contêm

Contêm is the third-person plural present indicative form of the Portuguese verb conter, meaning to contain or to hold. It is used when the subject of the sentence is plural, as in they contain or you all contain.

The verb conter comes from the Latin continere, formed from con- (together) and tenere (to hold). In modern Portuguese, conter is used to express that something includes, comprises, or holds a quantity or set of items, often describing contents of objects, groups, or texts. The present indicative forms for other subjects include contenho (eu), conténs (tu), contém (ele/ela/você), contamos (nós), contendes (vós), and contêm (eles/elas/vocês). The accent on ê in contêm signals the stressed syllable and the nasal vowel that characterizes the form.

In usage, contêm appears with a wide range of nouns. Examples: "As informações contêm dados confidenciais." (The information contains/holds confidential data.) "As caixas contêm livros e cadernos." (The boxes contain books and notebooks.) It is common in both European and Brazilian Portuguese, with spelling and pronunciation broadly aligned across dialects.

Related forms include the related noun containing, as well as other tenses of conter, such as contém (present singular), contei/contiveste (preterite), and manter or manter-se in related senses. Contêm is part of a group of Portuguese verbs that express inclusion, composition, or possession of material content in a given object or set.