Querer Conjugation | How to Conjugate Querer in Spanish

¡Te quiero mucho! ¿Quieres bailar? Querer is one of the most used Spanish verbs and you’ll hear it constantly. In this article, I’ll show you all the conjugations of querer. You’ll learn how to conjugate querer in the different Spanish tenses, and I’ll also give you some relevant example sentences to help you practice.

The Spanish verb querer usually means “to want.” Its use is quite similar to the English verb. However, we can also use querer to express affection such as “Te quiero,” which is how we say “I love you.” Querer is an irregular verb. This means that it doesn’t follow a common pattern. Instead, you’ll need to learn each of its different conjugation forms.

The verb querer is one of the most useful verbs to learn when it comes to saying your first phrases in Spanish. You can use it to talk about what you need, what you wish, and what you don’t feel like doing. Furthermore, you can use it to talk about your future plans, to invite people to do something, or to talk about love.

The table below shows you three common conjugations of the verb querer: the infinitive, the gerund, and the past participle.

Here are three example sentences that use the conjugations of querer from the table above:

• Infinitive: No siempre es bueno querer tener la razón. (It’s not always good to want to be right. )
• Gerund: No queriendo reírse, él trató de disimular. (Not wanting to laugh, he tried to keep a straight face.)
• Past Participle: Hubiese querido que las cosas fueran diferentes. (I would’ve wanted things to be different.)

Now that you know the meaning of querer, you can start learning all of its different conjugations. The table below shows all of the different Spanish verb tenses. You can click on a specific one to see the conjugation in that tense.

How to Conjugate Querer in Indicative Tense

The indicative belongs to one of the four Spanish moods. We use this mood to explain facts and statements. The indicative is the most common mood in Spanish and learning its different tenses can help you express most of your ideas. There are 5 different tenses for this mood: present, future, preterite, imperfect, and conditional tense.

Indicative Present

The indicative present tense is used to describe facts or permanent situations. We can use this tense to indicate the state of being of a noun or pronoun at the present moment or a noun or pronoun’s specific characteristic. For example, the conjugation of querer for the pronoun “I” is “Yo quiero,” which means “I want.” Note that this is one of the most commonly used conjugations of querer in the present tense.

In the following table we’ll take a look at the conjugations of querer in the indicative present tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	quiero	I want
Tú	quieres	You want
Vos	querés	You want
Él/Ella/Usted	quiere	He/She wants, You want
Nosotros	queremos	We want
Vosotros	queréis	You want
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	quieren	They want, You want

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the indicative present tense:

• Quiero un beso. (I want a kiss.)
• Nosotros queremos ir a bailar. (We want to go dancing.)
• Ellos quieren hacerte sonreír. (They want to make you smile.)

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Indicative Future

The indicative future tense is used when speaking of the state of being, characteristics, or belonging of a noun or pronoun in the future. We use this tense to show the certainty of a future event. You can also use it when talking about predictions, goals, intentions, or plans.

In the table below, you’ll find the different querer conjugations for the indicative future tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	querré	I will want
Tú	querrás	You will want
Vos	querrás	You will want
Él/Ella/Usted	querrá	She/He/You will want
Nosotros	querremos	We will want
Vosotros	querréis	You will want
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	querrán	They will want, You will want

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the indicative future tense:

• Tal vez vos querrás irte temprano. (Maybe you will want to leave early.)
• Ella querrá visitarlo la próxima vez. (She will want to visit you next time.)
• Ustedes querrán viajar por el mundo cuando sean grandes. (You will want to travel the world when you grow up.)

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Indicative Preterite

The indicative preterite describes events that occurred in the past at a specific time or events that have been completed. This is the most common form of past tense of querer in Spanish. We use it to describe general truths or facts about the past, narrate past events, or talk about ongoing past actions.

Here is a conjunction chart with all of the different forms of querer in the preterite tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	quise	I wanted
Tú	quisiste	You wanted
Vos	quisiste	You wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	quiso	She/He wanted, You wanted
Nosotros	quisimos	We wanted
Vosotros	quisisteis	You wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	quisieron	They wanted, You wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the indicative preterite tense:

• Él quiso aprender distintos idiomas. (He wanted to learn different languages.)
• Nosotros quisimos comer comida peruana. (We wanted to eat Peruvian food.)
• Tú quisiste que las cosas fueran así. (You wanted things like this.)

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Indicative Imperfect

If you want to talk about past actions that are ongoing, the indicative imperfect tense is the one to use. We can use it to describe memories, habits, or traditions. Because of this, the indicative imperfect can also be translated as “used to.” This tense describes recurring past events.

