Análise da diversidade de verbos enunciados na fala espontanea de pré-escolares brasileiros

background: verb acquisition. aim: to verify quantitative and qualitative verb diversity in the spontaneous speech of brazilian portuguese-speaking preschoolers and verb acquisition from 2 to 4 years of age. method: participants were sixty preschoolers equally matched on gender and age, divided into three groups: gi (2-year-old children), gii (3-year-old children) and giii (4-year-old children). spontaneous speech samples obtained through playing interactions, in educational contexts, were collected, and verb productions were listed. results: children used 167 different verbs. the quantitative analysis indicated significant statistical differences between all groups (p< .001), with gradual increase of verb usage from 2 to 4 years of age. however, no statistical difference (p= .956) was observed between genders. conclusion: preschoolers improved their use of verbs during the initial stages of language acquisition, irrespective of their gender.