Fala Gringo › Verbs › existir
existir — to exist
Full conjugation of existir 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 existir in Brazilian Portuguese
Existir is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to exist. It is a regular -ir verb, so once you know the endings there are no surprises.
Three tenses do almost all the work in conversation. The presente covers the present and the near future: isso existe — it exists. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: isso existiu — it existed. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: isso existia — it used to exist. Because existir is one of the 58 most-used verbs, the page also has both subjunctives: the presente do subjuntivo, the mood of wishes, doubts and “quero que…” — isso exista — that it exists — and the imperfeito do subjuntivo, the tense of hypotheticals: isso existisse — if it existed.
Said the Rio way, existe sounds like eh-ZEESH-chee. Notice existe is eh-ZEESH-chee: in Brazil a final -de softens to “jee” and -te to “chee”, something European Portuguese never does.
Presente — present tense
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | existoI exist (rare) | eh-ZEESH-too | |
| isso | existeit exists | eh-ZEESH-chee | Isso ainda existe? |
| nós | existimoswe exist (rare) | eh-zeesh-CHEE-moosh | |
| eles | existemthey exist | eh-ZEESH-teng | Eles existem, sim, eu já vi. |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | existiI existed (rare) | eh-zeesh-CHEE | |
| isso | existiuit existed | eh-zeesh-CHEE-oo | Isso existiu mesmo ou é lenda? |
| nós | existimoswe existed (rare) | eh-zeesh-CHEE-moosh | |
| eles | existiramthey existed | eh-zeesh-CHEE-rahng | Eles existiram de verdade, não é ficção. |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | existiaI used to exist (rare) | eh-zeesh-CHEE-ah | |
| isso | existiait used to exist | eh-zeesh-CHEE-ah | Isso não existia na minha época. |
| nós | existíamoswe used to exist (rare) | eh-zeesh-CHEE-ah-moosh | |
| eles | existiamthey used to exist | eh-zeesh-CHEE-ahng | Naquela época eles nem existiam. |
Presente do Subjuntivo — present subjunctive, “(I hope) that I…”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | existathat I exist (rare) | eh-ZEESH-tah | |
| isso | existathat it exists | eh-ZEESH-tah | Não acho que isso exista no Brasil. |
| nós | existamosthat we exist (rare) | eh-zeesh-TAH-moosh | |
| eles | existamthat they exist | eh-ZEESH-tahng | Duvido que eles existam de verdade. |
Imperfeito do Subjuntivo — imperfect subjunctive, “if I…”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | existisseif I existed (rare) | eh-zeesh-CHEE-see | |
| isso | existisseif it existed | eh-zeesh-CHEE-see | Se existisse um remédio pra ressaca, eu tomava todo dia. |
| nós | existíssemosif we existed (rare) | eh-zeesh-CHEE-seh-moosh | |
| eles | existissemif they existed | eh-zeesh-CHEE-seng | Ele falava dos dinossauros como se eles ainda existissem. |