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:

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 Many are simply old and outdated.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

Verb CharacteristicProperty
Verb Type-ER
IrregularYes
InfinitiveQuerer
Gerund (Present Participle) FormQueriendo
Past Participle FormQuerido
Synonyms Amar, desear, estimar.

Irregularities:

  • Preterite: quis for all subject pronouns. 
  • Future & Conditional: querr for all subject pronouns.
  • Imperfect subjunctive: quis for all subject pronouns.

Stem Changes: E to IE

  • Present tense: quier except for ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’.
  • Present subjuctive: quier except for ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’.
  • Affirmative imperative: quier except for ‘vosotros’.
  • Negative imperative: quier for all subject pronouns.

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQuieroI want
QuieresYou want
Él / Ella
Usted
QuiereHe/She wants
You (formal) want
NosotrosQueremosWe want
VosotrosQueréisYou want
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QuierenThey want
You (plural) want

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQuiseI wanted
QuisisteYou wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
QuisoHe/She wanted
You (formal) wanted
NosotrosQuisimosWe wanted
VosotrosQuisisteisYou wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QuisieronThey wanted
You (plural) wanted

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQueríaI wanted
I used to want
QueríasYou wanted
You used to want
Él / Ella
Usted
QueríaHe/She wanted
He/She used to want

You (formal) wanted
You (formal) used to want
NosotrosQueríamosWe wanted
We used to want
VosotrosQueríaisYou wanted
You used to want
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QueríanThey wanted
They used to want

You (plural) wanted
You (plural) used to want

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”.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoVoy a quererI’m going to want
Vas a quererYou’re going to want
Él / Ella
Usted
Va a quererHe/She is going to want
You (formal) are going to want
NosotrosVamos a quererWe’re going to want
VosotrosVais a quererYou’re going to want
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Van a quererThey’re going to want
You (plural) are 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?

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQuerréI will want
QuerrásYou will want
Él / Ella
Usted
QuerráHe/She will want
You (formal) will want
NosotrosQuerremosWe will want
VosotrosQuerréisYou (formal) will want
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QuerránThey will want
You (plural) will want

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQuerríaI would want
QuerríasYou would want
Él / Ella
Usted
QuerríaHe/She would want
You (formal) would want
NosotrosQuerríamosWe would want
VosotrosQuerríaisYou would want
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QuerríanThey would want
You (plural) would want

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHe queridoI have wanted
Has queridoYou have wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
Ha queridoHe/She has wanted
You (formal) have wanted
NosotrosHemos queridoWe have wanted
VosotrosHabéis queridoYou have wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Han queridoThey have wanted
You (plural) have wanted

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabía queridoI had wanted
Habías queridoYou had wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
Había queridoHe/She had wanted
You (formal) had wanted
NosotrosHabíamos queridoWe had wanted
VosotrosHabíais queridoYou had wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habían queridoThey had wanted
You (plural) had wanted

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?

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabré queridoI will have wanted
Habrás queridoYou will have wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
Habrá queridoHe/She will have wanted
You (formal) will have wanted
NosotrosHabremos queridoWe will have wanted
VosotrosHabréis queridoYou will have wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habrán queridoThey will have wanted
You (plural) will have wanted

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabría queridoI would have wanted
Habrías queridoYou would have wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
Habría queridoHe/She would have wanted
You (formal) would have wanted
NosotrosHabríamos queridoWe would have wanted
VosotrosHabríais queridoYou would have wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habrían queridoThey would have wanted
You (plural) would have wanted

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.

Progressive TenseFormulaTranslation Example
PresentEstar (present) + queriendoI am wanting
PreteriteEstar (preterite) + queriendoYou were wanting
ImperfectEstar (imperfect) + queriendoHe was wanting
FutureEstar (future) + queriendoWe will be wanting
ConditionalEstar (conditional) + queriendoThey would be wanting

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQuieraI want
QuierasYou want
Él / Ella
Usted
QuieraHe/She want
You (formal) want
NosotrosQueramosWe want
VosotrosQueráisYou want
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QuieranThey want
You (plural) want

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHaya queridoI have wanted
Hayas queridoYou have wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
Haya queridoHe/She has wanted
You (formal) have wanted
NosotrosHayamos queridoWe have wanted
VosotrosHayáis queridoYou have wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Hayan queridoThey have wanted
You (plural) have wanted

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

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQuisieraI wanted
QuisierasYou wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
QuisieraHe/She wanted
You (formal) wanted
NosotrosQuisiéramosWe wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QuisieranThey wanted
You (plural) wanted

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

Castilian Spanish version

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoQuisieseI wanted
QuisiesesYou wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
QuisieseHe/She wanted
You (formal) wanted
NosotrosQuisiésemosWe wanted
VosotrosQuisieseisYou (formal) wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
QuisiesenThey wanted
You (plural) wanted

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHubiera queridoI had wanted
Hubieras queridoYou had wanted
Él / Ella
Usted
Hubiera queridoHe/She had wanted
You (formal) had wanted
NosotrosHubiéramos queridoWe had wanted
VosotrosHubierais queridoYou had wanted
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Hubieran queridoThey had wanted
You (plural) had wanted

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’.

PersonConjugationTranslation
QuiereWant
UstedQuieraWant
VosotrosQueredWant
UstedesQuieranWant

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.

PersonConjugationTranslation
No quierasDon’t want
UstedNo quieraDon’t want
VosotrosNo quieráisDon’t want
UstedesNo quieranDon’t want

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?

  1. 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!

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’.

Daniela Sanchez

¡Hola! Soy Daniela Sanchez, I've been studying Spanish professionally as well as teaching it in Mexico and online for over 10 years. I’ve taught Spanish to a wide array of foreigners from many backgrounds. Over the years, I've made it my mission to work hard on refining many challenging to understand grammar topics to make my students' learning experiences easier, faster and more enjoyable. Read More About Me

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