What's the difference?
These two verbs can be used interchangeably, BUT...
FALAR or, DIZER?
if you want to impress a Brazilian do this: use DIZER in more authoritative contexts, FALAR in casual, everyday sentences. Here's what I mean:
Dizer
Ela me disse que a gente precisa treinar. > She told that we need to practice.
Eu sempre digo: não sai de casa sem celular. > I always say: don't leave the house without a cellphone.
Quero dizer, você está no caminho certo. ➜ I mean, you're going the right way.
Falar
Ela falou muita coisa. > She said a many things.
Agora eu vou falar. > Now I'm going the speak.
Eu sempre falo com sotaque. > I always speak with an accent.
But the bottom line is this: Use either FALAR or DIZER but favor falar for casual conversation and start adding dizer when trying to speak with more emphasis.
Examples of FALAR & DIZER in action:
» From our online Portuguese course.
Contar
Use CONTAR when telling a story. Like this:
Me conta tudo. ➜ Tell me everything.
Eu vou te contar uma história sobre isso. ➜ I'm going to tell you a story about that.
*CONTAR can also mean, to count
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