Two imperatives, and when each one is used
Brazilian Portuguese has two command forms and uses both every day. Vira à direita is the spoken form — a friend, a taxi driver, almost anyone talking normally. Vire à direita is the written and formal form: signs, instructions, anything typed, and what you use with a stranger, a doctor or a landlord.
Neither is wrong. But the spoken form carries a signal about schooling in some settings, so it is worth knowing which one you are reaching for rather than picking one by accident. Learn to hear both and write the second.
What this is about
Getting around: asking where things are, understanding the answer, and giving street commands the way Brazilians actually give them — with the spoken imperative. Plus VIR (to come), the shapeshifting verb of arrivals.
Asking & understanding
| Onde fica a estação? | where is…? (ficar for fixed places) |
| Fica perto daqui? É longe? | near here? far? |
| na esquina · na segunda rua à esquerda | on the corner · second street on the left |
| entre o banco e a farmácia · do lado da padaria | between · next to |
| na frente da igreja · atrás do mercado | in front of · behind |
The spoken imperative — commands, Brazilian style
Grammar books teach a special command form (vire! siga!). Spoken Brazil overwhelmingly just uses the você-form of the present:
| Vira à direita! | turn right! |
| Segue reto! | go straight! |
| Pega a primeira à esquerda! | take the first left! |
| Atravessa a praça e vem cá! | cross the square and come here! |
VIR — to come (fully irregular)
| present: venho, vem, vimos, vêm | Eu venho de metrô. |
| past: vim, veio, viemos, vieram | Ela veio de São Paulo. |
Exceptions & details
1 · à direita / à esquerda — direction takes the crase à. "Na direita" marks position, not turning.
2 · Ordinals: a primeira rua, o terceiro prédio — the full 1º–10º set lives in the "Ordinal numbers" chapter.
3 · pegar = to take/catch (bus, street, even a cold: peguei um resfriado). Past eu-form: peguei.
Practise this chapter
10 pool questions plus generated ones — 20 fresh practice questions, reshuffled every visit, inside the grammar library.
Practise The spoken imperative & vir — 20 questions →This chapter is taught in Lição 13 of the course (level A2). Rumo is a complete Brazilian Portuguese course, A1 to B2; level A1 is free.