Adiantar vs. Antecipar: Move Something Earlier in Portuguese — Practice

Use adiantar for moving an appointment or making progress

Adiantar can mean to move something earlier, such as a meeting, appointment, or task. In conversation, you may also hear adiantar in the sense of making progress or helping a situation: isso não adianta means that it does not help or make a difference.

When you propose a new time, name the event and the earlier time so the other person can confirm the change.

Use antecipar for bringing forward or doing something in advance

Antecipar also means to bring an event forward or do something ahead of its expected time. It often appears in planned, administrative, or formal contexts, though it is also used in ordinary Brazilian Portuguese.

The verbs can overlap when you change a scheduled time. Antecipar may also describe expecting or foreseeing an outcome, so read the rest of the sentence for the intended meaning.

Remember: Use adiantar for everyday schedule changes and for the common phrase isso não adianta. Antecipar also means bringing something forward and can mean doing it in advance or foreseeing it.

Check your understanding

Choose the English meaning of each Portuguese example. Answer before looking back at the tables. These questions check the written examples in this guide; they are not a listening or proficiency test.

Recall the Portuguese, then say it

Read the English prompt and say a Portuguese version before opening the answer. The answer shows the example from the lesson; other natural translations may also work. Compare the meaning and the situation rather than counting a different word as automatically wrong.

1. Can we move the meeting up to ten?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Dá para adiantar a reunião para as dez?

2. I got the work done earlier / made progress before lunch.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Adiantei o trabalho antes do almoço.

3. Arguing now won’t help.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Discutir agora não vai adiantar.

4. The appointment was moved up to Thursday.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   A consulta foi antecipada para quinta-feira.

5. We’re going to buy the tickets in advance.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Vamos antecipar a compra dos ingressos.

6. We can’t predict the outcome.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Não dá para antecipar o resultado.

Make the phrase useful to you

Choose one example you could actually use. Say it once from memory, then change one detail that fits your life, such as the person, place, time, or object. Check whether your change also needs a different verb form, article, or adjective ending. If it does, compare it with the pattern in the explanation.

Use adiantar for everyday schedule changes and for the common phrase isso não adianta. Antecipar also means bringing something forward and can mean doing it in advance or foreseeing it.

Return to two prompts tomorrow without opening the answers first. If a phrase still feels difficult, shorten it to a useful chunk and build the complete sentence again.

Sources and your next lesson

This I Speak Portuguese practice guide builds on our Adiantar vs. Antecipar: Move Something Earlier in Portuguese lesson on Real Life Portuguese, with written recall tasks and additional speaking practice. The explanations and examples are teaching material; the practice questions are exercises, not a transcript of a recording.

To add Brazilian audio to your routine, choose a lesson in the Real Life Portuguese app. The app offers its own lessons and practice; this page does not imply that every example here has an app recording.