Conjugating -er and -ir verbs
After the -ar verbs of lesson 7, Portuguese has exactly two more regular families: -er and -ir. Their endings are nearly identical — the only place they part ways is the nós form, -emos against -imos. Today: comer, beber, viver, escrever, ler on the -er side; abrir, partir, dormir on the -ir side.
The -er group
Take comer (to eat). Chop off the -er and you have the stem com-. Now hang the endings on it: eu como, você come, ele come, ela come, nós comemos, vocês comem, eles comem, elas comem. Four endings cover every person you need: -o, -e, -emos, -em. There is a fifth ending, -es, that belongs to tu — tu comes. You'll hear it in Rio Grande do Sul and parts of the Northeast, but you never have to produce it: você come works everywhere in Brazil.
The -ir group
Take abrir (to open). Stem abr-: eu abro, você abre, ela abre, nós abrimos, vocês abrem, eles abrem. Endings: -o, -e, -imos, -em. That is the -er set with exactly one letter changed — the nós form has an i where -er verbs have an e. Everything else is the same, which is why most learners stop thinking of them as two groups after a week.
Side by side: -ar vs -er vs -ir
eu: falo / como / abro — always -o. você, ele, ela: fala / come / abre. nós: falamos / comemos / abrimos — the only slot where all three groups disagree. vocês, eles, elas: falam / comem / abrem. And one shortcut Brazilians use constantly: a gente means 'we' but takes the você form of the verb. A gente come em casa. says exactly what Nós comemos em casa. says, with less conjugating — which is why you'll hear it far more often.
More -er and -ir verbs
beber (to drink) → bebo, bebe, bebemos, bebem. viver (to live) → vivo, vive, vivemos, vivem. escrever (to write) → escrevo, escreve, escrevemos, escrevem. partir (to leave) → parto, parte, partimos, partem. Two wrinkles worth memorising: ler (to read) bends a little — leio, lê, lemos, leem — and dormir changes its vowel in the eu form only: durmo, dorme, dormimos, dormem. Never dormo.
viver vs morar
Both land on 'to live' in English, but they cover different ground. morar is about your address: Moro no Rio. = I live in Rio. viver is the bigger word — to be alive, to have a life of a certain kind: Vivo bem. = I'm living well. For 'I live in Brazil' a Brazilian will usually say Moro no Brasil, and reach for viver when the sentence is really about the life: Vivo no Brasil há dois anos. = I've been living in Brazil for two years.
