Contar is two verbs in one. It means both "to count" (numbers, items, money) and "to tell" (a story, a joke, what happened). Spanish keeps them under one roof because the historical sense — "to give an account of" — covers both. Contar is also a flagship o>ue stem-changing verb: when stress falls on the root vowel o, it diphthongizes to ue (cuento, cuentas, cuenta, cuentan). Stress on the ending leaves the o alone (contamos, contáis). Master this verb and you have the template for dozens more: encontrar, mostrar, recordar, costar, soñar, volar, acordarse, almorzar.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | contar | to count, to tell |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber contado | to have counted / told |
| Gerundio | contando | counting, telling |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo contado | having counted / told |
| Participio | contado (regular) | counted, told |
Both gerundio and participle are unstressed on the root, so neither shows the diphthong. Contando, contado — plain o throughout.
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente — the diphthong boot
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cuento | cuentas | cuenta | contamos | contáis | cuentan |
The classic boot pattern: four forms with ue surround two without. The nosotros / vosotros slot keeps the unstressed o because the stress shifts onto the ending: con-*tá-mos, con-táis*. Sketch the table on paper and the L-shape of the diphthong forms genuinely looks like a boot.
Cuento contigo para la mudanza del sábado, ¿eh?
I'm counting on you for the move on Saturday, alright?
Mi abuela siempre nos cuenta la misma historia de cuando vivía en el pueblo.
My grandma always tells us the same story about when she lived in the village.
Contamos hasta diez y abrimos los regalos.
We'll count to ten and then open the presents.
Pretérito perfecto simple — no stem change
The preterite of -ar stem-changing verbs never shows the diphthong. Stress lands on the ending throughout, so the o stays flat.
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| conté | contaste | contó | contamos | contasteis | contaron |
Note that contamos is identical in present and preterite — only context (ayer, esta mañana, todos los días) tells you which one is meant.
Mi hijo me contó ayer que quiere apuntarse a clases de teatro.
My son told me yesterday that he wants to sign up for theatre classes.
Pretérito imperfecto — no stem change
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| contaba | contabas | contaba | contábamos | contabais | contaban |
The imperfect is the natural tense for habitual storytelling — "she used to tell us..." — which is why you'll hear contaba in childhood reminiscences constantly.
De pequeños, mi padre nos contaba un cuento cada noche antes de dormir.
When we were little, my father would tell us a story every night before bed.
Futuro simple — no stem change
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| contaré | contarás | contará | contaremos | contaréis | contarán |
Ya te contaré todo cuando nos veamos el viernes.
I'll tell you everything when we see each other on Friday.
Condicional — no stem change
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| contaría | contarías | contaría | contaríamos | contaríais | contarían |
Yo no le contaría nada hasta estar seguro.
I wouldn't tell him anything until I was sure.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses use haber with the regular participle contado.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he contado | has contado | ha contado | hemos contado | habéis contado | han contado |
Esta mañana me he contado tres canas más en la barba.
This morning I counted three more grey hairs in my beard.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había contado | habías contado | había contado | habíamos contado | habíais contado | habían contado |
No sabía nada porque nadie me había contado lo de la boda.
I didn't know a thing because nobody had told me about the wedding.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré contado | habrás contado | habrá contado | habremos contado | habréis contado | habrán contado |
Para entonces ya os habré contado cómo acaba la historia.
By then I'll have told you all how the story ends.
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría contado | habrías contado | habría contado | habríamos contado | habríais contado | habrían contado |
Te lo habría contado antes, pero no encontré el momento.
I would have told you sooner, but I never found the right moment.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo — the boot returns
Same boot logic as the indicative: diphthong wherever the root carries the stress.
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cuente | cuentes | cuente | contemos | contéis | cuenten |
Espero que me lo cuentes todo cuando vuelvas del viaje.
I hope you tell me everything when you get back from the trip.
No le digas que cuente conmigo — todavía no lo tengo claro.
