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Learn How to Use and Conjugate the Irregular Spanish Verb Querer
Spanish
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By
Gerald Erichsen
Gerald Erichsen
Spanish Language Expert
- B.A., Seattle Pacific University
Gerald Erichsen is a Spanish language expert who has created Spanish lessons for ThoughtCo since 1998.
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Updated on January 14, 2019
The Spanish verb querer is a common verb that means "to want," "to wish," "to love" or "to like," and its conjugation is highly irregular. Both its stem and endings often depart from the norm in unpredictable ways. This article includes querer conjugations in the present, past, conditional and future indicative, the present and past subjunctive, the imperative, and other verb forms.
There are only three verbs that are conjugated in the same way as querer, and all three are derived from it: bienquerer (to like or be fond of), desquerer (to cease wanting or loving) and malquerer (to dislike). None of them are particularly common.
Using the Verb Querer
The verb querer can be translated to English in several different ways. The most common meaning is "to want" or "to wish," as in El niño quiere muchos regalos para su cumpleaños (The boy wants a lot of presents for his birthday), or Ella quiere que todos los niños sean felices (She wishes for all children to be happy).
When used with people (or pets), the verb querer can also mean "to love." Although the verb amar means to love, it is often used in more profound or romantic relationships. You can use the verb querer as in Quiero mucho a mi mejor amigo (I really love my best friend) or La niña quiere a sus maestros (The girl loves her teachers). In the last example, querer has a connotation of "to appreciate" more than "to love." Also, notice that when used in this way with people or pets, the personal a is always used before the direct object.
Querer Present Indicative
In the present indicative tense, the verb querer is stem-changing. This means that the e in the stem of the verb changes to ie when part of a stressed syllable.
Yo | quiero | I want | Yo quiero viajar a España. |
Tú | quieres | You want | Tú quieres un carro nuevo. |
Usted/él/ella | quiere | You/he/she wants | Ella quiere a sus amigos. |
Nosotros | queremos | We want | Nosotros queremos tener paz en el mundo. |
Vosotros | queréis | You want | Vosotros queréis aprender italiano. |
Ustedes/ellos/ellas | quieren | You/they want | Ellos quieren mucho a sus mascotas. |
Querer Preterite Indicative
In the preterite tense, querer is irregular, since the stem changes to quis-. The preterite is used to talk about completed actions in the past. When using the verb querer in the preterite, it has the meaning of something that someone wanted but did not obtain. For example, Quise ir a la fiesta means "I wanted to go to the party but I ended up not being able to go."
Yo | quise | I wanted | Yo quiseviajar a España. |
Tú | quisiste | You wanted | Tú quisisteun carro nuevo. |
Usted/él/ella | quiso | You/he/she wanted | Ella quisoa sus amigos. |
Nosotros | quisimos | We wanted | Nosotros quisimos tenerpaz en el mundo. |
Vosotros | quisisteis | You wanted | Vosotros quisisteisaprender italiano. |
Ustedes/ellos/ellas | quisieron | You/they wanted | Ellos quisieron mucho a sus mascotas. |
Querer Imperfect Indicative
The imperfect tense conjugation of querer is regular. You start with the stem quer- and add the imperfect ending for -er verbs (ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían). In the imperfect tense the verb querer usually means "wanted," but can also be translated as "was wanting" or "used to want." The imperfect is used to talk about ongoing actions in the past. With the verb querer it means that someone wanted something, but we don't know if they obtained it or not.
Yo | quería | I used to want | Yo queríaviajar a España. |
Tú | querías | You used to want | Tú querías un carro nuevo. |
Usted/él/ella | quería | You/he/she used to want | Ella quería a sus amigos. |
Nosotros | queríamos | We used to want | Nosotros queríamos tener paz en el mundo. |
Vosotros | queríais | You used to want | Vosotros queríais aprender italiano. |
Ustedes/ellos/ellas | querían | You/they used to want | Ellos querían a sus mascotas. |
Querer Future Indicative
To conjugate the future tense you start with the infinitive (querer) and add the future tense endings (é, ás, á, emos, áis, án). However, the verb querer is irregular because there is an extra r in the stem, so it ends up being querr-.
Yo | querré | I will want | Yo querré viajar a España. |
Tú | querrás | Youwill want | Tú querrás un carro nuevo. |
Usted/él/ella | querrá | You/he/shewill want | Ella querráa sus amigos. |
Nosotros | querremos | Wewill want | Nosotros querremostener paz en el mundo. |
Vosotros | querréis | Youwill want | Vosotros querréis aprender italiano. |
Ustedes/ellos/ellas | querrán | You/theywill want | Ellos querrán a sus mascotas. |
Querer PeriphrasticFuture Indicative
The periphrastic future is formed with the present indicative conjugation of the verb ir (to go), the preposition a, and the infinitive querer.
Yo | voy a querer | I am going to want | Yo voy a querer viajar a España. |
Tú | vasa querer | You aregoing to want | Tú vasa querer un carro nuevo. |
Usted/él/ella | vaa querer | You/he/shegoing to want | Ella vaa querer a sus amigos. |
Nosotros | vamosa querer | We aregoing to want | Nosotros vamos a querer tener paz en el mundo. |
Vosotros | vaisa querer | You aregoing to want | Vosotros vaisa querer aprender italiano. |
Ustedes/ellos/ellas | vana querer | You/they aregoing to want | Ellos vana querer mucho a sus mascotas. |
Querer Present Progressive/Gerund Form
The gerundor present participle for the verb querer is formed regularly, by starting with stem of the verb quer- and the ending the ending -iendo (for -er and -ir verbs). The present participle can be used to form progressive tenses like the present progressive, which usually requires the auxiliary verb estar. However, it is rare to use the verb querer in progressive tenses, since "to want" already implies an ongoing action. Therefore, it sounds redundant to say está queriendo (is wanting) and it is simpler to say quiere (wants). The form queriendo is more commonly used as an adverb, as in Queriendo ayudar, hicimos un gran esfuerzo (Wanting to help, we made a great effort).
