How this lesson works
The finish line of A1. Brazilians live in the gerund — after today, so do you.
Today you will learn to say:
"Eu acordo cedo todo dia, tomo café da manhã e saio de casa às oito. Agora estou estudando português — e estou gostando muito!"
"I wake up early every day, have breakfast and leave the house at eight. Right now I'm studying Portuguese — and I'm really enjoying it!"
📐 Grammar in this lesson
| Present continuous | estar + gerund: estou falando, comendo, abrindo — happening right now |
| Routine verbs | acordar, tomar, almoçar, jantar, chegar, voltar (regular) + dormir (durmo!) and sair (saio!) |
| Frequency | todo dia · às vezes · geralmente · sempre · nunca |
| Reflexives | me levanto · você se chama · nós nos deitamos — pronoun BEFORE the verb |
The 8 steps (±40 min)
| 1 | Review — 6 questions from Lessons 6–7 | 2 min |
| 2 | Words — 14 new words + 8 new verbs | 5 min |
| 3 | Grammar — the gerund + routine verbs + frequency | 7 min |
| 4 | Cards — flashcards, multiple choice, typing | 9 min |
| 5 | Dialogue — a phone call ("O que você está fazendo?") | 3 min |
| 6 | Summary — the cheat-sheet | 1 min |
| 7 | Test — 30 questions in 3 categories | 8 min |
| 8 | Results — then: the Revisão A1 exam awaits | 1 min |
Step 1 · Warm-up — Lessons 6 & 7
Possessives and irregular pasts — the exam will lean on both.
Step 2 · 46 new words + 8 new verbs
Everything your daily routine needs — meals, places, and how often.
The daily routine 🌅
How often & how fast ⏱
Story words 📖 — every one of these turns up in this lição’s história
Don’t drill these like the lists above. Read them once, then meet them again in the story — that second meeting is what makes them stick.
New verbs (routine verbs)
| acordar | to wake up (regular -ar) | |
| tomar | to take / drink — tomar banho, tomar café (regular -ar) | |
| almoçar | to have lunch (regular -ar) | |
| jantar | to have dinner (regular -ar) | |
| chegar | to arrive (regular -ar) | |
| voltar | to return (regular -ar) | |
| dormir | to sleep — ⚠ eu durmo, dorme, dormimos, dormem | |
| sair | to leave / go out — ⚠ eu saio, sai, saímos, saem |
Step 3 · Right now, every day
The present continuous, the verbs of daily routine, reflexive verbs, and how often you do things.
1 · estar + gerund — what is happening RIGHT NOW
English "-ing" = Portuguese gerund: estar + verb stem + -ando (-ar) / -endo (-er) / -indo (-ir). Estou falando = I am speaking. Zero exceptions — the most regular grammar in the language, and Brazilians use it constantly.
| Estou trabalhando agora. | -ar → -ando |
| Ela está comendo. | -er → -endo |
| Eles estão dormindo? Não, estão saindo! | -ir → -indo |
2 · Routine verbs — and their two famous quirks
The daily-life verbs: acordar (wake), tomar (take a shower/drink coffee!), almoçar (lunch), jantar (dinner), chegar (arrive), voltar (return). Two hide irregular eu-forms: dormir → eu durmo and sair → eu saio.
| Eu acordo às sete e tomo banho. | tomar banho = shower! |
| Eu durmo pouco — só seis horas. | dormir → durmo ⚠ |
| Eu saio de casa às oito. | sair → saio ⚠ |
3 · Frequency — how often, and where the word goes
sempre (always) · todo dia (every day) · geralmente (usually) · às vezes (sometimes) · nunca (never). Placement is relaxed — before the verb (sempre como) or at the ends. Nunca replaces não: nunca bebo, no double negative needed.
| Eu sempre tomo café de manhã. | sempre before the verb |
| Às vezes a gente janta fora. | às vezes starts the sentence fine |
| Eu nunca trabalho no domingo. | nunca = never (no não needed) |
4 · Reflexive verbs — me levanto, se chama
Some routine actions point back at YOU — getting (yourself) up, dressing (yourself). Portuguese marks this with a small pronoun before the verb: me (eu), se (você/ele/ela + vocês/eles), nos (nós). You already know the most famous one without noticing: Como você se chama?
| Eu me levanto às sete. | me + levantar |
| Eu me chamo Rafael. | chamar-se = to be called |
| Ela se sente bem hoje. | sentir-se = to feel |
| Nós nos deitamos tarde no sábado. | nos + deitar |
| Ele se veste rápido. | vestir-se = to get dressed |
5 · The classic slips of Lesson 8
| ❌ Estou trabalho agora | ✅ Estou trabalhando agora — estar + GERUND, never estar + conjugated verb |
| ❌ Eu dormo | ✅ Eu durmo — dormir hides a u in the eu-form |
| ❌ Eu levanto me cedo | ✅ Eu me levanto cedo — the pronoun comes BEFORE the verb |
| ❌ Estou comendo todo dia | ✅ Como todo dia — habits use the simple present; estar + -ndo is only for RIGHT NOW |
Step 4 · Cards — the repetition engine
Three rounds. Cards you miss come back until you get them.
Round 1 · Flashcards
Step 5 · The phone call
"Alô! O que você está fazendo?" — the most common phone opener in Brazil.
Did you understand?
🎤 Fala você! — now YOU speak
The step that turns knowledge into conversation. Answer each prompt out loud, in a full sentence — imperfect is fine, silent is not. Then open the model answer, compare, and say the model out loud too.
Show a model answer
Eu acordo às sete e tomo café. Depois trabalho até as seis.
I wake up at seven and have coffee. Then I work until six.
Show a model answer
Agora eu estou estudando português.
Right now I am studying Portuguese.
Show a model answer
Ele está dormindo.
He is sleeping.
Show a model answer
Geralmente eu durmo tarde.
I usually sleep late.
Step 6 · Resumo — Lesson 8 on one page
Your cheat-sheet — the last one of A1. (Ctrl+P saves it as PDF.)
📐 New grammar
| Gerund | -ando / -endo / -indo — zero exceptions, even fazer → fazendo, ir → indo |
| Present continuous | estar + gerund: estou trabalhando (right now) vs eu trabalho (in general) |
| Irregular "eu" forms | dormir → durmo · sair → saio (rest of the conjugation regular) |
| Frequency | sempre · todo dia · geralmente · às vezes · nunca |
🔧 New verbs (8)
| Verb | eu | você/ele/ela | nós | eles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| acordar (wake up) | acordo | acorda | acordamos | acordam |
| tomar (take/drink) | tomo | toma | tomamos | tomam |
| almoçar (lunch) | almoço | almoça | almoçamos | almoçam |
| jantar (dinner) | janto | janta | jantamos | jantam |
| chegar (arrive) | chego | chega | chegamos | chegam |
| voltar (return) | volto | volta | voltamos | voltam |
| dormir (sleep) ⚠ | durmo | dorme | dormimos | dormem |
| sair (leave) ⚠ | saio | sai | saímos | saem |
💬 New words (14)
Step 7 · Final test — the last A1 lesson test
Gerund, routine verbs, and comebacks from Lessons 6–7. Pass this, then it's exam time.
Step 8 · Your results — A1 lessons complete! 🎉
That was the last A1 lesson. One thing left: the Revisão A1 — the full recap and the final exam. The "Next lesson" button after your test takes you straight there.
Needs more repetition
- Complete the drills and test first.