Colocar means to put or to place, and in much of Brazil it is the default everyday verb for this — more common in casual speech than its older, irregular cousin pôr. Where a European speaker might say pôr a mesa, a Brazilian will often say colocar a mesa (or botar, in very informal registers). The grammar is regular -ar, with one orthographic wrinkle: c before e would soften to an /s/ sound, so Portuguese writes qu to keep the hard /k/. That gives you the preterite coloquei ("I put") and the whole present subjunctive coloque, coloques, coloque.... Otherwise it conjugates like any -ar verb.
colocar vs pôr vs botar
All three mean "to put/place." They differ by register and frequency:
- colocar — neutral, the safe everyday choice across Brazil; works in speech and writing.
- pôr — shorter, irregular, slightly more formal or literary in BR, though still common in fixed expressions (pôr a mesa, pôr fim a). See pôr.
- botar — (informal/colloquial) very common in casual speech, especially in Rio and the Northeast: bota aí, botar pra fora.
Coloca o leite na geladeira, por favor.
Put the milk in the fridge, please.
Onde foi que eu coloquei minhas chaves?
Where did I put my keys?
Pode colocar mais um lugar na mesa? Vem mais gente.
Could you set one more place at the table? More people are coming.
Extended uses
colocar uma roupa — to put on clothes (alongside vestir):
Coloca um casaco, tá frio lá fora.
Put on a jacket, it's cold outside.
colocar-se — to position oneself / to speak up, state one's view (slightly formal):
Ele se colocou contra a proposta na reunião.
He came out against the proposal in the meeting.
colocar (em prática, em dúvida, em risco) — fixed collocations: put into practice, call into question, put at risk:
Precisamos colocar o plano em prática logo.
We need to put the plan into practice soon.
Indicative tenses
Presente do indicativo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | coloco |
| tu | colocas |
| você / ele / ela | coloca |
| nós | colocamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocam |
No qu — every ending starts with o or a, so plain c keeps the hard sound.
Pretérito perfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | coloquei |
| tu | colocaste |
| você / ele / ela | colocou |
| nós | colocamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocaram |
coloquei is the only spelling-change form here — the -ei ending begins with e, forcing qu. The rest keep plain c.
Pretérito imperfeito
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | colocava |
| tu | colocavas |
| você / ele / ela | colocava |
| nós | colocávamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocavam |
The nós form colocávamos carries an acute accent. No qu.
Futuro do presente
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | colocarei |
| tu | colocarás |
| você / ele / ela | colocará |
| nós | colocaremos |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocarão |
No qu — the -ar- stem keeps c before a. In speech, vou colocar is the usual choice.
Futuro do pretérito (conditional)
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | colocaria |
| tu | colocarias |
| você / ele / ela | colocaria |
| nós | colocaríamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocariam |
Eu colocaria mais sal, mas é gosto.
I'd add more salt, but that's a matter of taste.
Subjunctive
Presente do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | coloque |
| tu | coloques |
| você / ele / ela | coloque |
| nós | coloquemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | coloquem |
The entire present subjunctive takes qu, because all endings begin with e. This is the densest cluster of the spelling change.
Quer que eu coloque legenda no vídeo?
Do you want me to add subtitles to the video?
Imperfeito do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | colocasse |
| tu | colocasses |
| você / ele / ela | colocasse |
| nós | colocássemos |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocassem |
No qu — endings start with a. The nós form colocássemos carries an acute accent.
Futuro do subjuntivo
| Pronoun | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | colocar |
| tu | colocares |
| você / ele / ela | colocar |
| nós | colocarmos |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocarem |
No qu. Contrast colocar (future subjunctive = infinitive) with coloque (present subjunctive).
Se você colocar açúcar demais, fica enjoativo.
If you put in too much sugar, it gets sickly sweet.
Imperative
| Pronoun | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tu | coloca | não coloques |
| você | coloque | não coloque |
| nós | coloquemos | não coloquemos |
| vocês | coloquem | não coloquem |
The affirmative tu coloca keeps plain c (ending in a); the negative tu não coloques and all você/nós/vocês forms come from the subjunctive and take qu.
Coloca aí na mesa que eu pego depois.
Just put it there on the table and I'll grab it later.
In casual speech, the tu form coloca is used as a general command even toward você subjects — Coloca a chave embaixo do tapete — and the contracted bota is heard even more.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Infinitivo pessoal — eu | colocar |
| Infinitivo pessoal — tu | colocares |
| Infinitivo pessoal — você/ele/ela | colocar |
| Infinitivo pessoal — nós | colocarmos |
| Infinitivo pessoal — vocês/eles/elas | colocarem |
| Gerúndio | colocando |
| Particípio | colocado |
Source-language note for English speakers
English "put" is a single irregular verb covering an enormous range (put it down, put it on, put up with). Portuguese spreads this load: literal placement is colocar / pôr / botar, "put on (clothes)" overlaps with vestir, and the phrasal-verb meanings need entirely different verbs (put up with = aguentar / suportar; put off = adiar). The good news is that colocar is fully regular, so once you handle the qu spelling change you don't face the irregular stem of pôr (ponho, pus, posto). For learners, leaning on colocar is a smart simplification: it sounds natural everywhere in Brazil and sidesteps one of the language's nastiest irregular paradigms.
Não consigo colocar essa ideia em palavras.
I can't put that idea into words.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu colocei o livro na estante.
Incorrect — needs the spelling change: c→qu before the -ei ending.
✅ Eu coloquei o livro na estante.
I put the book on the shelf.
❌ Quer que eu coloce a mesa?
Incorrect — the present subjunctive takes qu: coloque.
✅ Quer que eu coloque a mesa?
Do you want me to set the table?
❌ Coloca o casaco em você, tá frio.
Unnatural — for putting clothes on yourself you don't add 'em você'; just colocar (or vestir) the item.
✅ Coloca um casaco, tá frio.
Put on a jacket, it's cold.
❌ Nós colocavamos tudo no lugar errado.
Incorrect — missing the accent on the stressed vowel.
✅ Nós colocávamos tudo no lugar errado.
We used to put everything in the wrong place.
❌ Se você colocar isso, coloque com cuidado — wait, which is which?
Reminder — 'colocar' (future subjunctive, = infinitive) after 'se'; 'coloque' (present subjunctive) after 'que'.
✅ Se você colocar o vaso aqui, que ele fique firme.
If you put the vase here, make sure it's steady.
Key Takeaways
- colocar is the everyday, fully regular BR verb for "to put"; pôr is shorter but irregular, botar is informal.
- The c→qu spelling change appears only in coloquei (preterite eu) and the present subjunctive (coloque, coloquemos, coloquem) plus derived imperative/negative forms.
- Useful collocations: colocar em prática / em dúvida / em risco, se colocar (state one's view).
- Leaning on colocar lets you avoid the irregular paradigm of pôr while sounding completely natural.
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