Don't tell him to count on me — I'm not sure yet.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se) — no stem change
Built from the 3rd-plural preterite stem (contaron → conta-), which already lacks the diphthong.
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | contara | contaras | contara | contáramos | contarais | contaran |
| -se | contase | contases | contase | contásemos | contaseis | contasen |
The -ra set is the everyday form in Spain; the -se set is reserved for formal or literary writing.
Si me contaras la verdad de una vez, podríamos arreglarlo.
If you'd just tell me the truth for once, we could fix it.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya contado | hayas contado | haya contado | hayamos contado | hayáis contado | hayan contado |
Me extraña que no te lo hayan contado todavía.
I'm surprised they haven't told you yet.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera contado | hubieras contado | hubiera contado | hubiéramos contado | hubierais contado | hubieran contado |
| -se | hubiese contado | hubieses contado | hubiese contado | hubiésemos contado | hubieseis contado | hubiesen contado |
Si me lo hubieras contado antes, no habría metido la pata.
If you'd told me earlier, I wouldn't have put my foot in it.
Imperative
The imperative follows the same boot logic: diphthong in tú, usted, ustedes, plain o in vosotros (where stress lies on the ending) and nosotros (the let's-form).
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | cuenta | no cuentes |
| usted | cuente | no cuente |
| nosotros | contemos | no contemos |
| vosotros | contad | no contéis |
| ustedes | cuenten | no cuenten |
Cuenta conmigo para lo que necesites.
Count on me for whatever you need.
Cuéntamelo despacio, que no me entero.
Tell me slowly — I'm not following.
Contadnos cómo os fue el viaje.
(You all) tell us how your trip went.
When pronouns attach to the affirmative imperative, write them as one word with a written accent on the original stress: cuéntalo, cuéntamelo, cuéntaselo, contádnoslo.
Two meanings, two complement patterns
This is where contar trips learners up. The two senses take different complements, and in real conversation the meaning is determined by what comes after the verb.
Contar = to count (numbers)
Takes a direct object that's countable, or an adverbial expression (hasta cien, de uno en uno).
¿Te importaría contar las copas? No me fío de mi memoria.
Would you mind counting the glasses? I don't trust my memory.
Conté los billetes dos veces y faltaban veinte euros.
I counted the bills twice and twenty euros were missing.
Contar = to tell
Takes an indirect object (the person you tell) and a direct object (what you tell).
Te voy a contar un secreto, pero no se lo digas a nadie.
I'm going to tell you a secret, but don't tell anyone.
¡Cuéntame, cuéntame! ¿Qué tal la primera cita?
Tell me, tell me! How did the first date go?
Contar con = to count on, to rely on
This is one of the most common collocations in spoken Spanish. It can mean "rely on someone," "have something available," or "expect / take into account."
No cuentes conmigo para eso, prefiero quedarme en casa.
Don't count on me for that — I'd rather stay home.
El piso cuenta con tres habitaciones y dos baños.
The flat has (literally: counts with) three bedrooms and two bathrooms. (estate-agent register)
No contaba con que llegaras tan pronto.
I wasn't counting on you arriving so early.
Other o>ue verbs that work the same way
| Verb | Meaning | 1st person present |
|---|---|---|
| encontrar | to find | encuentro |
| mostrar | to show | muestro |
| recordar | to remember | recuerdo |
| costar | to cost | cuesta (mostly 3rd-person) |
| soñar | to dream | sueño |
| volar | to fly | vuelo |
| almorzar | to have lunch | almuerzo |
| acordarse (de) | to remember | me acuerdo |
| probar | to try, taste | pruebo |
| rogar | to beg | ruego (formal) |
High-frequency collocations from peninsular Spanish
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| contar con alguien / algo | to count on / rely on someone / something |
| contar un chiste | to tell a joke |
| contar un cuento | to tell a story / a fairy tale |
| contar batallitas (informal) | to ramble on about the old days |
| contar las ovejas | to count sheep (to fall asleep) |
| ¿qué me cuentas? (informal) | what's up? / what's new? (Spain greeting) |
| a contar desde… | starting (counting) from… |
| sin contar (que) | not counting (that), let alone |
Mi abuelo se pone a contar batallitas y no para hasta los postres.
