Encontrar

Encontrar is a fully regular -ar verb that splits into two everyday meanings: to find (locate something, by searching or by chance) and to meet / run into (someone). Add the reflexive pronoun and encontrar-se com becomes "to meet up with" in the deliberate, scheduled sense. There are no irregular forms and no stem changes, so once you can conjugate it you can focus entirely on the meanings — which is where English speakers actually slip, because English keeps "find" and "meet" strictly apart while Portuguese lets one verb do both.

Why one verb covers "find" and "meet"

The unifying idea is coming upon someone or something. When you come upon an object, you "find" it; when you come upon a person, you "meet" or "run into" them. Portuguese sees both as the same event from the speaker's point of view, just with a different kind of object. English happens to lexicalize these separately ("find" vs. "meet"), but that's an accident of our vocabulary, not a deep distinction. Once you think of encontrar as "to come upon," both senses feel like one verb again — and the reflexive encontrar-se com ("to meet each other") naturally extends it to a planned, mutual encounter.

Presente do indicativo

Textbook-regular -ar conjugation: stem encontr- plus standard endings.

Pretérito perfeito

The preterite is the form you'll use most for "ran into" or "found" — a completed event. The "run into someone" sense almost always shows up here.

Pretérito imperfeito

The -ar imperfect takes -ava endings. Use it for repeated past encounters: "we used to meet."

Futuro do presente & futuro do pretérito (conditional)

Both built on the full infinitive encontrar-.

In speech the simple future is normally replaced by ir + infinitive: vou encontrar. (informal)

Presente do subjuntivo

-ar verbs take -e endings in the present subjunctive.

Imperfeito & futuro do subjuntivo

Imperativo

Non-finite forms

The participle gives you the very useful adjective encontrado and the noun o encontro ("the meeting / encounter") — marcar um encontro is "to set up a date/meeting."

The meanings in detail

1. To find / locate (by search or by chance)

The direct-object sense. You find keys, an answer, an apartment, courage, a solution.

2. To meet / run into someone (often by chance)

Used with a person as object. Without the reflexive, it leans toward an unplanned encounter.

3. encontrar-se com — to meet up (arranged)

The reflexive shifts to a mutual, intentional meeting. Common in plans and invitations.

encontrar-se (no object) — to be located / to feel

Reflexive without com can mean "to be located" (formal) or, figuratively, "to feel": encontrar-se bem = "to be feeling well." (formal)

Encontrar vs. achar vs. procurar

This trio trips up English speakers. Procurar is "to look for" (the search). Encontrar is "to find" (the success). Achar also means "to find," but in Brazil it's overwhelmingly used for "to think / to have an opinion" (Eu acho que sim = "I think so"). For physically locating something, both encontrar and achar work — Você achou as chaves? and Você encontrou as chaves? are both natural — but for opinions only achar works, and for the search itself only procurar.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Encontrar is a fully regular -ar verb — no stem changes, no irregular forms.
• Plain encontrar = find / run into (often by chance); reflexive encontrar-se com = meet up (planned).
• For "look for" use procurar; for opinions use achar, not encontrar.
• Don't calque English "can't find" with poder — Portuguese just says não encontro.
• The noun o encontro ("meeting / date") and marcar um encontro ("set up a meeting") are everyday vocabulary.