Present Progressive ofQuerer | está queriendo | She is wanting | Ella está queriendo a sus amigos. |
Querer Past Participle
The past participle is formed with the stem quer- plus the ending -ido. It can be used to form perfect tenses, such as the present perfect. The present perfect is formed with the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle querido.
Present Perfect ofQuerer | ha querido | She has wanted | Ella ha querido a sus amigos. |
Querer Conditional Indicative
The conditional tense is usually translated to English as "would + verb." Similar to the future tense, it is conjugated by starting with the infinitive form. However, just like in the future tense, the verb querer is irregular because it has an extra r, so it uses the stem querr-.
Yo | querría | I would want | Yo querría viajar a España si no me diera miedo viajar en avión. |
Tú | querrías | Youwould want | Tú querrías un carro nuevo, pero están muy caros. |
Usted/él/ella | querría | You/he/shewould want | Ella querría a sus amigos si fueran más amables. |
Nosotros | querríamos | Wewould want | Nosotros querríamostener paz en el mundo, pero sabemos que es muy difícil. |
Vosotros | querríais | Youwould want | Vosotros querríais aprender italiano, pero preferisteis aprender francés. |
Ustedes/ellos/ellas | querrían | You/theywould want | Ellos querrían mucho a sus mascotas si se portaran mejor. |
Querer Present Subjunctive
The present subjunctive is used for subjective situations like desires, doubts and recommendations. It is formed starting with the first person singular present indicative conjugation (yo). It is also stem-changing (e to ie) when the e falls on the stressed syllable.
Que yo | quiera | That I want | El agente de viajes espera que yo quiera viajar a España. |
Que tú | quieras | That you want | El vendedor espera que tú quieras un carro nuevo. |
Que usted/él/ella | quiera | That you/he/she want | Mamá espera que ella quiera a sus amigos. |
Que nosotros | queramos | That we want | Los diplomáticos esperan que nosotros queramos tener paz en el mundo. |
Que vosotros | queráis | That you want | El maestro espera que vosotros queráis aprender italiano. |
Que ustedes/ellos/ellas | quieran | That you/they want | Papá espera que ellos quieran mucho a sus mascotas. |
Querer Imperfect Subjunctive
There are two options for conjugating the imperfect subjunctive.
Option 1
Que yo | quisiera | That I wanted | La agente de viajes esperaba que yo quisiera viajar a España. |
Que tú | quisieras | That you wanted | El vendedor esperaba que tú quisieras un carro nuevo. |
Que usted/él/ella | quisiera | That you/he/she wanted | Mamá esperaba que ella quisiera a sus amigos. |
Que nosotros | quisiéramos | That we wanted | Los diplomáticos esperaban que nosotros quisiéramos tener paz en el mundo. |
Que vosotros | quisierais | That you wanted | El maestro esperaba que vosotros quisierais aprender italiano. |
Que ustedes/ellos/ellas | quisieran | That you/they wanted | Papá esperaba que ellos quisieran mucho a sus mascotas. |
Option 2
Que yo | quisiese | That I wanted | La agente de viajes esperaba que yo quisiese viajar a España. |
Que tú | quisieses | That you wanted | El vendedor esperaba que tú quisieses un carro nuevo. |
Que usted/él/ella | quisiese | That you/he/she wanted | Mamá esperaba que ella quisiese a sus amigos. |
Que nosotros | quisiésemos | That we wanted | Los diplomáticos esperaban que nosotros quisiésemos tener paz en el mundo. |
Que vosotros | quisieseis | That you wanted | El maestro esperaba que vosotros quisieseis aprender italiano. |
Que ustedes/ellos/ellas | quisiesen | That you/they wanted | El papá esperaba que ellos quisiesen mucho a sus mascotas. |
Querer Imperative
The imperative mood is used to give orders or commands. It is not common to use commands with the verb querer, because usually you don't tell people to want something. However, it is possible that you would tell someone to love someone else, which is one of the meanings of the verb querer. Therefore, the examples below were changed to show more realistic situations of querer in the imperative.
Positive Commands
Tú | quiere | Love! | ¡Quiere a tus amigos! |
Usted | quiera | Love! | ¡Quiera a su madre! |
Nosotros | queramos | Let's love! | ¡Queramos a nuestros hermanos! |
Vosotros | quered | Love! | ¡Quered a vuestra familia! |
Ustedes | quieran | Love! | ¡Quieran a sus padres! |
Negative Commands
Tú | no quieras | Don't love! | ¡No quieras a tus amigos! |
Usted | no quiera | Don't love! | ¡No quiera a su madre! |
Nosotros | no queramos | Let's not love! | ¡No queramos a nuestros hermanos! |
Vosotros | no queráis | Don't love! | ¡No queráis a vuestra familia! |
Ustedes | no quieran | Don't love! | ¡No quieran a sus padres! |
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Erichsen, Gerald. "Spanish Verb Querer Conjugation." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/conjugation-of-querer-3079632.Erichsen, Gerald. (2020, August 28). Spanish Verb Querer Conjugation. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/conjugation-of-querer-3079632Erichsen, Gerald. "Spanish Verb Querer Conjugation." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/conjugation-of-querer-3079632 (accessed January 20, 2023).
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