Acreditar

Acreditar is a Portuguese verb meaning to believe that something is true, to accept as fact, or to have confidence in a person, idea, or proposition. It is used with the preposition em to express belief in someone or something (acredito em você; acreditam nele) and with que to introduce a clause (acredito que ele virá). The sense can also extend to trust or faith, including in religious or moral contexts.

As a regular -ar verb, acreditar follows standard conjugation patterns. In the present indicative: eu acredito, tu acreditas, ele acredita, nós acreditamos, vocês acreditam. Other tenses are formed regularly, such as eu acreditei (past), que eu acredite (present subjunctive). The verb is common in everyday speech and allows nuance between certainty, doubt, or supposition depending on the construction and tense used.

Etymology and related terms: acreditar derives from Latin credere, via a- + credere, and is cognate with the Spanish creer and other Romance languages. It is commonly distinguished from the verb acreditar, which, in some contexts, can mean to attribute credit or to attest something, especially in financial or formal settings. In ordinary use, acreditar and crer (another Portuguese verb meaning to believe) are often interchangeable in everyday speech, though crer tends to appear in different regional varieties or registers.