acordam

Acordam is the third-person plural present indicative form of the Portuguese verb acordar. The root verb has two main senses in contemporary usage: to wake up and to reach or stipulate an agreement. The intended meaning is determined by context, intonation, and surrounding words.

In the most common sense, acordam denotes waking up. Example: Eles acordam cedo todos os dias. This usage appears across Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese and can be extended to related tenses and constructions (for instance, acordaram in the preterite).

In a formal or contractual context, acordam can mean that the parties arrive at or decide on an agreement. Example: As partes acordam um novo contrato. This sense is frequent in negotiations, law, and business discourse, where acordar is used to express the act of agreeing or settling terms.

Pronunciation and morphology notes: acordam follows regular Portuguese conjugation patterns. Other present-tense forms include eu acordo, tu acordas, ele acorda, nós acordamos, vós acordais, eles acordam. The gerund is acordando, and the past participle is acordado.

See also: acordar, acordo. Related concepts include the act of waking up and the process of reaching an agreement, which are distinct yet share the same verb root.