Fala Gringo › Verbs › nascer
nascer — to be born
Full conjugation of nascer 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 nascer in Brazilian Portuguese
Nascer is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to be born. It is a regular -er verb, so once you know the endings there are no surprises — only the spelling shifts in nasço 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: a gente nasce — we are born (a gente). The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu nasci — I was born. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: você nascia — you used to be born (never used).
Said the Rio way, nasce sounds like NAH-see.
Presente — present tense
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | nasçoI am born (never used) | NAH-soo | |
| a gente | nascewe are born (a gente) | NAH-see | A gente nasce sem manual. |
| nós | nascemoswe are born (never used) | nah-SEH-moosh | |
| eles | nascemthey are born | NAH-seng | Muitos bebês nascem em setembro. |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | nasciI was born | nah-SEE | Eu nasci em Oslo, mas moro no Rio. |
| você / ele / ela | nasceuyou were born | nah-SEH-oo | Você nasceu aqui no Rio? |
| nós | nascemoswe were born | nah-SEH-moosh | Nós nascemos no mesmo hospital. |
| vocês / eles / elas | nasceramyou all were born | nah-SEH-rahng | Vocês nasceram no mesmo ano? |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | nasciaI used to be born (never used) | nah-SEE-ah | |
| você / ele / ela | nasciayou used to be born (never used) | nah-SEE-ah | |
| nós | nascíamoswe used to be born (never used) | nah-SEE-ah-moosh | |
| eles | nasciamthey used to be born | nah-SEE-ahng | Naquela época, eles nasciam em casa mesmo. |