Quiero beber agua.

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Breakdown of Quiero beber agua.

• querer: to want
• el agua: the water
• beber: to drink

Questions & Answers about Quiero beber agua.

Why is it quiero and not quieres?

The word quiero is the first-person singular form of the verb querer, meaning I want, while quieres is the second-person singular form, meaning you want. Since the sentence expresses what I want, we use quiero.

Why do we say beber instead of tomar?

Both beber and tomar can mean to drink in Spanish. In everyday conversation, tomar is often used more generally (for example, tomar un café = to have a coffee), while beber is specifically focused on the act of drinking. In Spain, it’s very common to say beber agua for to drink water.

Why isn’t there an article before agua?

In Spanish, articles can be omitted when you’re speaking in very general terms about something, especially when talking about food or drink in a non-specific sense. Since this sentence just expresses wanting to drink water in general (not a specific glass of water), no article is required.

Isn’t agua feminine? Why don’t we say la agua?

Yes, agua is a feminine noun. However, when a feminine noun starts with a stressed a sound, Spanish uses the article el to avoid the repetition of a sounds (for example, el agua). Even though it uses el, agua remains feminine, so adjectives referring to it must be in the feminine form (e.g., el agua fría).

How could I make this sentence more polite if I’m asking for water?

A common way in Spanish to sound more polite or softer in requests is to use quisiera (subjunctive form of querer) or me gustaría. For instance, you could say Quisiera beber agua or Me gustaría beber agua, which both convey a more polite request than Quiero beber agua.