The verb fazer is one of the most important verbs in the Portuguese language. Strictly translated into English it means “to do” or “to make”, but there are a number of other situations when you would also use it.
Whether you are looking to talk about the cake (o bolo) that you made, how old you’ll be on your next birthday (seu aniversário) or what the weather (o clima) will be like, you will need to use the verb, fazer.
Fazer crops up all the time in Portuguese – in written (escrito) – but especially in conversation (conversação), so it is important that you know how to use and understand it properly. So, how do we conjugate and use the verb, fazer?
All About The Portuguese Verb Fazer…
The verb fazer is derived from the Latin word facere and is closely linked to the Spanish verb, hacer, the French verb, faire, and the Italian verb, fare. There are tons of ways that it can be used in the Portuguese language – including meaning:
To make, prepare or to create
Eu gosto de fazer roupas (I like to make clothes)
To do or to perform
Eu posso fazer isso! (I can do it)
To cause
A chuva faz inundações (The rain causes floods)
To arrange, pack or tidy
Eu faço minha própria mala (I pack my own case)
To turn (as in age)
Ele vai fazer 7 anos em janeiro (He’s going to turn 7 in January)
As well as to talk about time and the weather.
Faz 2 horas que minha tia chegou (2 hours have passed since my aunt arrived)
Vai fazer sol hoje (It is going to be sunny today)
If you are wanting to use the word fazer, you would use it as follows:
- Infinitive (“to do”) is fazer
- Participle (“made” or “done”) is feito
- Gerund (“making” or “doing”) is fazendo
Conjugating the verb, fazer
Portuguese is a lot more complicated than English when it comes to conjugating verbs. The way that it is used changes according to who it is referring to and what tense you are using it in. Fear not though, it’s not so difficult to get your head round when it is broken down.
Fazer and The Present Tense
When you are taking about what is happening right now, you would use the present tense.
| Eu (I) | faço | I make |
| Você (You) | faz | You make |
| Ele/Ela(He/She/It) | faz | He/She/It makes |
| Nós (We) | fazemos | We make |
| Vos (You all) – polite | fazem | You all make |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | fazem | They/You pl make |
(It is important to remember that in Brazil the word you, is used differently than in Portugal. In Portugal, they would use the word tu for the informal way of saying the singular you, whereas in Brazil, the singular form of saying you, is você)
So, some examples would be:
Eu faço pão todos os dias. (I make bread every day)
Você sempre faz suas malas no último minuto. (You always pack your bags at the last minute)
Ele faz meu almoço aos domingos. (He makes my lunch on Sundays)
Nós fazemos a limpeza aos sábados. (We do the cleaning on Saturdays)
Fazer and The Present/Perfect Tense
We would use the Present/Perfect tense when we talk about something that has happened in the past, In English, this is when we use have or has before the verb.
| Eu (I) | tenho feito | I have done/made |
| Você (You) | tem feito | You have done/made |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | tem feito | He/She/It has done/made |
| Nós (We) | temos feito | We have done/made |
| Vos (You all) – polite | tendes feito | You all have done/made |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | têm feito | They/You pl have done/made |
You would therefore conjugate in the present/perfect tense as follows:
Eu já tenho feito o pagamento. (I have already made the payment)
Ele tem feito o que você pediu. (He has done what you asked)
Eles ja têm feito a maratona. (They have already done (completed) the marathon)
Fazer and The Past Preterite Tense
The Past Preterite tense is used when we are talking about something that happened at a certain time in the the past.
| Eu (I) | fiz | I made/did |
| Você (You) | fez | You made/did |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | fez | He/She/It made/did |
| Nós (We) | fizemos | We made/did |
| Vos (You all) – polite | fizestes | You made/did |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | fizeram | They/You pl made/did |
Some examples of the verb fazer in the Past Preterite tense would be:
Ele fez de propósito. (He did it on purpose)
Eles fizeram isso. (They did this)
Você fez isso! (You did it!)
Você me fez chorar. (You made me cry)
Fazer and The Future Tense
We can use the verb fazer in the Future tense when we talk about something that we are going to do or make. It is conjugated as follows:
| Eu (I) | farei | I will do/make |
| Você (You) | fará | You will do/make |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | Fará | He/She will do/make |
| Nós (We) | faremos | We will do/make |
| Vos (You all) – polite | fareis | You all will do/make |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | farão | They/You pl. Will do/make |
Some examples of using the verb fazer in the Future tense are:
Eu farei o jantar. (I will make dinner)
Nós faremos o nosso melhor para chegar a tempo. (We will do our best to arrive on time)
Rafael fará a tradução para você. (Rafael will do the translation for you)
Eles farão as compras mais tarde. (They will do the shopping later)
These are the most basic of the tenses to learn. However, unlike English, Portuguese has some other tenses which are used in certain situations – just to make things a bit more complicated. Not to worry though, we’ll walk you through some of the others and it’ll seem like a piece of cake.
