Contar (To Count/Tell) — Full Conjugation

Contar is one of those small Portuguese verbs that carries a surprising amount of meaning. Its core translations are to count (a number of things) and to tell / to recount (a story, a joke, a secret), but it also lives inside a family of useful expressions: contar com alguém (to rely on someone), contar a alguém (to tell someone something), contar como X (to count as X). The verb itself is fully regular in its conjugation — a typical first-conjugation (-ar) verb — but the range of meanings and constructions is where learners stumble.

This page lays out every conjugated form and then walks through the two main senses and the most frequent collocations.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Note the 1pl contámos, which in European Portuguese carries an acute on the á to distinguish the preterite from the present indicative contamos. This is a systematic feature of first-conjugation verbs in EP, preserved after the 1990 spelling reform in Portugal but optional or absent in Brazilian Portuguese.

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

A literary, synthetic form of had counted/told. Rare in everyday speech.

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

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Used after se, quando, enquanto for future possibilities. Se me contares um segredo, eu guardo-o. = If you tell me a secret, I'll keep it.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

Affirmative:

Negative (identical to the present subjunctive with não):

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

The two meanings of contar

1. To count (numerically) — count items, enumerate, reach a number.

• contar até dez — to count to ten
• contar os dias — to count the days
• contar as pessoas na sala — to count the people in the room

2. To tell / to recount — narrate a story, report an event, share information.

• contar uma história — to tell a story
• contar uma piada — to tell a joke
• contar uma anedota — to tell an anecdote / joke
• contar um segredo — to tell a secret
• contar o que se passou — to say what happened

When used in the tell sense, contar often takes an indirect object introduced by a: contar a alguém (tell someone). Ele contou-me tudo. = He told me everything.

Key collocations

• contar com alguém / algo — to rely on, to count on — Contamos contigo! (We're counting on you!)
• contar a alguém — to tell someone — Contei tudo à minha mãe.
• contar como X — to count as X — Isto conta como experiência profissional.
• contar os trocos — to count the change
• contar histórias — to tell stories (also figurative: to make up stories)
• conta-se que... — it is said / rumored that...
• sem contar (com) — not counting, excluding — Éramos dez, sem contar com as crianças.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Contar is a fully regular -ar verb, but the 1pl preterite contámos takes an acute in European Portuguese — do not confuse it with the present contamos.
• It has two main meanings — count (numerically) and tell (narrate) — and the context usually makes clear which applies.
• In the tell sense, the person you tell is an indirect object: contar a alguém / contar-lhe.
• Contar com means to rely on / count on — the only productive idiom with com.
• The tu affirmative imperative is conta; the negative switches to subjunctive não contes.
• European Portuguese prefers contar algo a alguém over contar sobre algo (the latter is Brazilian or calqued from English).