My granddad starts rambling on about the old days and doesn't stop until dessert.
¡Hombre, cuánto tiempo! ¿Qué me cuentas?
Hey, long time no see! What's new? (very common Spain greeting)
El alquiler son ochocientos, sin contar gastos.
The rent is eight hundred, not counting bills.
The classic English-speaker error
English uses tell in ways Spanish splits between contar and decir. The rule of thumb: decir is for transmitting words or short statements ("he told me his name, she told me to leave"); contar is for relating an account — a story, a piece of news, how something happened.
✅ Me dijo que viniera a las ocho.
He told me to come at eight. (instruction → decir)
✅ Me contó toda la historia de su viaje a Japón.
He told me the whole story of his trip to Japan. (extended narrative → contar)
❌ Me contó que viniera a las ocho.
Sounds wrong — for a short imperative report, Spain uses *decir*.
A useful test: if "tell" could be replaced by "narrate" or "relate," use contar. If "tell" could be replaced by "say to," use decir.
Common Mistakes
❌ Nosotros contemos hasta cien.
The *nosotros* present indicative is *contamos*, not *contemos*. *Contemos* is the subjunctive / let's-form.
✅ Nosotros contamos hasta cien. / Contemos hasta cien.
We count to a hundred. / Let's count to a hundred.
❌ Ayer él cuentó lo que pasó.
The preterite has no diphthong — it's *contó*, not *cuentó*.
✅ Ayer él contó lo que pasó.
Yesterday he told what happened.
❌ Cuento en ti.
*Contar* uses *con*, not *en*. The correct preposition is non-negotiable.
✅ Cuento contigo.
I'm counting on you. (Spain uses the merged form *contigo*, not *con ti*.)
❌ Mi madre me dijo una historia preciosa anoche.
For an extended story, use *contar*, not *decir*.
✅ Mi madre me contó una historia preciosa anoche.
My mother told me a beautiful story last night.
Key Takeaways
- Contar means both count (numbers) and tell (a story/news). The complement tells you which.
- It's an o>ue stem-changing -ar verb: diphthong in the boot forms (cuento, cuentas, cuenta, cuentan), plain o in nosotros / vosotros (contamos, contáis).
- Preterite, imperfect, future, and conditional never show the diphthong — stress is on the ending.
- The present subjunctive repeats the boot: cuente, cuentes, cuente, contemos, contéis, cuenten.
- The vosotros affirmative imperative is contad; the negative is no contéis.
- Contar con
- person / thing is one of the most useful collocations in Spanish — "count on, rely on, have available."
- For "tell" as a short report ("told me to come"), Spanish uses decir. Contar is for narratives.
Now practice Spanish
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Presente de indicativo: verbos regulares en -arA1 — The six present-indicative endings for regular -ar verbs in peninsular Spanish, including the all-important vosotros form habláis.
- Cambio vocálico: o>ue (poder, dormir, contar)A2 — The o→ue stem change: stressed o becomes ue in the boot forms — puedo, duermo, cuento — while nosotros and vosotros keep the simple o.
- Tiempos compuestos: referencia completaB1 — A complete reference for every Spanish compound tense — present perfect, pluperfect, preterite anterior, future perfect, conditional perfect, perfect subjunctive, pluperfect subjunctive — with full vosotros paradigms and notes on how peninsular Spanish leans heavily on the present perfect.
- Todos los tiempos de un vistazoA2 — A single-page master reference of every Spanish tense and mood, with a sample regular verb fully conjugated, the name in English and Spanish, the CEFR level it appears at, and what each tense is for.
- cerrarA1 — Full conjugation reference for cerrar (to close) — an e>ie stem-changing -ar verb. Includes all simple and compound tenses, every imperative form, and the stress-driven logic that explains why nosotros and vosotros keep the unstressed e.