Querer Conjugation 101: Conjugate Querer in Spanish

Querer is one of most common -ER verbs you’ll ever use in Spanish. Since it has some irregularities, in this guide, you’ll find charts for the most frequently used querer conjugations. Below is a summary of what you’ll learn:

• Querer Overview 
• Indicative Tenses of Querer Conjugations
  • Present tense
  • Preterite tense
  • Imperfect tense
  • Near Future tense
  • Future tense
  • Conditional tense
  • Present Perfect tense
  • Past Perfect tense
  • Future Perfect tense
  • Conditional Perfect tense
  • Progressive tenses
• Subjunctive Tenses of Querer Conjugations 
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Querer Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Querer Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Querer Conjugation Practice Quiz

Take Note: There are many tenses in Spanish. However, we don’t use them all. Many are simply old and outdated. As a result, in this guide, you’ll only learn the tenses you need to know to become fluent in Spanish. 

Overview of Querer

Indicative Conjugations of Querer

Present tense

The present tense conjugations of ‘querer’ have an -E to -IE stem change for all subjects except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. You can check these changes in the conjugation chart below. In the present tense, ‘querer’ is used to talk about current wishes or to express affection towards someone. Yo quiero mucho a mi mamá –for example.

Preterite tense

All the preterite conjugations of querer are irregular. Quis- is the stem you must use to conjugate ‘querer’ to the preterite tense. These conjugations refer to the wishes or feelings someone had at a specific moment in the past. Sammy te quiso mucho.

Take Note: With regular verbs, the preterite endings for ‘yo’ and ‘él/ella/usted’ have an accent mark. However, the accent is omitted in verbs that are irregular in the preterite tense.

Imperfect tense

 Querer is a regular verb when conjugated to the imperfect tense. We use the past imperfect of ‘querer’ to talk about things you used to want or feelings you had for someone at some point in the past. In this tense, querer is commonly used to request things politely. Quería ver si me puedes ayudar.

Near future

 In Spanish, the near future is used to refer to things you want at some point in the immediate future. Creo que voy a querer otro pedazo de pizza. The near future of this verb is formed with ir (present) + a + querer and can be translated as “going to want”.

Future simple tense

All the conjugations for the future tense of ‘querer’ are irregular. To form this tense, you must use the stem querr for all subject pronouns. Use ‘querer’ in the future simple to talk about future wishes or affections. For instance: ¿algún día querrás casarte?

Conditional tense

 To conjugate querer to the conditional tense, you must use the irregular stem querr for all subjects. The conditional forms of ‘querer’ are used to talk about the things you would want under certain circumstances.

Present perfect tense

The present perfect of ‘querer’ is formed with the formula ‘haber’ + querer’s past participle (querido). This tense is used to talk about the love you have had or things you have wanted. For example: siempre he querido visitar Europa.

Past perfect

Querer conjugated to the past perfect tense refers to the love someone had or the things that person wanted before some other reference point in the past. Hasta ese momento, yo la había querido mucho. The formula for the past perfect is haber (imperfect form) + querido.

Future perfect

To form the future perfect of ‘querer’, conjugate haber to the future tense and add querido (the past participle of ‘querer’). With this tense, ‘querer’ is used to talk about the things someone wants by or before a certain time in the future. For instance: ¿qué habrá querido decir Juan ayer?

Conditional perfect

‘Querer’ conjugated to the conditional perfect tense refers to things you would have wanted. For example: Cecy habría querido conocer a tus amigos.

Progressive tenses

The progressive tenses of ‘querer’ are used to express that a person wants something at the moment of speaking. These tenses may not be as frequently used in daily-life conversations.

Querer Subjunctive Conjugations

In Spanish, the subjunctive mood is used to talk about wishes, hypothetical situations or express uncertainty. The conjugation charts below show the subjunctive forms of querer.

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive conjugations of ‘querer’ are formed by using the irregular stem ‘quier’. This rule is not applicable to ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. In the present subjunctive, ‘querer’ allows you to express uncertainty about someone’s feelings or the things they want to do. For instance: no creo que la quiera.

Present perfect subjunctive

The present perfect subjunctive of ‘querer’ can be used to communicate hypotheses or uncertainty about what people wanted. Haber in the present subjunctive + querido is the structure you should use to build this tense. Dudo que Peter haya querido lastimarte.

Imperfect subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive forms of ‘querer’ are frequently used to request things politely. For example, quisiera un café con leche, por favor. 

The imperfect subjunctive has two conjugation models depending on which type of Spanish you’re using:

Latin American Spanish version

Note: The table above doesn’t include the conjugation for vosotros because this pronoun is not used in Latin American Spanish.

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

In the past perfect subjunctive, querer is used to talk about past wishes you had, but that you can no longer have. For example: hubiera querido aprender otro idioma.

Querer Imperative Conjugations

Commands in Spanish (Imperative Mood) allow you to tell people what to do (affirmative commands) or what not to do (negative commands). However, the imperative forms of ‘querer’ may not be very common because you cannot order people to love someone, to want or wish for something.

Affirmative commands

The affirmative commands of ‘querer’ can be used to command people to love someone or want something. For instance: quiérete más, hija. With the exception of ‘vosotros’, all subject pronouns use the irregular stem ‘quier’.

Negative commands

Since the negative imperative conjugations are based on the present subjunctive, all forms of ‘querer’ are irregular. Negative commands are used to command people to not love or want something. For example: no la quieras a ella, quiéreme a mí.

Meanings of Querer & Examples

Now that you’ve learned the most important conjugations for ‘querer’, here are some common applications for this verb: 

1. Express wishes and things you want 

¿Quién quiere más pastel?
Who wants more cake?

Creo que Luke quería decirte algo. 
I think Luke wanted to tell you something. 

¿Qué crees que quiera Laura?
What do you think Laura wants?

2. Express affection 

Mi abuelita nos quería mucho. 
My granny loved us very much. 

Yo quise muchísimo a mi perrito. 
I loved my dog very much. 

Take Note: Although in this context ‘querer’ means ‘to love’, in Spanish, this verb is not as intense as amar. Check this article if you want to learn more about the difference between ‘te amo’ and ‘te quiero’. 

Download Querer Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

I’ve created a PDF for you to download containing all of the conjugation tables, verb characteristics, and uses so you can study it at your own pace!

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Querer Conjugation

To conjugate querer, you need to be aware of all its particular stem changes and irregularities. You can practice your conjugation skills with this verb by taking the conjugation quiz for ‘querer’.