Present Indicative of Querer | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

The verb querer (to want) is one of the first verbs you will need in Portuguese -- for ordering food, making requests, expressing desires, and asking what things mean. Its present indicative forms are mostly regular, with only the 3rd person singular standing out, making it one of the easier irregular verbs to learn.

Conjugation

Person	Form	English
eu	quero	I want
tu	queres	you want
ele / ela / você	quer	he/she wants; you want
nós	queremos	we want
(vós)	(quereis)	(you all want)
eles / elas / vocês	querem	they want; you all want

The only real irregularity is the 3rd person singular quer -- it drops the -e that a regular -er verb would keep (compare come from comer, but quer from querer). All other forms use the stem quer- with standard -er endings, making this verb much less irregular than ser, ir, or ter.

💡

Think of quer as the short, punchy form -- just three letters. All other persons keep the full stem quer- plus their regular ending. If you can conjugate a regular -er verb, you already know five of the six forms of querer.

Wanting and desiring

The most basic use of querer is to express what someone wants.

Quero um café, por favor.

I want a coffee, please.

Queres ir ao cinema?

Do you want to go to the cinema?

O que é que vocês querem?

What do you (all) want?

Querer + infinitive

To say you want to do something, use a conjugated form of querer followed directly by an infinitive. No preposition is needed between them.

Quero falar contigo.

I want to talk to you.

Queremos sair mais cedo hoje.

We want to leave earlier today.

This is the pattern you will use most often with querer -- it works exactly like English "I want to..." and is one of the most natural constructions in the language.

Querer que + subjunctive

When the person who wants and the person who acts are different, Portuguese requires querer que followed by the subjunctive. This is one of the first places learners encounter the subjunctive mood.

Quero que venhas à festa.

I want you to come to the party.

Ela quer que eu fique em casa.

She wants me to stay at home.

💡

Whenever querer has a different subject in the dependent clause, the subjunctive is mandatory. "Quero que vens" is incorrect -- it must be "Quero que venhas." If the subjects are the same, use the infinitive instead: "Quero vir à festa" (I want to come to the party). For a deeper look at this pattern, see Wishes and Desires with the Subjunctive.

Querer in European Portuguese politeness

In European Portuguese, using quero to order something is direct but perfectly acceptable -- especially with por favor. You will hear it constantly in cafés and restaurants.

Expression	Register	Example
Quero...	Direct, everyday	Quero um galão, por favor.
Queria...	Softer, more polite	Queria um galão, por favor.
Gostaria de...	Formal, polite	Gostaria de um galão, por favor.

The conditional form queria (I would like) is a common softener, but using quero with por favor is not rude in EP -- it is simply more direct. For more on using the conditional for politeness, see Polite Requests with the Conditional.

Queres boleia?

Do you want a ride?

The word boleia is characteristic of European Portuguese -- it means a ride or a lift. In Brazilian Portuguese, the equivalent would be carona.

Querer dizer -- "to mean"

The expression querer dizer (literally "to want to say") is one of the most useful phrases in Portuguese. It means "to mean."

O que queres dizer?

What do you mean?

O que é que isso quer dizer?

What does that mean?

You will use querer dizer constantly as a learner -- to ask about words you do not know, to clarify what someone said, or to explain yourself. It works for both people ("What do you mean?") and things ("What does this word mean?").

Se quiseres / Se quiser -- a preview

In European Portuguese, the future subjunctive of querer appears in everyday speech far more than you might expect. The forms se quiseres (informal) and se quiser (formal) mean "if you want" and are used constantly to soften suggestions.

Vem, se quiseres.

Come, if you want.

Pode ficar, se quiser.

You can stay, if you want.

These forms belong to a different tense, but they are so common with querer that it is worth recognizing them early. The future subjunctive is covered in detail in later lessons.

Querer vs apetecer

European Portuguese has a second way to express desire or craving: apetecer (to feel like, to fancy). Where querer states a clear want, apetecer describes something that appeals to you. Apetecer is impersonal -- it takes an indirect object pronoun.

Querer (direct want)	Apetecer (feeling like)
Quero um gelado.	Apetece-me um gelado.
Queres ir à praia?	Apetece-te ir à praia?
Querem sair?	Apetece-lhes sair?

Both are correct and widely used. Querer is more direct ("I want"), while apetecer is softer and closer to "I feel like" or "I fancy." In everyday EP conversation, apetece-me is extremely common for food, activities, and casual plans.

Common mistakes

1. Writing *quere instead of quer. The 3rd person singular is quer, not quere. This is the one form that breaks the regular pattern -- do not add the -e back.

2. Forgetting the subjunctive after querer que. When the subjects differ, the verb after que must be in the subjunctive: Quero que venhas (correct), not Quero que vens (incorrect). This is one of the most common errors at the A2 level.

3. Adding a preposition before the infinitive. Unlike some verbs that require de or a before an infinitive, querer takes the infinitive directly: Quero ir (correct), not Quero *de ir* (incorrect).

What comes next

With querer in place, you can explore other modal-style verbs that work the same way: Present Indicative of Poder (can / to be able to) and Present Indicative of Saber (to know). For the conditional form queria and how it softens requests, see Polite Requests with the Conditional.