Questions & Answers about Eu quero corrigir meus erros.
You can drop Eu.
- Eu quero corrigir meus erros. – completely correct.
- Quero corrigir meus erros. – also completely natural and very common.
Portuguese verb endings already show the person (quero = I want), so the subject pronoun (eu) is often omitted unless you want to emphasize I (for contrast, stress, or clarity).
Quero is the conjugated form (present tense, 1st person singular) of the verb querer.
- querer = to want (infinitive)
- eu quero = I want
In a normal sentence with a subject, the first verb must be conjugated:
- Eu quero corrigir… = I want to correct…
- Not Eu querer corrigir… (incorrect in this context).
Quer er – presente do indicativo (present simple):
- eu quero – I want
- você/ele/ela quer – you/he/she wants
- nós queremos – we want
- vocês/eles/elas querem – you all/they want
Portuguese often uses [conjugated verb] + [infinitive] just like English uses want + to + verb.
- Eu quero corrigir meus erros.
= I want to correct my mistakes.
Here:
- quero is conjugated (I want),
- corrigir stays in the infinitive (to correct).
Other similar patterns:
- Eu preciso estudar. – I need to study.
- Eu gosto de ler. – I like to read.
- Eu vou viajar. – I’m going to travel.
Quero is neutral when talking about your own wishes, as in Eu quero corrigir meus erros. It doesn’t sound rude here.
It can sound a bit direct in requests, especially with people you don’t know well:
- Eu quero um café. – can sound a bit demanding.
More polite / softer alternatives:
- Eu gostaria de corrigir meus erros. – I would like to correct my mistakes.
- Eu queria corrigir meus erros. – Literally: I wanted to correct my mistakes (often used as a polite, softer present).
In Brazilian Portuguese (general approximation):
- Eu ≈ “eh-oo” (often almost like “ew” in English)
- quero ≈ “KEH-roo”
- r in quero is a soft flap, like the tt in American “butter”
- corrigir ≈ “ko-hee-ZHEER” (in many accents)
- rr is a strong h/kh sound in most of Brazil (like in “Rio”).
- Final -gir often sounds like “zheer” / “zheeh”
- meus ≈ “meus” (like English “mayo” but shorter, ending with s)
- erros ≈ “EH-hoos” or “EH-hus”
- Initial e is open, like “e” in “bet”.
- rr again is that strong h/kh sound.
So roughly: “ew KEH-roo ko-hee-ZHEER meus EH-hoos” (varies by region).
Because erro is masculine in Portuguese.
Possessive adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun, not with the owner.
For eu (I), the forms are:
- meu – my (masculine singular)
- minha – my (feminine singular)
- meus – my (masculine plural)
- minhas – my (feminine plural)
Since erro (error, mistake) is masculine and plural (erros):
- meus erros = my mistakes ✔
- minhas erros ✘ (wrong gender)
Yes:
- Eu quero corrigir meus erros.
- Eu quero corrigir os meus erros.
Both are correct and common.
os meus erros includes the definite article os:
- Sometimes it adds a small nuance of emphasis or specificity, like “my (own) mistakes”.
- In many everyday contexts, meus erros and os meus erros are interchangeable, and the difference is very subtle or nonexistent in practice.
No preposition is needed here. Corrigir takes a direct object:
- corrigir algo – to correct something
So:
- corrigir meus erros – correct my mistakes ✔
- Not corrigir de meus erros ✘
- Not corrigir em meus erros ✘
Examples:
- O professor corrigiu a prova. – The teacher corrected the test.
- Preciso corrigir esse texto. – I need to correct this text.
They overlap but are used in slightly different ways:
- erro – mistake, error (most general/common)
- Fiz um erro de gramática. – I made a grammar mistake.
- engano – mistake in judgment, misunderstanding, wrong person/number, etc.
- Foi engano. – It was a mistake / you’ve got the wrong person/number.
- falha – failure, flaw, breakdown (often technical or structural)
- Houve uma falha no sistema. – There was a failure in the system.
In Eu quero corrigir meus erros, erros is perfectly natural and the most common choice.
Yes, but the nuance changes.
- Eu quero corrigir meus erros. – neutral, most natural order.
- Quero corrigir meus erros. – same meaning, without eu.
- Meus erros eu quero corrigir. – possible, but sounds more emphatic or stylistic, as if you’re stressing my mistakes (e.g., contrasting them with other things).
For everyday speech and writing, stick to:
- (Eu) quero corrigir meus erros.
Using querer in other tenses:
I wanted to correct my mistakes.
- Eu queria corrigir meus erros. (imperfect; also often used as a polite present)
- Eu quis corrigir meus erros. (preterite; a completed past desire)
I will want to correct my mistakes.
- Eu vou querer corrigir meus erros. (common, using ir + infinitive)
- Eu quererei corrigir meus erros. (future simple; grammatically correct but sounds formal/rare in speech)
Yes, but it changes the meaning:
Eu quero corrigir meus erros.
= I want to correct my mistakes (it’s my wish/intention).Eu estou corrigindo meus erros.
= I am correcting my mistakes (I’m doing it now / in progress).
So:
- quero corrigir – talks about desire or intention.
- estou corrigindo – talks about an action in progress.
It can mean now, soon, or in general, depending on context:
- Without extra context, Eu quero corrigir meus erros usually means a general intention: I want to fix my mistakes (in my life, my work, etc.).
- If you’re talking about something specific (like a test you just took), it can mean now/soon.
Portuguese present tense is flexible and often covers present and near-future intentions.