Neues Konzept

Three families, one idea

In Unit 3 you learned the regular -ar verbs: drop -ar, add -o, -a, -amos, -am. Portuguese has two more regular families — verbs ending in -er and -ir — and they work exactly the same way. Drop the ending, add a new set:

Pronoun falar (-ar) comer (-er) beber (-er) abrir (-ir)
eu falo como bebo abro
você / ele / ela fala come bebe abre
nós falamos comemos bebemos abrimos
vocês / eles / elas falam comem bebem abrem
  • -er endings: -o, -e, -emos, -em
  • -ir endings: -o, -e, -imos, -em

The eu form ends in -o in all three families. And -er and -ir verbs differ in one place only — the nós form: comemos but abrimos.