Here’s the conjugation chart for querer in the indicative imperfect tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	quería	I wanted
Tú	querías	You wanted
Vos	querías	You wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	quería	He/She wanted, You wanted
Nosotros	queríamos	We wanted
Vosotros	queríais	You wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	querían	They wanted, You wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the indicative imperfect tense:

• Nosotros queríamos ir a una cita a ciegas. (We want to go on a blind date.)
• Ellas querían aprender a bailar salsa. (They wanted to learn to dance salsa.)
• Quería jugar con los perros que vi en la calle. (I wanted to play with the dogs that I saw on the street.)

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Indicative Conditional

The indicative conditional tense is used to talk about hypothetical situations or theories. It makes requests or questions sound more polite. You’ll typically see this verb tense used in conditional sentences with words like “if.”

In the table below you can see how to conjugate querer in indicative conditional tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	querría	I would want
Tú	querrías	You would want
Vos	querrías	You would want
Él/Ella/Usted	querría	He/She/You would want
Nosotros	querríamos	We would want
Vosotros	querríais	You would want
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	querrían	They would want, You would want

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the indicative conditional tense:

• Ellos dijeron que querrían salir temprano esta vez. (They said they would want to leave early this time.)
• No creo que esto sea lo que él querría. (I don’t think this is what he would want.)
• Si tú pudieras, querrías adoptar a todos los animales aquí. (If you could, you would want to adopt all of the animals here.)

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How to Conjugate Querer in Perfect Tense

Perfect tenses are used to describe past events that have an influence on the present. They are made up of the helping verb haber and the past participle of querer (querido). We’ll cover these perfect tenses: the present perfect, future perfect, past perfect, conditional perfect, and preterite perfect.

Present Perfect

The present perfect tense is used to talk about things that started in the past and continue or repeat in the present. We can also use the present perfect to talk about things that have happened in the recent past.

Take a look at how to conjugate querer in the present perfect tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	He querido	I have wanted
Tú	Has querido	You have wanted
Vos	Has querido	You have wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Ha querido	He/She has wanted, You have wanted
Nosotros	Hemos querido	We have wanted
Vosotros	Habéis querido	You have wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Han querido	They have wanted, You have wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the present perfect tense:

• He querido abrazarte por tanto tiempo. (I have wanted to hug you for a long time.)
• Nosotros hemos querido visitar su tumba desde que falleció. (We have wanted to visit her grave since she passed away.)
• Ellos no han querido verlo todos estos años. (They haven’t wanted to see him all these years.)

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Future Perfect

The future perfect tense helps us discuss events that will happen at a given point in the future. It describes the possibility of what the future could be as well as explain how the past could have or should have been. As you continue to read this article, you will notice that some of the literal translation sentences might not make much sense in English. This is because querer isn’t commonly conjugated in all tenses.

This is how you conjugate querer in the future perfect tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Habré querido	I will have wanted
Tú	Habrás querido	You will have wanted
Vos	Habrás querido	You will have wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Habrá querido	He/She/You will have wanted
Nosotros	Habremos querido	We will have wanted
Vosotros	Habréis querido	You will have wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Habrán querido	They will have wanted, You will have wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the future perfect tense:

• Creo que ella habrá querido decir otra cosa. (I think that she will have wanted to say something different.)
• Sé que habréis querido estudiar Francés. (I know you will have wanted to study French.)
• Habremos querido que ella sea feliz en su matrimonio. (We will have wanted her to be happy in her marriage.)

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Past Perfect (Pluperfect)

The past perfect tense, also known as the pluperfect tense, is used to describe something that happened before another event in the past. It’s typically used in conditional sentences with conjunctions like “if” or “when.”

The table below is a conjunction chart for the verb querer in the past perfect tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Había querido	I had wanted
Tú	Habías querido	You had wanted
Vos	Habías querido	You had wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Había querido	He/She/You had wanted
Nosotros	Habíamos querido	We had wanted
Vosotros	Habíais querido	You had wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Habían querido	They had wanted, You had wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the past perfect tense:

• Habían querido ir al cine después de cenar. (They had wanted to go to the movies after dinner.)
• Habíamos querido viajar a Perú pero no pudimos por el clima. (We had wanted to travel to Peru but we couldn’t due to the weather.)
• Había querido adoptar tres perros si mi mamá aceptaba. (I had wanted to adopt three dogs if my mom accepted.)

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Conditional Perfect

The conditional perfect tense is used to talk about possibilities, opinions, or theories. We use it to make hypotheses about what the past could have or should have been along with making theories about what the future will be.

Here’s how you conjugate the verb querer in the conditional perfect tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Habría querido	I would have wanted
Tú	Habrías querido	You would have wanted
Vos	Habrías querido	You would have wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Habría querido	He/She/You would have wanted
Nosotros	Habríamos querido	We would have wanted
Vosotros	Habríais querido	You would have wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Habrían querido	They would have wanted, You would have wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the conditional perfect tense:

• Habría querido quedarme en casa si supiera que iba a llover. (I would have wanted to stay home if I knew it was going to rain.)
• ¿Qué habrías querido que suceda? (What would you have wanted to happen?)
• No me interesa qué habrían querido, por eso hice las cosas a mi manera. (I don’t care what they would have wanted, that’s why I did things my way.)

