Fala Gringo › Verbs › repetir
repetir — to repeat
Full conjugation of repetir 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 repetir in Brazilian Portuguese
Repetir is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to repeat. It is an irregular verb: 1 of its forms in the three tenses below break the regular -ir pattern (repito), 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 repito — I repeat. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu repeti — I repeated. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu repetia — I used to repeat / was repeating.
Said the Rio way, repito sounds like heh-PEE-too. The nós form repetimos ends in the carioca “sh”, heh-peh-CHEE-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s. Notice repete is heh-PEH-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 | repitoI repeat | heh-PEE-too | Eu repito a pergunta. |
| você / ele / ela | repeteyou repeat | heh-PEH-chee | Você repete isso pra mim? |
| nós | repetimoswe repeat | heh-peh-CHEE-moosh | Nós repetimos o exercício. |
| vocês / eles / elas | repetemyou all repeat | heh-PEH-teng | Vocês repetem a frase? |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | repetiI repeated | heh-peh-CHEE | Eu repeti o nome dele duas vezes. |
| você / ele / ela | repetiuyou repeated | heh-peh-CHEE-oo | Você repetiu o que ela falou? |
| nós | repetimoswe repeated | heh-peh-CHEE-moosh | Nós repetimos a música no ensaio. |
| vocês / eles / elas | repetiramyou all repeated | heh-peh-CHEE-rahng | Vocês repetiram a pergunta? |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | repetiaI used to repeat / was repeating | heh-peh-CHEE-ah | Eu repetia as palavras pra decorar. |
| você / ele / ela | repetiayou used to repeat / were repeating | heh-peh-CHEE-ah | Você repetia a lição em voz alta? |
| nós | repetíamoswe used to repeat / were repeating | heh-peh-CHEE-ah-moosh | Nós repetíamos os exercícios toda aula. |
| vocês / eles / elas | repetiamyou all used to repeat / were repeating | heh-peh-CHEE-ahng | Vocês repetiam sempre a mesma coisa? |
More “Comunicação” verbs
- falar to speak, to talk
- gritar to shout, to scream
- dizer to say
- perguntar to ask
- responder to answer
- explicar to explain
- chamar to call
- conversar to chat
- contar to tell, to count
- entender to understand
- aprender to learn
- ensinar to teach
- sugerir to suggest
- receber to receive, to get (mail, a message)
- mandar to send
- avisar to let (someone) know, to warn