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Contar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to tell”.
Below are all of the conjugations for contar in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to tell |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | contar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está contando) and past continuous (estaba contando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. telling).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he contado and hubiera contado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have told).
| Gerundio / Gerund | contando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | contado |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I tell” or “they tell”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cuento |
| Tú | cuentas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cuenta |
| Nosotros / as | contamos |
| Vosotros / as | contáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cuentan |
| Vos | contás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I told” or “she told” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | conté | I told |
| Tú | contaste | You told |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contó | He / she / you told |
| Nosotros / as | contamos | We told |
| Vosotros / as | contasteis | You told |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaron | They / you told |
| Vos | contaste | You told |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was telling” or “she was telling” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contaba | I was telling |
| Tú | contabas | You were telling |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaba | He was / she was / you were telling |
| Nosotros / as | contábamos | We were telling |
| Vosotros / as | contabais | You were telling |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaban | They / you were telling |
| Vos | contabas | You were telling |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have told” and “she has told”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he contado | I have told |
| Tú | has contado | You have told |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha contado | He has / she has / you have told |
| Nosotros / as | hemos contado | We have told |
| Vosotros / as | habéis contado | You have told |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han contado | They / you have told |
| Vos | has contado | You have told |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would tell” or “she would tell”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contaría | I would tell |
| Tú | contarías | You would tell |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contaría | He / she / you would tell |
| Nosotros / as | contaríamos | We would tell |
| Vosotros / as | contaríais | You would tell |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contarían | They / you would tell |
| Vos | contarías | You would tell |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will tell” or “they will tell”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a contar” means “They are going to tell”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contaré | I will tell |
| Tú | contarás | You will tell |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contará | He / she / you will tell |
| Nosotros / as | contaremos | We will tell |
| Vosotros / as | contaréis | You will tell |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contarán | They / you will tell |
| Vos | contarás | You will tell |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | cuente |
| Tú | cuentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cuente |
| Nosotros / as | contemos |
| Vosotros / as | contéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cuenten |
| Vos | cuentes |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | contara | contase |
| Tú | contaras | contase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contara | contase |
| Nosotros / as | contáramos | contásemos |
| Vosotros / as | contarais | contaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaran | contasen |
| Vos | contaras | contase |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | contare |
| Tú | contares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | contare |
| Nosotros / as | contáremos |
| Vosotros / as | contareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | contaren |
| Vos | contares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “tell!” and “don’t tell!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | cuenta | no cuentes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | cuente | no cuente |
| Nosotros / as | contemos | no contemos |
| Vosotros / as | contad | no contéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | cuenten | no cuenten |
| Vos | contá | no cuentes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya contado |
| Tú | hayas contado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya contado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos contado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis contado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan contado |
| Vos | hayas contado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera contado / hubiese contado |
| Tú | hubieras contado / hubieses contado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera contado / hubiese contado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos contado / hubiésemos contado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais contado / hubieseis contado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran contado / hubiesen contado |
| Vos | hubieras contado / hubieses contado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere contado |
| Tú | hubieres contado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere contado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos contado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis contado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren contado |
| Vos | hubieres contado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté contando |
| Tú | estés contando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté contando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos contando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis contando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén contando |
| Vos | estés contando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera contando / estuviese contando |
| Tú | estuvieras contando / estuvieses contando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera contando / estuviese contando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos contando / estuviésamos contando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais contando / estuvieseis contando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera contando / estuviese contando |
| Vos | estuvieras contando / estuvieses contando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere contando |
| Tú | estuvieres contando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere contando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos contando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis contando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere contando |
| Vos | estuvieres contando |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos contás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos contaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos contabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos contarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos contarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos cuentes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos contaras / Vos contase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos contá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no cuentes |