With a bit of practise these will feel as natural as the other tenses…
Fazer and The Conditional Mood Tense
The Conditional Mood tense is used when we would use the word would in English, followed by the verb (fazer in this case). It would therefore be conjugated like this:
| Eu (I) | faria | I would do/make |
| Você (You) | faria | You would do/make |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | faria | He/She/It would do/make |
| Nós (We) | faríamos | We would do/make |
| Vos (You all) – polite | faríeis | You all would do/make |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | fariam | They/You pl would do/make |
Some examples of how you would use the verb fazer in the Conditional Mood tense would be:
Eu faria isso, mas não consigo alcançar o pano. (I would do it, but I can’t reach the cloth)
Se eu estiver atrasado, você me faria almoço por favor? (If I’m late, would you make me lunch please?)
Mesmo que fosse muito fácil, eles ainda não o fariam. (Even if it was very easy they still wouldn’t do it)
Fazer and the Past Imperfect Tense
In English, we use the Past Imperfect tense when we talk about something that we used to do but have now stopped. The verb, fazer is conjugated in the Past Imperfect tense like this:
| Eu (I) | fazia | I used to do/make |
| Você (You) | fazia | You used to do/make |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | fazia | He/She/It used to do/make |
| Nós (We) | fazíamos | We used to do/make |
| Vos (You all) – polite | fazíeis | You all used to do/make |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | faziam | They/You pl used to do/make |
Following from this, some examples of how to use fazer in the Past Imperfect tense are:
Minha mãe fazia biscoitos no domingo. (My mum used to make biscuits on a Sunday)
A máquina fazia um barulho estranho quando a gente ligava. (The machine used to make a funny noise when we turned it on)
Eles faziam o que podiam para ajudar, mas agora não. (They used to do what they could to help but now they don’t)
Fazia chuva muito menos do que agora. (It used to rain much less than now)
Fazer and The Past Perfect Tense
In Portuguese we use the Past Perfect tense of fazer when in English we would say had done or had made. This is how it is conjugated:
| Eu (I) | tinha feito | I had made/done |
| Você (You) | tinha feito | You had made/done |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | tinha feito | He/She/It had made/done |
| Nós (We) | tínhamos feito | We had made/done |
| Vos (You all) – polite | tínheis feito | You all had made/done |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | tinham feito | They/You pl had made/done |
Here are some examples of how you would use the verb fazer in the Past Perfect tense:
Eu já tinha feito minha maquiagem. (I had already done my make-up)
Eu não sabia que você tinha feito o sanduíche antes de sair. (I didn’t realize that you had made the sandwich before you left)
As crianças já tinham feito uma bagunça no quintal. (The children had already made a mess in the yard)
Fazer and The Future Perfect Tense
The Future Perfect Tense of fazer is used in portuguese when we would say will have done or made in English. This is how it is conjugated:
| Eu (I) | terei feito | I will have done/made |
| Você (You) | terá feito | You will have done/made |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | terá feito | He/She/It will have done/made |
| Nós (We) | teremos feito | We will have done/made |
| Vos (You all) – polite | tereis feito | You all will have done/made |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | terão feito | They/You pl will have done/made |
Some of examples of how you would use the Future Perfect tense for the verb fazer, include:
Quando chegarmos lá, ela terá feito o café. (By the time we get there, she will havemade the coffee)
Já o teremos feito amanhã. (We will have already done it by tomorrow)
Se eles se conheceram antes, eles já terão feito amizade. (If they had met before they will have already made friends)
Fazer and the Future Subjunctive Tense
The Future Subjunctive tense is slightly more complicated as it is only usually used in specific situations. You will usually just have to learn these situations, but it will become second nature just to say them in a blink of an eye if you practise.
The Future Subjunctive tense is conjugated like this:
| Eu (I) | Fizer | If I do/make |
| Você (You) | Fizer | If you do/make |
| Ele/Ela (He/She/It) | Fizer | If he/she/it does/makes |
| Nós (We) | Fizermos | If we do/make |
| Vos (You all) – polite | Fizerdes | If you all do/make |
| Eles/Ela/Vocês (They/You pl.) | Fizerem | If they/you pl do/make |
Here are the specific times when you would use fazer with the Future Subjunctive tense along with some examples:
- Se eu fizer a limpeza, você faz o jantar por favor? (If I do the cleaning, will you make dinner please?)
- Quando você fizer isso, me deixa com raiva! (When you do that, it makes me angry!)
- Assim que ele fizer a mala dele, podemos sair. (As soon as he has packed his case, we can leave)
- Enquanto nós fazermos a coisa certa, estamos seguros. (While we do the right thing, we are safe)
- Conforme com o que eles fizerem, eu responderei. (In accordance with what they do, I will respond)
- Beba cachaça como nós fizermos no Brasil! (Drink cachaça like we do in Brazil!)
- Quem fizer o contrário, é errado. (Anyone who does otherwise, is wrong)
- Se elas fizeram um bom som, pagarei dobrado. (If they make good music, I’ll pay double)
And that’s it! You can now say anything that you want to about doing and making in Portuguese – and a host of other stuff as well. Now it’s just a case of going out there, trying it out and getting to grips with fazer!
