Tocar (To Touch/Play) — Full Conjugation

Tocar is one of those pleasantly versatile verbs that covers a remarkable range of English meanings: to touch, to play (a musical instrument or a recorded piece of music), to ring (a bell, a phone), to touch on (a subject), and — in a set of idioms — to be someone's turn. Phonetically, it follows all the regular endings of the first conjugation (-ar), but it has one spelling quirk you must memorize: whenever the ending would begin with e, the c of the stem changes to qu to preserve the "k" sound. So tocou but toquei; tocamos but toque.

This page gives you every conjugated form of tocar, notes on the spelling rule, and the idiomatic patterns (tocar piano, tocar à campainha, toca-te a ti) that distinguish natural from textbook Portuguese.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Standard -ar endings. No spelling change here because none of the endings begin with e.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Past habits and background descriptions. O meu avô tocava violino todos os domingos. = My grandfather used to play the violin every Sunday.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Here is where the spelling change appears — the first-person singular takes the ending -ei, which begins with e, so c becomes qu: toquei, not tocei. Note also the European Portuguese first-person plural tocámos (with acute accent), which distinguishes the preterite from the present tocamos.

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

The simple pluperfect is a literary/formal form. It keeps c before a, so no spelling change.

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

Everyday past-of-past: had touched / had played. Formed with the imperfect of ter plus tocado.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Describes an action that has been recurring or ongoing up to now. Tenho tocado menos guitarra este mês. = I've been playing less guitar this month.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

No spelling change — endings begin with a, e, ã, and the stem toca- is preserved.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Will have played / touched. Formed with the future of ter plus tocado.

Conditional — condicional

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

All six forms show c→qu because every present-subjunctive ending for an -ar verb begins with e. This is the tense where the spelling rule hits hardest.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

No spelling change — endings begin with -a.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

No spelling change — the endings begin with consonants or -e preceded by -r-, so the c sits before -a in the stem.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

The tu affirmative has toca (no spelling change, from the present indicative tocas minus the -s). All other imperative forms are drawn from the present subjunctive, so they all show qu.

Affirmative:

Negative (identical to the present subjunctive with não):

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Identical in form to the future subjunctive (for a regular -ar verb).

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Usage patterns

Tocar covers several distinct meanings that English separates into different verbs. The grammatical frame tells you which meaning is active.

1. Tocar = to touch (physical contact)

Transitive or followed by em for a lighter, "brush against" sense:

2. Tocar + instrument = to play music — NO ARTICLE

For musical instruments, European Portuguese uses tocar with no article. Toco guitarra, not toco a guitarra. The article appears only when the instrument is specified or definite: tocar a guitarra nova (to play the new guitar).

For playing a piece of music (a specific song or recording), use tocar transitively with an article:

3. Tocar = to ring (bell, phone, alarm)

Used both transitively (someone rings something) and intransitively (something rings). Note especially tocar à campainha — the fixed expression for "ring the doorbell," always with à (a + a).

4. Tocar em = to touch on a subject

5. Tocar a alguém = it is someone's turn / it falls to someone

A very common idiomatic construction where tocar takes an indirect object. The subject is often a vez (the turn) or the thing being assigned, and it "touches" the person to whom it falls.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Tocar is phonetically regular but shows the orthographic change c→qu whenever the ending begins with e — most visibly in toquei (preterite, 1sg) and throughout the present subjunctive and affirmative você/nós/vocês imperatives.
• In European Portuguese, the preterite first-person plural takes an acute accent: tocámos (preterite) vs tocamos (present).
• With instruments, use tocar without a definite article: tocar piano, tocar guitarra, tocar violino.
• Tocar à campainha is the fixed expression for ringing a doorbell — always with à.
• The construction tocar a alguém + infinitive means "to be someone's turn to do something": toca-te a ti fazer o jantar.
• Other common -car verbs follow the same orthographic pattern: ficar → fiquei, buscar → busquei, explicar → expliquei.