Introduction
Understanding verb agreement in Portuguese is essential for speaking and writing clearly. This article explains the main rules of concordância verbal in Brazilian Portuguese, showing how verbs change according to person, number, tense, mood, and special constructions. Examples use everyday sentences to make the rules practical for learners from beginner to intermediate level.
- What is concordância verbal?
- Agreement with compound subjects
- Person agreement and clitic pronouns
- Agreement in compound tenses
- Agreement with impersonal verbs and expressions
- Agreement with expletive subjects
- Special cases: gerund and infinitive
- Agreement with collective subjects and measurement expressions
- Negation and verb agreement
- Common mistakes and tips
- Conclusion
What is concordância verbal?
Concordância verbal is the agreement between the verb and its subject in person (first, second, third) and number (singular, plural). In Portuguese, the verb form must match the subject. This is similar to English but with more verb endings and some constructions that behave differently.
Basic structure: person and number
Portuguese verbs change endings depending on the subject. For regular verbs in the present indicative, endings are predictable. Learn the pattern with one verb from each conjugation group: -ar, -er, -ir.
Example with falar (to speak):
eu falo
tu falas
ele/ela/você fala
nós falamos
vocês/eles/elas falam
Example with comer (to eat):
eu como
tu comes
ele/ela/você come
nós comemos
vocês/eles/elas comem
Example with abrir (to open):
eu abro
tu abres
ele/ela/você abre
nós abrimos
vocês/eles/elas abrem
Agreement with compound subjects
When the subject has more than one noun connected by e (and), the verb usually goes to plural. If one noun is first and the second is closer to the verb, the verb still agrees with the combined subject.
Example:
O menino e a menina brincam no parque.
If subjects are joined by ou (or), the verb agrees with the subject that is closer to the verb, unless the choice is indeterminate.
Example:
Ou o professor ou os alunos trabalham no projeto.
Ou os alunos ou o professor trabalha no projeto.
Subjects joined by collective nouns
When a collective noun appears with another noun, the verb usually agrees with the nearest noun or with the collective if the meaning emphasizes the group.
Example:
A equipe e o técnico chegaram cedo.
A equipe chegou cedo (emphasizing the group as a unit).
Person agreement and clitic pronouns
Clitic object pronouns (me, te, se, o, a, nos, vos, lhes) do not change verb agreement in number or person. The verb must still match the subject.
Example:
Eu vejo você todos os dias.
Nós o vimos ontem.
In negative commands or imperatives, the verb form changes by person. For affirmative commands, different forms exist:
Example (affirmative informal):
Tu fala! (colloquial, not standard in Brazil — usually você is used)
Você fale! (formal/written in Brazil) — note: Brazilian usage often uses você conjugation for commands
Nós falemos!
Vocês falem!
Agreement in compound tenses
Compound tenses use the auxiliary ter or haver plus a past participle. In modern Brazilian Portuguese, the past participle does not agree in gender or number when used with ter or haver; it remains in its default form. This is different from European Portuguese, where agreement may occur in some contexts.
Example with ter:
Eu tenho falado muito ultimamente.
Eles têm comido bem.
When the auxiliary is ser or estar, the past participle behaves like an adjective and agrees in gender and number with the subject.
Example with ser:
A casa foi construída no ano passado.
As casas foram construídas no ano passado.
Agreement with impersonal verbs and expressions
Impersonal verbs, like fazer (in weather expressions), haver (in the sense of existence), and fazer (time expressions), often use third-person singular regardless of other elements.
Examples:
Faz calor hoje.
Há muitas pessoas na fila. (not Existem in many contexts; both can be used but há is more common for existence)
Fazia dois anos que eu estudava quando me mudei.
Note that in colloquial Brazilian Portuguese you will also hear tem for há in spoken language: Tem muita gente aqui. Technically, há is correct for existence in written language, but tem is widespread in speech.
