Fala Gringo › Verbs › desligar
desligar — to turn off, to hang up
Full conjugation of desligar 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 desligar in Brazilian Portuguese
Desligar is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to turn off, to hang up. It is a regular -ar verb, so once you know the endings there are no surprises — only the spelling shifts in desliguei 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 desligo — I turn off / hang up. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu desliguei — I turned off / hung up. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu desligava — I used to turn off / hang up.
Said the Rio way, desligo sounds like desh-LEE-goo. The nós form desligamos ends in the carioca “sh”, desh-lee-GAH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.
Presente — present tense
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | desligoI turn off / hang up | desh-LEE-goo | Eu desligo o celular pra dormir. |
| você / ele / ela | desligayou turn off / hang up | desh-LEE-gah | Você desliga a luz quando sai? |
| nós | desligamoswe turn off / hang up | desh-lee-GAH-moosh | Nós desligamos o ar antes de sair. |
| vocês / eles / elas | desligamyou all turn off / hang up | desh-LEE-gahng | Vocês desligam a TV de noite? |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | desligueiI turned off / hung up | desh-lee-GAY | Eu desliguei na cara dele sem querer. |
| você / ele / ela | desligouyou turned off / hung up | desh-lee-GOH | Você desligou o ferro? |
| nós | desligamoswe turned off / hung up | desh-lee-GAH-moosh | Nós desligamos tudo antes de viajar. |
| vocês / eles / elas | desligaramyou all turned off / hung up | desh-lee-GAH-rahng | Vocês desligaram o chuveiro? |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | desligavaI used to turn off / hang up | desh-lee-GAH-vah | Eu desligava o telefone pra estudar. |
| você / ele / ela | desligavayou used to turn off / hang up | desh-lee-GAH-vah | Você desligava a luz da sala? |
| nós | desligávamoswe used to turn off / hang up | desh-lee-GAH-vah-moosh | Nós desligávamos a TV na hora do jantar. |
| vocês / eles / elas | desligavamyou all used to turn off / hang up | desh-lee-GAH-vahng | Vocês desligavam o wi-fi de noite? |
More “Vida diária e mobilidade” verbs
- morar to live (reside)
- trabalhar to work
- estudar to study
- chegar to arrive
- demorar to take long, to be slow
- sair to go out
- entrar to enter, to get in, to come in
- pegar to take (bus, metro, Uber)
- levar to take / carry
- buscar to fetch, to pick (someone) up
- voltar to return
- caminhar to walk
- dirigir to drive
- ligar to call (phone), to turn on