Contamos la aventura al niño.

to the

Breakdown of Contamos la aventura al niño.

• contar: to tell
• el niño: the child
• la aventura: the adventure

Questions & Answers about Contamos la aventura al niño.

What does contamos mean here? Is it present tense or past tense?

It can be either, depending on context.

• Present: we tell
• Preterite: we told

For -ar verbs, the nosotros form is the same in the present and the preterite: contamos.

So this sentence could mean either:

• We tell the adventure/story to the boy
• We told the adventure/story to the boy

Usually, other words in the sentence or the wider context make the time clear.

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Does contar mean to count or to tell here?

Here it means to tell or to narrate.

Contar has more than one common meaning:

• to count: Contamos hasta diez = We count to ten
• to tell / narrate: Contamos la aventura = We tell the adventure/story

In this sentence, because the object is la aventura, the meaning is clearly to tell/narrate, not to count.

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Which part is the direct object, and which part is the indirect object?