Verb of the week - Querer

Querer means to want, to like or to wish – it's a very useful verb!

In English, there are only two conjugations:           He/she/it wants
                                                                               I/you/we/they want

In Spanish, every group gets its own form of the verb and, of course, there's also the formal and informal to consider.

                                        Present                  Preterite
yo                                     quiero                    quise
tú                                     quieres                   quisiste
él/ella/usted                    quiere                    quiso
nosotros                          queremos               quisimos
vosotros                          queréis                   quisisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes          quieren                   quisieron

Past participle: querido

Examples (present tense):

¿Qué quieres beber? … what do you want to drink?
Quiero una cerveza, por favor … I want a beer please.
¿Quieres más? … would you like more?
Queremos alquilar un coche, por favor … we want to rent a car please

When querer is used in the preterite (simple past) tense, it can also mean tried.

Examples (preterite):

Quise llamarle … I tried to call you
Quisimos comprar billetes … we tried to buy tickets
No quise hacerlo … I did not wish to do it
No quisimos ir … we did not want to go

The imperfect subjunctive of the verb querer is quisiera and is used to politely express a wish or desire as in: I should like: quisiera hablar ahora (I should like to speak now). You can also use it to ask for things in a more polite way …

Quisiera más leche por favor … I would like more milk please
Quisiera mi carne bien hecha … I would like my meat well done
Quisiera una habitación con una vista al mar, si es posible … I would like a room with a sea view if possible.

Yo quisiera saber (I would like to know) is very useful:

Yo quisiera saber a qué hora el autobus sale para Madrid
Yo quisiera saber a qué hora se sirve el desayuno.
Yo quisiera saber de dónde sale el autobus para Barcelona y a qué hora

There are also other uses of the verb.

Querido/querida means 'dear'. So if you were writing to me, you could start the letter 'Querido Eric' or to Lucía 'Querida Lucía'.


Querida mía or querido mío mean 'my dear' (a term of endearment).

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