Breakdown of Quiero oír música en el parque.
Questions & Answers about Quiero oír música en el parque.
In Spanish, when one verb expresses a wish, plan, or ability and is followed by another action, the second verb stays in the infinitive form.
- Querer + infinitive = to want to do something
- Quiero oír música. = I want to listen to music.
- Quiero comer. = I want to eat.
So you say:
- ✅ Quiero oír música. (I want to listen to music.)
- ❌ Quiero oigo música. (wrong – two conjugated verbs together like that is not how Spanish works here)
The difference is similar to “to hear” vs “to listen” in English:
- oír = to hear (simply perceive sound)
- escuchar = to listen (pay attention on purpose)
In practice:
Quiero oír música.
Literally: I want to hear music.
Suggests just having music sounding around you; more passive.Quiero escuchar música.
Literally: I want to listen to music.
Sounds more intentional and is what people usually say when they mean “listen to music” as an activity.
In Spain, if you mean “I want to listen to music in the park” as a deliberate activity, the most natural version is:
- Quiero escuchar música en el parque.
Here música is used in a general, uncountable sense, like “music” in English:
- Quiero oír música. = I want to listen to (some) music.
You normally don’t use an article in Spanish when you mean “music in general” as an activity.
You can say Quiero oír la música, but then la música refers to specific music that both speakers know about, for example:
- There’s a concert starting and you say:
Quiero oír la música desde aquí. = I want to hear the music from here. - Talking about that song or that performance:
Quiero oír la música de esa película.
So:
- General, unspecified: Quiero oír música. ✅
- Specific, known music: Quiero oír la música. ✅ (different nuance)
Yes, música is feminine: la música.
Clues:
- It ends in -a, and many (not all) nouns ending in -a are feminine.
- In dictionaries and examples you will see:
- la música clásica
- esta música
- mucha música
All these markers (la, esta, mucha) are feminine.
Because en means “in / at / on” (location), and a (which combines with el → al) usually means “to” (direction).
en el parque = in the park (location)
→ Quiero oír música en el parque.
I want to listen to music in the park.al parque = to the park (movement toward)
→ Voy al parque. = I’m going to the park.
So you do not say:
- ❌ Quiero oír música al parque. (wrong in this meaning)
Use al only with a + el for movement: Voy al parque, Camino al parque, etc.
Both are grammatical, but the meaning is slightly different:
en el parque = in the park
You and your listener have a specific park in mind, or you’re talking about the park as a known place (e.g. the only park in the area).en un parque = in a park
It’s any park, not a specific one; the exact park doesn’t matter.
Examples:
- Quiero oír música en el parque.
→ Probably the nearby park you both know. - Quiero oír música en un parque tranquilo.
→ Any quiet park; the exact one is not important.
Yes. Spanish word order is fairly flexible. All of these are correct:
- Quiero oír música en el parque. (neutral, most common)
- En el parque quiero oír música. (emphasises the place)
- Música quiero oír en el parque. (unusual; strong emphasis on música)
Changing word order usually changes emphasis, not basic meaning.
In everyday speech, Quiero oír música en el parque is the most natural.
You need a direct object pronoun for “it”, which in Spanish is la when referring to la música.
Two common placements (both correct):
Before the first verb:
- La quiero escuchar en el parque.
- La quiero oír en el parque.
Attached to the infinitive:
- Quiero escucharla en el parque.
- Quiero oírla en el parque.
All four are understandable; the most typical in speech would be:
- Quiero escucharla en el parque.
Main points (standard peninsular/Spain Spanish):
- Quiero → [ˈkje.ro]
- qui- sounds like kye in “kyoto”.
- oír → [oˈiɾ]
- Two syllables: o-ÍR; you clearly pronounce both vowels: o-ir, not like “wir”.
- Stress on the second syllable (ír).
- música → [ˈmu.si.ka]
- Stress on MÚ- (first syllable).
- en el → usually flows together: sounds like e-nel.
- parque → [ˈpaɾ.ke]
- The r is a single tap, like the American English t in “water” (fast speech).
Spoken smoothly, it’s roughly:
KYE-ro o-EER MÚ-si-ka e-nel PÁR-ke
More polite/softer options:
Using me gustaría (very common and polite):
- Me gustaría escuchar música en el parque.
= I’d like to listen to music in the park.
- Me gustaría escuchar música en el parque.
Using the conditional of querer:
- Querría escuchar música en el parque.
- Quisiera escuchar música en el parque. (a bit more formal/soft)
In everyday modern Spain, Me gustaría escuchar música en el parque is very natural and polite.
Two common options, depending on context:
Quería escuchar música en el parque.
- Imperfect tense (quería)
- Describes an ongoing desire, background feeling, or something habitual:
- When I was younger, I wanted to listen to music in the park.
Quise escuchar música en el parque.
- Simple past (quise)
- Refers to a specific, completed moment of wanting:
- At that moment, I wanted to listen to music in the park (but maybe I couldn’t).
Most of the time in storytelling or general past descriptions, you’ll use:
- Quería escuchar música en el parque.
You normally don’t use querer in the continuous (estar + gerundio) in Spanish.
- Estoy queriendo… sounds strange or unnatural in almost all everyday contexts.
Instead, even for a current, present desire, Spanish just uses the simple present:
- Quiero oír/escuchar música en el parque.
= I want to listen to music in the park (right now / these days).
So:
- ❌ Estoy queriendo oír música en el parque. (avoid)
- ✅ Quiero escuchar música en el parque.