Querer: Full Conjugation

Querer means both "to want" and "to love." Used with a thing or an infinitive, it means "to want" (quiero un café, quiero dormir). Used with a person, it typically means "to love" in a deep but not specifically romantic way — it's the everyday verb for loving family, friends, and partners.

Querer is an e → ie stem-changing verb. Its preterite takes the irregular stem quis- (quise, quisiste, quiso). Its future and conditional use the shortened stem querr- with a double r.

Present Indicative

Preterite

The preterite of querer often carries special meaning: quise = "I tried (but failed)" and no quise = "I refused."

Imperfect

Future

Conditional

Present Subjunctive

Imperfect Subjunctive (-ra forms)

The form quisiera is used constantly for polite requests — it's the most common polite way to say "I would like."

Imperative

Commands of querer are rare. The most common use is in fixed phrases like no quieras saberlo ("you don't want to know").

Non-Finite Forms

• Infinitive: querer
• Gerund: queriendo
• Past participle: querido

Compound Tenses

The compound tenses use haber plus the past participle querido.

Present Perfect

Pluperfect

Future Perfect

Conditional Perfect

Present Perfect Subjunctive

Pluperfect Subjunctive

Progressive Forms

Progressive forms use estar with the gerund queriendo. They are uncommon since querer is essentially stative, but they emphasize an unfolding desire.

Present Progressive

Past Progressive

Future Progressive

Common Collocations and Expressions

• querer decir — to mean
• sin querer — accidentally, unintentionally
• queriendo — intentionally, on purpose
• como quieras — as you wish, whatever you want
• donde quieras — wherever you want
• cuando quieras — whenever you want
• querer es poder — where there's a will, there's a way
• te quiero / te amo — I love you (familial vs. romantic)
• quiéralo o no — like it or not
• quien bien te quiere te hará llorar — those who love you will sometimes hurt you (proverb)
• a su manera / a su antojo — as one wants
• ¡yo qué quiero! — what do I know what I want
• querer sin medida — to love without limits
• no querer ni ver — to not even want to see (someone)

Common Errors (for English speakers)

• ❌ Te amo (in everyday use with parents and friends) / ✅ Te quiero — te amo is too intense for non-romantic relationships in most contexts.
• ❌ Quero un café. / ✅ Quiero un café. — Don't forget the e → ie stem change in the present.
• ❌ Quiero que vienes. / ✅ Quiero que vengas. — Querer que triggers the subjunctive in the dependent clause.
• ❌ Querí ir contigo. / ✅ Quería ir contigo. — The imperfect is regular: quería, not querí.
• ❌ Quiero a un café. / ✅ Quiero un café. — Don't use the personal a before things, only before specific people: quiero a Juan vs. quiero un libro.
• ❌ Querría sin querer. / ✅ Lo hice sin querer. — Sin querer is a fixed adverbial expression.

Related Verbs

• amar — "to love" (more romantic, more literary).
• desear — "to wish, desire" (a bit more formal than querer).
• anhelar — "to long for, yearn" (literary).
• apetecer — "to feel like, fancy" (impersonal: me apetece un café).
• gustar — "to be pleasing" — different syntax but related semantically.
• poder — modal companion: querer es poder.

Cross-references

• Stem-changing verbs e → ie
• Conditional for polite requests
• Subjunctive triggers: wishes
• Poder: full conjugation
• Te quiero vs. te amo