Fala Gringo › Verbs › colocar
colocar — to put, to place
Full conjugation of colocar in the tenses that matter for everyday speech, with pronunciation hints in the Rio (carioca) accent and example sentences the way Brazilians actually talk — not textbook European Portuguese.
In spoken Brazilian Portuguese it is interchangeable with botar and pôr — the drill accepts any of them.
How to use colocar in Brazilian Portuguese
Colocar is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to put, to place. It is a regular -ar verb, so once you know the endings there are no surprises — only the spelling shifts in coloquei to keep the sound of the stem, which is orthography, not irregularity.
Three tenses do almost all the work in conversation. The presente covers the present and the near future: eu coloco — I put / place. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu coloquei — I put / placed. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu colocava — I used to put / place / was putting.
Said the Rio way, coloco sounds like koh-LOH-koo. The nós form colocamos ends in the carioca “sh”, koh-loh-KAH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.
Presente — present tense
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | colocoI put / place | koh-LOH-koo | Eu coloco o livro na mesa. |
| você / ele / ela | colocayou put / place | koh-LOH-kah | Você coloca açúcar no café? |
| nós | colocamoswe put / place | koh-loh-KAH-moosh | Nós colocamos as compras na cozinha. |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocamyou all put / place | koh-LOH-kahng | Vocês colocam gelo na cerveja? |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | coloqueiI put / placed | koh-loh-KAY | Eu coloquei as chaves na bolsa. |
| você / ele / ela | colocouyou put / placed | koh-loh-KOH | Você colocou sal na comida? |
| nós | colocamoswe put / placed | koh-loh-KAH-moosh | Nós colocamos tudo no lugar ontem. |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocaramyou all put / placed | koh-loh-KAH-rahng | Vocês colocaram a mesa na varanda? |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | colocavaI used to put / place / was putting | koh-loh-KAH-vah | Eu colocava tudo em cima da cama. |
| você / ele / ela | colocavayou used to put / place / were putting | koh-loh-KAH-vah | Você colocava açúcar no suco? |
| nós | colocávamoswe used to put / place / were putting | koh-loh-KAH-vah-moosh | Nós colocávamos as bicicletas na garagem. |
| vocês / eles / elas | colocavamyou all used to put / place / were putting | koh-loh-KAH-vahng | Vocês colocavam os sapatos na porta? |
More “Ações e movimentos” verbs
- trazer to bring
- tirar to take (photo, vacation), to take off, to remove
- deixar to leave (behind), to let
- passar to pass, to spend (time)
- parar to stop
- continuar to continue
- mudar to change, to move (house)
- correr to run
- sentar to sit (down)
- fugir to run away, to escape
- cair to fall
- andar to walk, to go around
- botar to put (colloquial)
- descer to go down, to get off
- partir to leave, to depart
- pôr to put, to place
- subir to go up, to climb
- virar to turn (a corner), to become