Caber (To Fit) — Full Conjugation

Caber means to fit — as in there's room for something in a space, or figuratively, to be one's responsibility. It is a highly irregular verb that pattern-partners with saber in two distinctive ways: both have an irregular present-subjunctive stem in -aib- (caiba, saiba), and both have strong preterites with the distinctive vowel change -oub- (coube, soube). Caber adds its own quirk on top — the 1sg present caibo (unlike saber's suppletive sei). Because caber is so irregular, it must be memorized form by form; guessing from the infinitive will usually give you the wrong answer.

This page gives you every conjugated form of caber, organized tense by tense, and shows you exactly where the irregularities cluster.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Note the first-person singular caibo (NOT cabo). This is the most notorious irregularity of the verb and the one learners most often get wrong.

The 1sg caibo is a relic of Latin capio; in other Romance languages this first-person often extends to other forms (compare Spanish quepo / quepa), but in Portuguese it is limited to the 1sg and seeds the subjunctive stem (caiba).

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

The imperfect is perfectly regular. Use it for past habits, descriptions, and ongoing past actions. O armário antigo cabia na sala pequena = the old wardrobe used to fit in the small living room.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

The preterite is strong and wholly irregular. The stem is coub-, and the endings are the shared "strong preterite" endings used by saber (soube), haver (houve), poder (pude), pôr (pus), querer (quis), fazer (fiz), dizer (disse), trazer (trouxe), and a few others.

Note the characteristic unstressed endings in the 1sg and 3sg (coube, with no accent, stressed on cou-): compare with saber → soube, soube.

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

Built on the preterite stem coub- plus regular pluperfect endings. Literary/formal.

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

The everyday way to say had fit. Formed with the imperfect of ter plus the (regular) past participle cabido.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Describes an action that has been happening repeatedly or continuously up to now. Ultimamente, nem tudo tem cabido na mala = lately, not everything has been fitting in the suitcase.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

The future is regular (built on the infinitive caber + endings).

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Formed with the future of ter plus cabido.

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

The conditional is regular, built on the infinitive.

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Formed with the conditional of ter plus cabido.

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Built on the 1sg present stem caib- (not on the infinitive). This is why the present subjunctive is caiba, not caba.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Built on the preterite stem coub-.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Built on the preterite stem coub-.

Note: for irregular verbs like caber, the future subjunctive and the personal infinitive are different (the personal infinitive is built on the infinitive: caber, caberes, caber, cabermos, caberem). This is a key point for B1+ learners.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Formed with the present subjunctive of ter plus cabido.

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Formed with the imperfect subjunctive of ter plus cabido.

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Formed with the future subjunctive of ter plus cabido.

Imperative — imperativo

The imperative of caber is rarely used — one does not usually order something "to fit!" — but it exists. Built on the subjunctive stem caib-.

Affirmative:

Negative:

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Built on the infinitive (not on the preterite stem). Crucially, this is different from the future subjunctive, which is built on coub-.

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Common uses and collocations

Caber has two main senses, and both are very common in everyday European Portuguese:

1. Physical fitting: caber em

Cabe = there is room for. The object that fits is the subject of the verb; the container takes the preposition em.

• caber em — to fit inside
• não caber por — to not fit through (an opening)
• caber na mala / no carro / na gaveta — to fit in the suitcase / car / drawer

2. Metaphorical: caber a alguém (to fall to someone)

Cabe-me = it's up to me, it falls to me. Here caber takes an indirect object (usually a clitic: me, te, lhe, nos, vos, lhes).

• caber a alguém + infinitive — to be someone's responsibility / duty to do something
• não me cabe a mim decidir — it's not my place to decide
• coube-lhe organizar o evento — it fell to him to organize the event

3. Idiomatic: não caber em si de alegria

Não caber em si — literally "not to fit inside oneself" — means to be bursting with some strong emotion, usually joy. Não cabia em si de alegria = he was beside himself with joy.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Caber is highly irregular. Three things to memorize: (1) the 1sg present caibo, (2) the strong preterite stem coub- (coube, coubeste, coube, coubemos, couberam), (3) the subjunctive stems caib- (present) and coub- (imperfect and future).
• The past participle cabido is regular and causes no trouble.
• For irregular verbs like caber, the future subjunctive (built on coub-: couber, couberes, couber, coubermos, couberem) and the personal infinitive (built on the infinitive: caber, caberes, caber, cabermos, caberem) are different. For regular verbs these two tenses look identical.
• Two main senses: (1) physical — caber em (fit inside), and (2) metaphorical — caber a alguém (to be someone's responsibility).
• Não caber em si de alegria is a fixed idiomatic expression meaning to be overjoyed.
• Caber pattern-partners with saber: both have irregular present-subjunctive stems in -aib- (caiba, saiba), both have strong preterites in -oub- (coube, soube), and both build their subjunctives on a stem that differs from the infinitive.