Verbs: the good news

99.9% of verbs in Portuguese are regular. This means that they conform to one of three standard formulas: the "AR" verbs the "ER" verbs and the "IR" verbs (so called because this is how the base form - the infinitive - ends. Eg falar (to speak) comer (to eat) and abrir (to open). So once you've learnt the formula for these standard verbs you can confidently use the thousands of other ones that are exactly the same. And don't worry that there are three standard formulas. There's not much difference between them!