Subjects with indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns such as tudo, nada, ninguém, alguém, cada, alguém, alguém se comportam as follows:
nada, tudo — third-person singular: Tudo é possível.
ninguém, alguém — third-person singular: Ninguém chegou ainda.
cada — third-person singular always: Cada pessoa tem uma opinião.
Agreement with expletive subjects
Expletive subjects like o que, aquilo que, or cleft sentences change how verbs agree. The verb usually agrees with the semantic subject, not the grammatical placeholder.
Example:
O que mais me surpreende é a paciência das pessoas. (The verb surpreende is third-person singular because o que is impersonal here.)
Foi João que comeu o bolo. (The verb comeu agrees with João.)
Special cases: gerund and infinitive
The gerund (-ando, -endo, -indo) and infinitive forms do not change to match person or number. Instead, they are used with auxiliaries or as verbal nouns.
Examples:
Estou estudando agora. (gerund) — the verb estar agrees with the subject: Eu estou.
Eles vão estudar amanhã. (infinitive)
However, the personal infinitive exists in Portuguese and can change endings to agree with the subject when the infinitive has an explicit subject.
Example of personal infinitive:
Antes de partirmos, precisamos falar. (partirmos agrees with nós)
É importante ela pensar sobre isso. (less common; often rephrased but grammatically possible)
Personal infinitive details
The personal infinitive uses endings similar to present tense for some persons: -mos for nós, -es for tu, -em for eles, etc. It is more common in written and formal contexts but is useful after prepositions like para, antes de, sem, and conjunctions.
Examples:
Para nos encontrarmos, ligue amanhã.
Sem você dizer nada, eles foram embora.
Agreement with collective subjects and measurement expressions
Expressions of measurement, quantity, or percentage often take singular verbs even when followed by plural nouns, especially when the quantity is treated as a whole amount.
Examples:
Cem reais é suficiente.
Metade da turma faltou ontem. (here metade is a fraction; verb agrees with metade as singular)
20% dos alunos aprovou? In this case agreement can follow grammatical convention: 20% dos alunos aprovou (singular idea of the percentage) or 20% dos alunos aprovaram (agreeing with alunos). Both are heard, but formal writing often treats the percentage as singular when it denotes a single quantity.
Negation and verb agreement
Negation with não does not affect verb agreement. Place não before the verb or before a pronoun depending on emphasis; the verb must still match the subject.
Examples:
Eu não quero ir hoje.
Eles não entenderam a explicação.
Agreement in subordinate clauses
In subordinate clauses the verb agrees with the subject of that clause. When the subject is omitted because it is the same as the main clause, Portuguese often uses a different subject pronoun or a personal infinitive.
Examples:
Eu espero que ele venha amanhã. (verb vem in subjunctive terceira pessoa)
Quero viajar quando eu terminar o trabalho. (each verb agrees with its own subject)
Common mistakes and tips
1. Mixing up você and tu: In Brazil, você uses third-person verb forms (você fala), while tu uses second-person forms (tu falas). Use the form common in your region.
2. Auxiliary choice: Use ter/haver for compound tenses generally without participle agreement; use ser/estar when the participle must agree.
3. Collective and quantity expressions: Decide whether the idea is singular (a total amount) or plural (individual items) and choose verb agreement accordingly.
4. Impersonal verbs: Use third-person singular for weather, time, and existence verbs like fazer and haver.
Cultural and usage notes
Brazilian Portuguese tends toward simplified agreement in everyday speech. People often use você plus third-person verb forms and prefer constructions like tem instead of há in spoken language. In formal writing, follow standard grammatical rules: use há for existence in the past, maintain correct subjunctive use, and apply participle agreement after ser/estar.
Conclusion
Mastering concordância verbal means learning how verbs change to match person, number, tense, and special structures. Focus on common patterns: present tense endings, pluralization with compound subjects, auxiliaries with participles, personal infinitive uses, and impersonal verbs. Listening to native speakers and reading Brazilian Portuguese will help you internalize these rules for everyday sentences.
