How to Conjugate the Spanish Verb Querer (2024)

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Learn How to Use and Conjugate the Irregular Spanish Verb Querer

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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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Your Citation

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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