Contar Conjugation in Spanish
contar means “tell” in English, and it is one of the first verbs Spanish learners meet — it sits at number 36 in VerbFlow’s frequency list. You use it for telling stories, for counting numbers, and for counting on someone (contar con). Because it comes up in everyday conversation so often, learning its forms properly pays off from the very first week. This page gives you the complete conjugation of contar — every tense, every person, the gerund and the past participle — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Yo cuento una historia a los niños todos los días.” — “I tell a story to the children every day.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: contar
- English: to tell
- Verb type: Irregular — stem-changing (o → ue)
- Irregular in: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative
- Gerund: contando
- Past participle: contado
- Auxiliary: haber (all perfect tenses are formed with haber + the past participle)
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for contar. Learn the present tense first, then the preterite and the imperfect, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.
Present indicative
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | cuento |
| tú | cuentas |
| él/ella/Ud. | cuenta |
| nosotros/as | contamos |
| vosotros/as | contáis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | cuentan |
Preterite
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | conté |
| tú | contaste |
| él/ella/Ud. | contó |
| nosotros/as | contamos |
| vosotros/as | contasteis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | contaron |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | contaba |
| tú | contabas |
| él/ella/Ud. | contaba |
| nosotros/as | contábamos |
| vosotros/as | contabais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | contaban |
Future
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | contaré |
| tú | contarás |
| él/ella/Ud. | contará |
| nosotros/as | contaremos |
| vosotros/as | contaréis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | contarán |
Conditional
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | contaría |
| tú | contarías |
| él/ella/Ud. | contaría |
| nosotros/as | contaríamos |
| vosotros/as | contaríais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | contarían |
Present perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | he contado |
| tú | has contado |
| él/ella/Ud. | ha contado |
| nosotros/as | hemos contado |
| vosotros/as | habéis contado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | han contado |
Pluperfect (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | había contado |
| tú | habías contado |
| él/ella/Ud. | había contado |
| nosotros/as | habíamos contado |
| vosotros/as | habíais contado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habían contado |
Future perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habré contado |
| tú | habrás contado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habrá contado |
| nosotros/as | habremos contado |
| vosotros/as | habréis contado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrán contado |
Conditional perfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | habría contado |
| tú | habrías contado |
| él/ella/Ud. | habría contado |
| nosotros/as | habríamos contado |
| vosotros/as | habríais contado |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | habrían contado |
Present subjunctive
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | cuente |
| tú | cuentes |
| él/ella/Ud. | cuente |
| nosotros/as | contemos |
| vosotros/as | contéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | cuenten |
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | contara |
| tú | contaras |
| él/ella/Ud. | contara |
| nosotros/as | contáramos |
| vosotros/as | contarais |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | contaran |
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | cuenta |
| él/ella/Ud. | cuente |
| nosotros/as | contemos |
| vosotros/as | contad |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | cuenten |
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tú | cuentes |
| él/ella/Ud. | cuente |
| nosotros/as | contemos |
| vosotros/as | contéis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | cuenten |
Gerund and past participle
| Form | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Gerund | contando |
| Past participle | contado |
When to use each tense
Present indicative
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. With contar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Yo cuento una historia a los niños todos los días.” — “I tell a story to the children every day.”
Preterite
The preterite is used for completed actions in the past. For example: “Tú contaste hasta diez en español ayer.” — “You told up to ten in Spanish yesterday.”
Imperfect
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. For example: “Él contaba con tu ayuda antes.” — “He used to tell on your help before.”
Future
The future is used for what will happen, predictions and probability. For example: “Yo contaré una historia a los niños mañana.” — “I will tell a story to the children tomorrow.”
Conditional
The conditional is used for what would happen, polite requests and hypothetical situations. For example: “Tú contarías hasta diez en español algún día.” — “You would tell up to ten in Spanish someday.”
Present perfect
The present perfect is used for recent past actions and life experience, formed with haber + the past participle. For example: “Él ha contado con tu ayuda esta semana.” — “He has told on your help this week.”
Pluperfect (past perfect)
The pluperfect (past perfect) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Yo había contado una historia a los niños antes de la fiesta.” — “I had told a story to the children before the party.”
Future perfect
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Tú habrás contado hasta diez en español para mañana.” — “You will have told up to ten in Spanish by tomorrow.”
Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Él habría contado con tu ayuda ayer.” — “He would have told on your help yesterday.”
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after que. With contar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “Es importante que yo cuente una historia a los niños.” — “It is important that i tell a story to the children.”
Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)
The imperfect subjunctive (-ra) is used for the past subjunctive: wishes and hypotheticals about the past, and clauses after a past-tense trigger. For example: “Ojalá tú contaras hasta diez en español.” — “I wish you told up to ten in Spanish.”
Imperative (affirmative)
The imperative (affirmative) is used for direct commands and instructions. With contar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “¡Cuenta con tu ayuda!” — “Tell on your help!”
Imperative (negative)
The imperative (negative) is used for prohibitions and negative commands. With contar this tense is irregular, so the forms do not follow the regular pattern — learn them as a set rather than guessing from the infinitive. For example: “No cuentes una historia a los niños.” — “Do not tell a story to the children.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with contar, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the Spanish and try to produce it from the English.
- “Yo cuento una historia a los niños todos los días.” — “I tell a story to the children every day.”
- “Tú contaste hasta diez en español ayer.” — “You told up to ten in Spanish yesterday.”
- “Él contaba con tu ayuda antes.” — “He used to tell on your help before.”
- “Yo contaré hasta diez en español mañana.” — “I will tell up to ten in Spanish tomorrow.”
- “Tú contarías una historia a los niños algún día.” — “You would tell a story to the children someday.”
