Modals and verbs that need a preposition

The highest-leverage chapter in the handbook. A modal plus an infinitive lets you say hundreds of things while conjugating almost nothing — you conjugate the modal and leave the second verb in its dictionary form.

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Grammar

1. The pattern

conjugated modal + infinitive

Eu posso ajudar. I can help. Você quer comer? Do you want to eat? A gente precisa de ajuda. We need help. Eu vou pagar. I'm going to pay.

The second verb never changes. ajudar, comer, pagar stay exactly as they appear in chapter 02.

2. The modals

Respellings: posso PAW-soo · pode PAW-jee · quero KEH-roo · quer kehr · preciso preh-SEE-zoo · tenho que TEH-nyoo kee · devo DEH-voo

3. The three that carry a preposition

This is the part English speakers drop, every time.

Exception worth knowing: when precisar is followed by a verb, the de is optional and usually dropped in speech.

• Preciso **de** ajuda — noun, de required
• Preciso ajudar / Preciso **de** ajudar — verb, either works; the first is more common

gostar always keeps de, verb or noun: Gosto **de** comer.

And remember de contracts (ch. 06): Gosto **do** café, Preciso **da** chave.

4. poder — can, may, and permission

poder covers ability and permission, exactly like English can.

• Eu posso ajudar — ability
• Posso pagar aqui? — permission
• Você pode abrir? — request

Posso…? is the standard way to ask permission for anything.

5. ter que vs dever vs precisar

ter que is by far the most common. dever is less used in Brazilian speech than should is in English — Brazilians often use acho que você deveria or just rephrase.

6. dá pra — the impersonal "can"

Extremely common Brazilian idiom, no exact English equivalent:

dá pra + infinitive = is it possible to / can one

Literally it gives for — dá is the third person of dar (to give) and pra is para (for). The phrase has no subject at all, which is why it works for "can anyone / is it possible".

• Dá pra pagar com cartão? — Can I pay by card?
• Dá pra ajudar? — Can you help?
• Não dá — It's not possible / it won't work
• Dá sim — Yes, that works

Não dá on its own is how Brazilians say no, can't be done. Learn it as a fixed phrase.

7. Verbs that need a preposition — the full core list

Beyond the modals, these core verbs carry a preposition that English does not:

chegar em is the big one. English says arrive at; Portuguese says chegar em — literally arrive in. Cheguei no aeroporto, not cheguei ao (which is formal but correct).

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Examples

poder

querer

precisar de

ter que

gostar de

dá pra

saber + infinitive — know how to

Stacking two modals

Perfectly normal, and very useful:

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What to take from this chapter

1. Conjugate the modal; leave the second verb as the infinitive from chapter 02.
2. gostar **de**, precisar **de**, ter **que**. Never drop the preposition.
3. de contracts with the article: gosto **do** café, preciso **da** chave.
4. Posso…? asks permission for anything. Você pode…? asks anyone for anything.
5. Dá pra…? and Não dá are the two most useful idioms in this chapter.
6. chegar **em**, not chegar a.