In short

Four verbs carry an outsized share of everyday Portuguese: ser and estar, which English merges into the single verb “to be”, ter, which is “to have” but also the verb for your age and for feeling hungry or cold, and haver, whose one form “há” means “there is” and “there are”. Telling ser and estar apart is the biggest hurdle in this lesson: ser says what something fundamentally is, while estar says how or where it is right now. Learn these four verbs and you can already describe people, places, states and existence.

The rule

You met the present-tense forms of these irregular verbs in step 7. This lesson is about when to use each one.

ser: identity and essence

Use ser for what something is in a stable, defining way: identity and classification, origin and nationality, profession, the material a thing is made of, dates and clock time, and inherent qualities.

• Identity and nationality: Eu sou o Pedro. Ela é portuguesa.
• Profession: O meu pai é médico.
• Material and origin: A mesa é de madeira. O vinho é do Douro.
• Time and dates: Hoje é segunda-feira. São três horas.
• Inherent quality: O gelo é frio. Ele é alto.

estar: state, condition and current location

Use estar for the state something is in at the moment: feelings and physical condition, the weather, the result of a change, and the current position of a movable person or thing.

• Feeling and condition: Estou cansado. A sopa está quente.
• Weather: Está frio hoje. Está a chover.
• Result of a change: A porta está aberta. As luzes estão acesas.
• Current position: O carro está na garagem. Nós estamos em casa.

ser vs estar with the same adjective

Many adjectives accept both verbs and change meaning. Ser gives a defining trait; estar gives a passing state or a fresh impression:

• Ele é nervoso (a nervous person) vs Ele está nervoso (nervous right now).
• A fruta é verde (a green-coloured fruit) vs A fruta está verde (unripe).
• A Ana é bonita (she is beautiful) vs A Ana está bonita hoje (she looks lovely today).

Ask yourself: essence or condition? That question decides the verb.

ter: having, and the states English calls “being”

Ter is “to have” for possession: Tenho um carro. Tens irmãos? But Portuguese also uses ter for age and for a long list of bodily and mental states where English uses “to be”: you literally “have” hunger, thirst, cold, fear and years. This is a frequent English-speaker error, so learn the set as fixed phrases: Tenho fome, Tenho frio, Tenho vinte anos, Tens razão.

haver: “há” for there is and there are

The everyday job of haver is the impersonal form há, meaning “there is” and “there are”. It never changes for number: Há um problema and Há muitos problemas both use há. The negative is Não há: Não há pão. The other personal forms (hei, hás, hão) are rare on their own and belong to the periphrasis “haver de”, which you meet much later.

ficar: where fixed things are, and becoming

Ficar (a regular -ar verb) fills two gaps that estar does not cover well. First, the fixed position of a place or building: O banco fica na esquina. Onde fica a estação? Second, “to become” - a change of state: Ela ficou contente. A água ficou fria. It also means “to stay”: Hoje fico em casa.

Forms & patterns

Present indicative of ser, estar, ter and ficar (haver follows below):

The archaic vós forms (sois, estais, tendes, ficais) are not used in modern European Portuguese and can be ignored.

The verb haver in the present - in practice you only need “há”:

Ser versus estar at a glance:

States that use ter, not ser or estar:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Eu estou português -> Eu sou português - nationality and identity are defining, so they take ser, never estar.
• Eu sou cansado (meaning tired now) -> Eu estou cansado - a passing state takes estar; “sou cansado” would make tiredness part of who you are, as if you were always tired.
• Sou vinte anos, Estou vinte anos -> Tenho vinte anos - age is expressed with ter, not with ser or estar.
• Estou fome, Sou fome -> Tenho fome - hunger, thirst, cold, fear and being right all use ter (Tenho fome, Tenho frio, Tens razão).
• Tem um problema (meaning there is a problem) -> Há um problema - existence in European Portuguese is “há”; using “tem” for “there is” is Brazilian.
• Hão muitas pessoas -> Há muitas pessoas - “há” is invariable and stays singular for both “there is” and “there are”.
• A estação está no centro (as its permanent location) -> A estação fica no centro - the fixed location of a building or place normally uses ficar, while estar suits where a movable thing is right now.

Tips

• Split “to be” in two: ser is what something IS (identity, origin, profession, material, dates, inherent traits); estar is the state it is IN right now (feelings, weather, results, current position). When unsure, ask “essence or condition?”.
• Age and bodily states are ter, not “to be”: Tenho vinte anos, Tenho frio, Tenho sede, Tens razão. Treat English “I am hungry” as a false friend for “Tenho fome”.
• Existence is one unchanging word: há. It does not agree in number (há um carro, há muitos carros), and it is the European way to say “there is” and “there are”.
• Reach for ficar for the fixed position of places (O museu fica perto) and for “becoming” (ficar contente, A sopa ficou fria). It also means “to stay”: Fico em casa.
• The same adjective can switch verbs and switch meaning: é verde (a green thing) vs está verde (unripe); é aberto (open by nature, an open person) vs está aberto (open at the moment).
• In Brazil: “ter” is commonly used for existence in speech - “tem pão?” for “is there any bread?” - where European Portuguese keeps “há pão?”. Both are understood, but use “há” in EP.