Fala Gringo › Verbs › passear
passear — to go for a walk, to stroll
Full conjugation of passear 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 passear in Brazilian Portuguese
Passear is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to go for a walk, to stroll. It is an irregular verb: 3 of its forms in the three tenses below break the regular -ar pattern (passeio, passeia, passeiam), and those are the ones to learn by heart.
Three tenses do almost all the work in conversation. The presente covers the present and the near future: eu passeio — I stroll. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu passeei — I walked / strolled. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu passeava — I used to stroll / walk around / was strolling.
Said the Rio way, passeio sounds like pah-SAY-oo. The nós form passeamos ends in the carioca “sh”, pah-say-AH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.
Presente — present tense
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | passeioI stroll | pah-SAY-oo | Eu passeio pelo parque no fim de semana. |
| você / ele / ela | passeiayou stroll | pah-SAY-ah | Você passeia com o cachorro todos os dias? |
| nós | passeamoswe stroll | pah-say-AH-moosh | Nós passeamos pela orla de tarde. |
| vocês / eles / elas | passeiamyou all stroll | pah-SAY-ahng | Vocês passeiam no Aterro do Flamengo? |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | passeeiI walked / strolled | pah-see-AY | Eu passeei com o cachorro de manhã. |
| você / ele / ela | passeouyou walked / strolled | pah-see-OH | Você passeou pelo centro histórico? |
| nós | passeamoswe walked / strolled | pah-say-AH-moosh | Nós passeamos na beira do rio. |
| vocês / eles / elas | passearamyou all walked / strolled | pah-see-AH-rahng | Vocês passearam no parque hoje? |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | passeavaI used to stroll / walk around / was strolling | pah-see-AH-vah | Eu passeava no parque aos domingos. |
| você / ele / ela | passeavayou used to stroll / walk around / were strolling | pah-see-AH-vah | Você passeava com o cachorro todo dia? |
| nós | passeávamoswe used to stroll / walk around / were strolling | pah-see-AH-vah-moosh | Nós passeávamos pelo centro aos fins de semana. |
| vocês / eles / elas | passeavamyou all used to stroll / walk around | pah-see-AH-vahng | Vocês passeavam pela praia à tarde? |
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)
- dançar to dance
- 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
- ganhar to win, to earn
- perder to lose