receber — to receive, to get (mail, a message)

How to use receber in Brazilian Portuguese

Receber is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to receive, to get (mail, a message). It is a regular -er 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 recebo — I receive / get (mail, a message). The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu recebi — I received / got. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu recebia — I used to receive / get.

Said the Rio way, recebo sounds like heh-SEH-boo. The nós form recebemos ends in the carioca “sh”, heh-seh-BEH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.