don’t apply every time; they are just a way to help you keep an eye out for other cognates:

ph → f

o telefonetelephoneCommunity a farmáciapharmacyCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine alfabetoalphabetCommunity

th → t

o teatrotheatreCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine a atletaathleteCommunity matemáticomathematicsCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Masculine

tion → cão

ficçãofictionCommunity opçãooptionCommunity situaçãosituationCommunity

ty → dade

sociedadesocietyCommunity responsabilidaderesponsibilityCommunity comunidadecommunityCommunity

ism → ismo

racismoracismCommunity turismotourismCommunity organismoorganismCommunity

ist → ista

artistaartistCommunity ortodontistaorthodontistCommunity optimistaoptimistCommunity

ize → izar

organizarorganizeCommunity autorizarauthorizeCommunity especializarspecializeCommunity

ous → oso / osa

nervosonervous(masc.)Community curiosacurious(fem.)Community famosafamous(fem.)Community

Loan words from English

Good news, there are a number of words that you don’t have to worry about translating! With English being so widespread, there are many words that have come to be used in Portuguese as well. You’ll notice that many of them related to technology and popular culture. Sometimes the spelling stays the same as the English version, but other times it changes to match the way it’s pronounced in Portugal.

• shoppingCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• fast foodCommunity
• check-inCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• stressCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• bestsellerCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• e-mailCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• laptopCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• sitesite, websiteCommunity
• designerCommunity Slow audio Play audio Adjective
• internetCommunity
• marketingCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• uauwowCommunity
• uísquewhiskeyCommunity
• pijamapajamasCommunity Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
• panquecapancakeCommunity
• champôshampooCommunity

What Else?

Do you know any other shortcuts that have helped you learn European Portuguese fast? Share in the comments!