Fala Gringo › Verbs › dançar
dançar — to dance
Full conjugation of dançar in the tenses that matter for everyday speech, with pronunciation hints in the Rio (carioca) accent and example sentences the way Brazilians actually talk — not textbook European Portuguese.
How to use dançar in Brazilian Portuguese
Dançar is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to dance. It is a regular -ar verb, so once you know the endings there are no surprises — only the spelling shifts in dancei to keep the sound of the stem, which is orthography, not irregularity.
Three tenses do almost all the work in conversation. The presente covers the present and the near future: eu danço — I dance. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu dancei — I danced. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu dançava — I used to dance / was dancing.
Said the Rio way, danço sounds like DAHN-soo. The nós form dançamos ends in the carioca “sh”, dahn-SAH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.
Presente — present tense
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | dançoI dance | DAHN-soo | Eu danço forró. |
| você / ele / ela | dançayou dance | DAHN-sah | Você dança samba? |
| nós | dançamoswe dance | dahn-SAH-moosh | Nós dançamos até tarde. |
| vocês / eles / elas | dançamyou all dance | DAHN-sahng | Vocês dançam bem? |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | danceiI danced | dahn-SAY | Eu dancei muito na festa. |
| você / ele / ela | dançouyou danced | dahn-SOH | Você dançou com ele? |
| nós | dançamoswe danced | dahn-SAH-moosh | Nós dançamos a noite toda. |
| vocês / eles / elas | dançaramyou all danced | dahn-SAH-rahng | Vocês dançaram no baile? |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | dançavaI used to dance / was dancing | dahn-SAH-vah | Eu dançava samba quando era mais novo. |
| você / ele / ela | dançavayou used to dance / were dancing | dahn-SAH-vah | Você dançava no carnaval? |
| nós | dançávamoswe used to dance / were dancing | dahn-SAH-vah-moosh | Nós dançávamos toda sexta. |
| vocês / eles / elas | dançavamyou all used to dance / were dancing | dahn-SAH-vahng | Vocês dançavam juntos? |
More “Rotina e lazer” verbs
- comer to eat
- beber to drink
- tomar to take (a shower, a coffee, medicine)
- cozinhar to cook
- almoçar to have lunch
- jantar to have dinner
- assistir to watch
- escutar to listen (actively)
- viajar to travel
- descansar to rest
- praticar to practice
- treinar to train
- curtir to enjoy (slang)
- aproveitar to make the most of, to take advantage of
- frequentar to attend, to go regularly
- jogar to play (sports), to throw
- torcer to root for, to cheer (for a team)
- brincar to play (kids), to joke
- nadar to swim
- passear to go for a walk, to stroll
- ganhar to win, to earn
- perder to lose