encontrei

Encontrei is the first-person singular form of the Portuguese verb encontrar in the pretérito perfeito (simple past). It translates mainly as “I found” or “I encountered,” depending on the context. The verb encontrar has two closely related senses: to locate something (finding a thing) and to meet or come across someone (encountering a person). Encontrei is used to indicate a completed action in the past, whether locating an object or meeting someone.

Etymology and history: encontrar derives from Latin incontrare, formed from in- (upon, on) and contra (against, together with). Through the Romance languages, the form evolved into modern Portuguese as encontrar, with encontrei marking the first-person past tense.

Usage notes: In Brazilian Portuguese, encontrar is commonly transitive with a direct object: “Eu encontrei o livro.” For meeting someone, both “eu encontrei João” and the variant “eu encontrei com João” appear in different dialects, with the latter more common in some varieties of European Portuguese. Encontrei can also occur in narrative to recount past discoveries or meetings.

Conjugation and related forms: infinitive encontrar; present indicative encontro; pretérito perfeito simples encontrei; imperfect (pretérito) encontrava; future encontrarei; past participle encontrado; gerund encontrando. Related verbs include oops, but the core entry focuses on encontrar and its past tense forms such as encontrei.

See also: encontrar, encontro, conjugation patterns of regular -ar verbs in Portuguese, usage differences across Brazilian and European Portuguese.