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Preterite Perfect (Past Anterior)

The preterite perfect tense, or past anterior, is used to talk about events that happened before other events in the past. We no longer use this tense in modern Spanish because we now use the past perfect tense instead.

In the table below, you’ll find the preterite perfect conjugation chart of querer:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Hube querido	I wanted
Tú	Hubiste querido	You wanted
Vos	Hubiste querido	You wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Hubo querido	He/She/You wanted
Nosotros	Hubimos querido	We wanted
Vosotros	Hubisteis querido	You wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Hubieron querido	They wanted, You wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the preterite perfect tense:

• Cuando hubimos querido comer, comíamos. (When we wanted to eat, we ate.)
• Él hubo querido practicar inglés. (He wanted to practice English.)
• Ustedes hubieron querido hacer deporte. (They wanted to exercise.)

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How to Conjugate Querer in Subjunctive Tense

Subjunctive tenses are used to describe subjective ideas. It’s typically used to express feelings, opinions, or theories. Additionally, it’s used to describe possible actions or situations. The tenses that make up the subjunctive mood are the present subjunctive, future subjunctive, and pluperfect subjunctive.

Present Subjunctive

We use the present subjunctive tense when speaking about hypotheses, theories, or wishes of how the future might be. You’ll commonly find this verb tense used in conditional sentences. We can use it to refer to the future and the present.

Below is the conjunction chart of querer in the present subjunctive tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	quiera	I want
Tú	quieras	You want
Vos	quieras	You want
Él/Ella/Usted	quiera	He/She wants, You want
Nosotros	queramos	We want
Vosotros	queráis	You want
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	quieran	They want, You want

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the present subjunctive tense:

• Quieras o no, vamos a ir al cine esta noche. (Whether you want to or not, we’re going to the movies tonight.)
• Lo que vosotros queráis estará bien. (What you want will be fine.)
• Espero que ellos quieran trabajar esta vez. (I hope they want to work this time.)

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Future Subjunctive

The future subjunctive is rarely used nowadays. It’s used to indicate actions that will have happened in the future at a certain point. You’ll occasionally find it in literary contexts and legal texts as it has been almost completely replaced by the present subjunctive.

In the table below, you’ll find the future subjunctive conjugation chart of querer:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Quisiere	I want
Tú	Quisieres	You want
Vos	Quisieres	You want
Él/Ella/Usted	Quisiere	He/She wants, You want
Nosotros	Quisiéremos	We want
Vosotros	Quisiereis	You want
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Quisieren	They want, You want

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the future subjunctive tense:

• Entiendo que quisieres lo contrario pero no sucederá. (I understand you want the opposite but it’s not happening.)
• A veces qusiéremos vivir en otro país lejos de toda la delincuencia. (Sometimes we want to live in another country far away from all crime.)
• Quisieren prestar atención en clase pero hay mucha bulla. (They want to pay attention in class but there’s too much noise.)

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Imperfect Subjunctive

We use the imperfect subjunctive to talk about hypotheses or possibilities of what the past could have been. It helps us describe something that might happen in the future under certain circumstances. It is common to see this verb in conditional sentences.

Below is the conjunction chart of querer in the imperfect subjunctive tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Quisiera/ Quisiese	I wanted
Tú	Quisieras/ Quisieses	You wanted
Vos	Quisieras/ Quisieses	You wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Quisiera/ Quisiese	She/He/You wanted
Nosotros	Quisiéramos/ Quisiésemos	We wanted
Vosotros	Quisierais/ Quisieseis	You wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Quisieran/ Quisiesen	They/You wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the imperfect subjunctive tense:

• Si quisiera más ingresos, pasaría más tiempo trabajando. (If you wanted more income, you would spend more time working.)
• No todo en la vida será como quisiéramos que sea. (Not everything in life will be how we wanted it to be)
• Quisiese olvidarme de todos mis problemas. (I wanted to forget all of my problems.)

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How to Conjugate Querer in Perfect Subjunctive Tense

Perfect subjunctive tenses help us describe actions that were completed before the sentence’s main clause. It’s used to speak about past actions connected to the present and future actions that may or may not be completed. These are compound tenses, made up of a helping verb (haber) and the past participle of querer (querido). We’ll cover the following perfect subjunctive tenses: the present perfect subjunctive, future perfect subjunctive, and pluperfect subjunctive.

Present Perfect Subjunctive

The present perfect subjunctive tense describes an action that started in the past and is ongoing in the present or has lasting effects. It’s also used to talk about future situations that will take place at a specific time or conditional events.

