Verb of the week: Querer


Verb of the week: Querer

Querer means to want – 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                      
yo                                            quiero 
tú                                            quieres
él/ella /usted                         quiere 
nosotros                                 queremos
vosotros                                 queréis
ellos/ellas/ustedes                quieren

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

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.

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

Quisiera saber a qué hora el autobus sale para Madrid
Quisiera saber a qué hora se sirve el desayuno.
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'.

Querida mía or querido mío mean 'my dear' (a term of endearment).
Te quiero means I like you or even I love you (depending upon the circumstances)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

El Tren by Antonio Machado

Image
Antonio Machado Antonio Machado or, to give him his full name, Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado Ruiz was one of Spain’s best-known poets. He is famous for his poetry describing the beauty of the Spanish countryside and also his love poems. He had his first poems published in 1901 and his first book of poetry in 1903. In the same year Machado was offered the job of Professor of French at the school in Soria. Here he met Leonor Izquierdo, the daughter of the owners of the boarding house Machado was staying in, and fell in love. They were married in 1909: he was 34; she was 14. In 1911, the couple went to live in Paris where Leonor contracted tuberculosis. They returned to Spain and Leonor died a year later, aged just 18. Leonor Izquierdo Machado was devastated and left Soria and went to live in Baeza. Here he wrote a series of poems dealing with the death of Leonor. He never remarried but had a long affair with Pilar de Valderrama,...
Read more

Las Dudas de Marta - ocho

Tarea: lección veintidos - Las Dudas de Marta (translate) Capítulo Dos continuado “¿Qué hacemos ahora? pregunta Alberto después de tomar el café. “Yo quiero ir de compras. ¿Vamos al Corte Inglés?” sugiere su madre. “¡Oh no! Las mujeres y las compras. Está bien, pero yo me quedaré en la sección de música.” Después de ir al Corte Inglés, los tres se pasean por la Gran Vía. La Gran Vía es una de las calles más conocidas de Madrid. Hay muchos restaurantes, librerías, tiendas de ropa … “¿Volvemos al hotel? Estoy cansada. Además, tenemos que prepáranos para la cena,” dice la madre de Alberto. “¡Pero mamá! ¿Otra vez pensando en comer?” Marta y su madre se ríen. “¿A qué hora empieza El Amor Brujo?” “A las diez de la noche. Tenemos que cenar temprano, hacia las ocho y media o las nueve. Podemos cenar en el barrio de La Latina. Así estaremos cerca del teatro.” “¡Perfecto! Pero ahora vamos al hotel. Tengo que hacerme la manicura, y quiero estrenar lo...
Read more