encontré

Encontré is the first-person singular form of the Spanish verb encontrar in the pretérito indefinido (preterite). It translates as “I found” or “I did find” and is used to describe a completed action of discovering or encountering something or someone in the past.

In everyday usage, encontrar takes a direct object, as in Encontré las llaves en la mesa. When referring to a person, it can be used with the personal “a” before the object, for example Encontré a mi amigo en la estación. It can also form part of reflexive constructions like encontrarse, where me encontré puede mean “I ran into” or “I found myself,” depending on context.

Culturally, the word Encontré appears as a title or a thematic element in various Spanish-language works, including songs, poems, and films. Because it is a common verb form, its appearance as a title is typically clarified by the author, artist, or the accompanying context rather than by the word alone.

Related forms include encontrar (the base verb), encuentro (noun meaning “meeting” or “encounter”), and encontrarse (the pronominal form meaning “to meet” or “to find oneself”). The word’s meaning and nuance depend on the surrounding sentence and the objects involved.