- “Él ha contado con tu ayuda esta semana.” — “He has told on your help this week.”
- “Yo había contado una historia a los niños antes de la fiesta.” — “I had told a story to the children before the party.”
- “Tú habrás contado hasta diez en español para mañana.” — “You will have told up to ten in Spanish by tomorrow.”
- “Es importante que él cuente con tu ayuda.” — “It is important that he tell on your help.”
- “¡Cuenta una historia a los niños!” — “Tell a story to the children!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Yo contar una historia a los niños.”
✓ Right: “Yo cuento una historia a los niños.”
The infinitive contar never takes a subject. After yo you need the conjugated present form cuento.
2. Confusing contar with decir
✗ Wrong: “Yo digo una historia a los niños.”
✓ Right: “Yo cuento una historia a los niños.”
Contar is to tell a story or to count; decir is to say something.
3. Using the wrong auxiliary in perfect tenses
✗ Wrong: “Yo soy contado una historia a los niños.”
✓ Right: “Yo he contado una historia a los niños.”
Spanish perfect tenses are always built with haber, never with ser. The correct form is he + the participle contado.
4. Dropping the written accent
✗ Wrong: “conte”
✓ Right: “conté”
The accent on conté is part of the spelling in the preterite. Without it the form looks like a different word, so always write the accent.
5. Forgetting the o → ue stem change
✗ Wrong: “Yo conto una historia a los niños.”
✓ Right: “Yo cuento una historia a los niños.”
contar changes its stem vowel in the present tense (o → ue), so the yo form is cuento, not the unchanged stem.
6. Using the preterite for a habitual past action
✗ Wrong: “Yo conté una historia a los niños antes.” (said of a repeated habit)
✓ Right: “Yo contaba una historia a los niños antes.”
The preterite conté describes one finished action. For something you did regularly in the past, use the imperfect contaba.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on contar. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the yo form of contar in the Present indicative?
- A) cuentas
- B) cuenta
- C) contamos
- D) cuento
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of contar in the Preterite?
- A) contaste
- B) contamos
- C) contó
- D) conté
What is the nosotros/as form of contar in the Imperfect?
- A) contabais
- B) contábamos
- C) contaba
- D) contabas
What is the tú form of contar in the Future?
- A) contarás
- B) contaré
- C) contará
- D) contaremos
What is the yo form of contar in the Conditional?
- A) contarías
- B) contaríamos
- C) contaríais
- D) contaría
What is the él/ella/Ud. form of contar in the Present subjunctive?
- A) contemos
- B) contéis
- C) cuente
- D) cuentes
What is the yo form of contar in the Imperfect subjunctive (-ra)?
- A) contarais
- B) contara
- C) contaras
- D) contáramos
What is the gerund of contar?
- A) contando
- B) mirando
- C) empezando
- D) esperando
What is the past participle of contar?
- A) mirado
- B) empezado
- C) esperado
- D) contado
What does contar mean in English?
- A) to begin
- B) to wait
- C) to tell
- D) to look
Answer key
- D) cuento — the yo form of contar in the present indicative is cuento. The other options (cuentas, cuenta, contamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) contó — the él/ella/Ud. form of contar in the preterite is contó. The other options (conté, contaste, contamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) contábamos — the nosotros/as form of contar in the imperfect is contábamos. The other options (contaba, contabas, contaba) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) contarás — the tú form of contar in the future is contarás. The other options (contaré, contará, contaremos) are the same tense for different persons.
- D) contaría — the yo form of contar in the conditional is contaría. The other options (contarías, contaría, contaríamos) are the same tense for different persons.
- C) cuente — the él/ella/Ud. form of contar in the present subjunctive is cuente. The other options (cuente, cuentes, contemos) are the same tense for different persons.
- B) contara — the yo form of contar in the imperfect subjunctive (-ra) is contara. The other options (contaras, contara, contáramos) are the same tense for different persons.
- A) contando — the gerund of contar is contando; it is used with estar for the progressive. The other options are the gerunds of neighbouring verbs.
- D) contado — the past participle of contar is contado; perfect tenses use haber + contado. The other options are the participles of neighbouring verbs.
- C) to tell — contar means “to tell” in English. The other options are the meanings of neighbouring verbs.
Frequently asked questions
What does contar mean in English?
contar means “to tell”. You use it for telling stories, for counting numbers, and for counting on someone (contar con). It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is contar regular or irregular?
contar is irregular — stem-changing (o → ue), and it is irregular in these tenses: present, present-subjunctive, imperative-affirmative, imperative-negative. The gerund is contando and the past participle is contado.
What are the gerund and past participle of contar?
The gerund is contando — use it with estar for actions in progress. The past participle is contado — use it with haber for the perfect tenses, as in he contado (I have told).
What is the difference between contar and decir?
Contar is to tell a story or to count; decir is to say something. If you are unsure, check the full table for decir and compare the meanings in context.
How do I say “I tell” in Spanish?
Say “Yo cuento una historia a los niños.” — “I tell a story to the children every day.” The yo form of the present is cuento, and it is the form you will use most often.
Related pages
- contar in the present tense — the full table and uses for this verb in its most practised tense.
- contar examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- Spanish verbs — the full hub of Spanish conjugation pages.
- Spanish irregular verbs — every common irregular Spanish verb, grouped by pattern.
- Mirar conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Empezar conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Esperar conjugation — another everyday Spanish verb.
- Present tense guide — how the present tense works for regular verbs.
- Preterite tense guide — how the preterite works, and when to choose it over the imperfect.
- Verb Conjugator — practise contar with the interactive tool.
- Verb Quiz — practise contar with the interactive tool.
- Subjunctive Helper — practise contar with the interactive tool.