conter — Portuguese conjugation
to contain
Indicative
Present (Presente) Irregular
The presente covers routines, states, and immediate future with adverbs like hoje or amanhã. One present form covers both English simple and progressive readings in most situations.
Ela estuda português todas as noites.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | contenho | I contain |
| tu | conténs | you contain |
| você | contém | you contain |
| ele/ela | contém | he/she/it contains |
| nós | contemos | we contain |
| vós | contendes | you (pl.) contain |
| vocês | contêm | you (pl.) contain |
| eles/elas | contêm | they contain |
Preterite (Pretérito perfeito simples) Irregular
The pretérito perfeito simples is a sharp, completed past. In European Portuguese it is the standard story-telling past; Brazilian usage often prefers the compound form in speech while keeping the simple for narrative and writing.
Ontem escreveu a carta inteira de uma vez.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | contive | I contained |
| tu | contiveste | you contained |
| você | conteve | you contained |
| ele/ela | conteve | he/she/it contained |
| nós | contivemos | we contained |
| vós | contivestes | you (pl.) contained |
| vocês | contiveram | you (pl.) contained |
| eles/elas | contiveram | they contained |
Imperfect (Pretérito imperfeito) Irregular
The imperfeito describes past background, repeated actions, and how things used to be. Contrast it with the simple preterite for the “main event” line of a story.
Quando era criança, brincava na praia.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | continha |
| tu | continhas |
| você | continha |
| ele/ela | continha |
| nós | contínhamos |
| vós | contínheis |
| vocês | continham |
| eles/elas | continham |
Conditional (Condicional) Regular
The condicional is for polite offers, soft questions, and hypothetical “would” outcomes, and it often closes a se + imperfeito do subjuntivo chain in formal style.
Você poderia me explicar outra vez?
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | conteria | I would contain |
| tu | conterias | you would contain |
| você | conteria | you would contain |
| ele/ela | conteria | he/she/it would contain |
| nós | conteríamos | we would contain |
| vós | conteríeis | you (pl.) would contain |
| vocês | conteriam | you (pl.) would contain |
| eles/elas | conteriam | they would contain |
Future (Futuro do presente) Regular
The futuro do presente states future facts; in everyday conversation you will often hear ir + infinitive or even the present with a time adverb instead of the synthetic future.
Amanhã faremos a reunião mais cedo.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | conterei | I will contain |
| tu | conterás | you will contain |
| você | conterá | you will contain |
| ele/ela | conterá | he/she/it will contain |
| nós | conteremos | we will contain |
| vós | contereis | you (pl.) will contain |
| vocês | conterão | you (pl.) will contain |
| eles/elas | conterão | they will contain |
Present perfect (Pretérito perfeito composto) Regular
The pretérito perfeito composto uses ter or haver plus the participle for a past that still touches the present or happens repeatedly up to now — a “have done” perfect with strong links to European norms.
Tenho pensado nisso há semanas.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | tenho contido | I have contained |
| tu | tens contido | you have contained |
| você | tem contido | you have contained |
| ele/ela | tem contido | he/she/it has contained |
| nós | temos contido | we have contained |
| vós | tendes contido | you (pl.) have contained |
| vocês | têm contido | you (pl.) have contained |
| eles/elas | têm contido | they have contained |
Pluperfect (Mais-que-perfeito composto) Regular
The mais-que-perfeito composto is the pluperfect: an action was already finished before another past reference. It mirrors the English “had already”.
Já tinham saído quando chegámos.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | tinha contido | I had contained |
| tu | tinhas contido | you had contained |
| você | tinha contido | you had contained |
| ele/ela | tinha contido | he/she/it had contained |
| nós | tínhamos contido | we had contained |
| vós | tínheis contido | you (pl.) had contained |
| vocês | tinham contido | you (pl.) had contained |
| eles/elas | tinham contido | they had contained |
Conditional perfect (Condicional composto) Regular
The condicional composto expresses a counterfactual “would have” and appears with the right kind of if-clause in the subjunctive past for unreal conditions.
Teria aceite se tiveses avisado com antecedência.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | teria contido |
| tu | terias contido |
| você | teria contido |
| ele/ela | teria contido |
| nós | teríamos contido |
| vós | teríeis contido |
| vocês | teriam contido |
| eles/elas | teriam contido |
Future perfect (Futuro composto) Regular
The futuro composto is the future-in-the-future: something will be finished before a later time. It is less frequent than the simple future but still useful for deadlines.
Até sexta, teremos lido tudo o relatório.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | terei contido | I will have contained |
| tu | terás contido | you will have contained |
| você | terá contido | you will have contained |
| ele/ela | terá contido | he/she/it will have contained |
| nós | teremos contido | we will have contained |
| vós | tereis contido | you (pl.) will have contained |
| vocês | terão contido | you (pl.) will have contained |
| eles/elas | terão contido | they will have contained |
Subjunctive
Present subjunctive (Conjuntivo presente) Regular
The present subjunctive appears after want, hope, fear, and impersonal triggers, and typically requires a new subject in the subordinate clause, just as in the other main Romance languages.
Espero que encontres o caminho fácil.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | contenha |
| tu | contenhas |
| você | contenha |
| ele/ela | contenha |
| nós | contenhamos |
| vós | contenhais |
| vocês | contenham |
| eles/elas | contenham |
Imperfect subjunctive (Conjuntivo pretérito imperf.) Regular
The imperfect subjunctive in se + subjunctive → condicional is the classic “if I were a rich man” line in European Portuguese, parallel to the Spanish -ra form.
Se tivesse mais tempo, aprenderia outro idioma.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | contivesse |
| tu | contivesses |
| você | contivesse |
| ele/ela | contivesse |
| nós | contivéssemos |
| vós | contivésseis |
| vocês | contivessem |
| eles/elas | contivessem |
Other forms
Imperative (affirmative) (Imperativo afirmativo) Regular
The affirmative imperative in Portuguese is built with tu, você, nós, vós, and vocês forms; Brazilian norms favour você/vocês with third-person present verb shapes.
Diga a verdade, por favor.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| tu | contém |
| você | contenha |
| ele/ela | contenha |
| nós | contenhamos |
| vós | contende |
| vocês | contenham |
| eles/elas | contenham |
Imperative (negative) (Imperativo negativo) Regular
Negative commands require não plus the present subjunctive for each person, which is a distinctive feature compared to other Romance systems that reuse present indicative in some slots.
Não falemos com pressa, está tudo calmo.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| tu | não contenhas |
| você | não contenha |
| ele/ela | não contenha |
| nós | não contenhamos |
| vós | não contenhais |
| vocês | não contenham |
| eles/elas | não contenham |