gostar — to like

How to use gostar in Brazilian Portuguese

Gostar is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to like. It is a regular -ar 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: eu gosto — I like. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu gostei — I liked. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu gostava — I used to like. Because gostar 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…” — eu goste — that I like — and the imperfeito do subjuntivo, the tense of hypotheticals: eu gostasse — if I liked.

Said the Rio way, gosto sounds like GOHSH-too. The nós form gostamos ends in the carioca “sh”, gohsh-TAH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.