Below is a conjugation table for querer in the present perfect subjunctive tense:

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Haya querido	I have wanted
Tú	Hayas querido	You have wanted
Vos	Hayas querido	You have wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Haya querido	He/She has wanted/ You have wanted
Nosotros	Hayamos querido	We have wanted
Vosotros	Hayáis querido	You have wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Hayan querido	They/You have wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the present perfect subjunctive tense:

• No es justo que hayan querido que nos desvelemos toda la noche. (It’s not fair that they have wanted us to stay up all night.)
• Lo importante es que hayas querido lo mejor para los niños. (The important thing is that you have wanted the best for the children.)
• Es gracioso que hayamos querido hacer todos nuestros deberes en solo dos horas. (It’s funny that we have wanted to do all our chores in just two hours.)

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Future Perfect Subjunctive

The future perfect subjunctive tense has mostly been replaced by the past or present perfect subjunctive tenses. However, it is useful to understand this tense, since you may come across it in older literature and legal documents. It’s used to describe actions that will happen at a given point in the future.

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Hubiere querido	I have wanted
Tú	Hubieres querido	You have wanted
Vos	Hubieres querido	You have wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Hubiere querido	He/She has wanted/ You have wanted
Nosotros	Hubiéremos querido	We have wanted
Vosotros	Hubiereis querido	You have wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Hubieren querido	They/You have wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the future perfect subjunctive tense:

• Tú hubieres querido lo mejor para ella. (You have wanted the best for her.)
• Ellas hubieren querido ir al gimnasio. (They have wanted to go to the gym.)
• Nosotros hubiéremos querido tener una fiesta grande. (We have wanted to have a big party.)

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Pluperfect Subjunctive

We use the pluperfect subjunctive tense to talk about actions that happened before other actions in the past. Because it belongs to the subjunctive mood, we use it when we want to express something that isn’t certain. We use it to express wishes, theories, or speculations about how the past could have been different.

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation	English Meaning
Yo	Hubiera/ Hubiese querido	I had wanted
Tú	Hubieras/ Hubieses querido	You had wanted
Vos	Hubieras/ Hubieses querido	You had wanted
Él/Ella/Usted	Hubiera/ Hubiese querido	He/She/You had wanted
Nosotros	Hubiéramos/ Hubiésemos querido	We had wanted
Vosotros	Hubierais/ Hubieseis querido	You had wanted
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	Hubieran/ Hubiesen querido	They had wanted/ You had wanted

Here are some example sentences showing how to conjugate querer in the pluperfect subjunctive tense:

• Todo sería diferente si hubiéramos querido quedarnos. (Everything would be different if we had wanted to stay.)
• Yo viajaría si vos hubieses querido. (I would have traveled if you had wanted me to.)
• Ellos hubiesen querido terminar su doctorado pero pasó lo inesperado. (They had wanted to finish their doctorate but the unexpected happened.)

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How to Conjugate Querer in the Imperative Tense

Similar to English, the imperative mood is used to give commands, orders, advice, or make requests. You can use it to ask someone to do or not do something. In Spanish, “no” is used instead of “don’t” in the negative imperative form.

Pronoun	Querer Conjugation (Affirmative)	Querer Conjugation (Negative)	English Meaning
Tú	¡Quiere!	¡No quieras!	Want/ Don’t want!
Vos	¡Queré!	¡No querás!	Want/ Don’t want!
Él/Ella/Usted	¡Quiera!	¡No quiera!	Want/ Don’t want!
Nosotros	¡Queramos!	¡No queramos!	Want/ Don’t want!
Vosotros	¡Quered!	¡No querán!	Want/ Don’t want!
Ellos/Ellas/ Ustedes	¡Quieran!	¡No quieran!	Want/ Don’t want!

Some verbs in Spanish can’t be used in the imperative tense and querer is one of them. It doesn’t sound natural to tell someone ¡Quiere!, since we would be telling them “Want!”.

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Tips for Conjugating Querer Correctly

The verb querer is an irregular, stem-changing, –er verb. Irregular verbs can be quite a challenge. Try to learn the different conjugations of querer in sentences. The example sentences you’ve read in this article are typical, everyday sentences a native Spanish speaker would use depending on the context. If you have someone to practice speaking with, you can kindly ask them to help you and offer corrections.

Here are a couple of common expressions you can use to practice with querer: “¿Qué quiere decir eso?” which means “What’s that supposed to mean?” and “Sin querer” which means that an action is done unintentionally. This reminds me of one of the most famous Mexican comedies of all time, El Chavo del Ocho and his phrase “Fue sin querer queriendo.” which means “I did it without wanting to do it”. Maybe it’s funnier in Spanish but you can still read the meaning of this phrase along with others and have a laugh.

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Querer Conjugation FAQ