Querer conjugation: main tenses of "to want, to love" in Spanish
Querer means "to want, to love". Irregular -er verb (e → ie, preterite quis-). Present tense: quiero, quieres, quiere, queremos, queréis, quieren. Preterite: quise, quisiste, quiso… The past participle is querido and the gerund is queriendo.
Infinitive
querer
Pronunciation
keh-REHR
IPA
/keˈɾeɾ/
Meaning
to want, to love
Type
Irregular -er verb (e → ie, preterite quis-)
Gerund
queriendo
Past participle
querido
Pronunciation is spelled out in English, one syllable at a time, with the stressed syllable in capitals. Highlighted forms differ from the regular pattern. Tap any form to hear it.
Querer in the indicative
PresentePresent
what happens now or usually
yo
quiero (irregular)
tú
quieres (irregular)
él / ella / usted
quiere (irregular)
nosotros
queremos
vosotros
queréis
ellos / ellas / ustedes
quieren (irregular)
Pretérito indefinidoPreterite
a finished action in the past
yo
quise (irregular)
tú
quisiste (irregular)
él / ella / usted
quiso (irregular)
nosotros
quisimos (irregular)
vosotros
quisisteis (irregular)
ellos / ellas / ustedes
quisieron (irregular)
Pretérito imperfectoImperfect
an ongoing or repeated action in the past
yo
quería
tú
querías
él / ella / usted
quería
nosotros
queríamos
vosotros
queríais
ellos / ellas / ustedes
querían
Futuro simpleFuture
what will happen
yo
querré (irregular)
tú
querrás (irregular)
él / ella / usted
querrá (irregular)
nosotros
querremos (irregular)
vosotros
querréis (irregular)
ellos / ellas / ustedes
querrán (irregular)
Condicional simpleConditional
what would happen
yo
querría (irregular)
tú
querrías (irregular)
él / ella / usted
querría (irregular)
nosotros
querríamos (irregular)
vosotros
querríais (irregular)
ellos / ellas / ustedes
querrían (irregular)
Pretérito perfectoPresent perfect
haber + past participle: what has happened
yo
he querido
tú
has querido
él / ella / usted
ha querido
nosotros
hemos querido
vosotros
habéis querido
ellos / ellas / ustedes
han querido
Compound tenses of querer
The helper verb is conjugated while querer stays in one form: the participle querido, the gerund queriendo or the infinitive.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto Past perfect
había querido, habías querido, había querido, habíamos querido, habíais querido, habían querido
voy a querer, vas a querer, va a querer, vamos a querer, vais a querer, van a querer
Querer in the subjunctive
Presente de subjuntivoPresent subjunctive
after quiero que, espero que, cuando
yo
quiera (irregular)
tú
quieras (irregular)
él / ella / usted
quiera (irregular)
nosotros
queramos
vosotros
queráis
ellos / ellas / ustedes
quieran (irregular)
Imperfecto de subjuntivoImperfect subjunctive
after si and quería que
yo
quisiera (irregular)
tú
quisieras (irregular)
él / ella / usted
quisiera (irregular)
nosotros
quisiéramos (irregular)
vosotros
quisierais (irregular)
ellos / ellas / ustedes
quisieran (irregular)
The imperfect subjunctive has a second, equally correct set of forms in -se; swap -ra for -se: quisiera → quisiese.
Querer in the imperative
Imperativoaffirmative
telling someone to do it
tú
quiere
usted
quiera
nosotros
queramos
vosotros
quered
ustedes
quieran
Imperativo negativonegative
telling someone not to: no + the subjunctive
tú
no quieras
usted
no quiera
nosotros
no queramos
vosotros
no queráis
ustedes
no quieran
What is irregular about querer
In the present the stressed stem vowel changes e → ie: quiero, quieres, quiere, quieren, but queremos, queréis; the present subjunctive does the same (quiera, queramos). The preterite uses the stem quis- with unaccented endings: quise, quisiste, quiso. The future and conditional drop the e and end up with a double r: querré, querría. Only that second r separates querría from the imperfect quería.
Common mistakes with querer
quereré, querería→querré, querría
The future and conditional drop the e, leaving a double r. With a single r, quería is the imperfect: "I wanted".
Quiero que vienes.→Quiero que vengas.
Wanting someone else to do something takes que + subjunctive. The infinitive works only when the subject is the same: Quiero venir.
Quiero mi madre.→Quiero a mi madre.
Loving a person needs the preposition a. Without it, querer means wanting a thing: Quiero un café.
When to use querer
Querer + noun or infinitive is "to want"; querer a + person is "to love", and Te quiero is said to family, friends and partners alike. Quisiera and quería are the polite ways to ask for something in a shop or a restaurant. In the preterite, no quiso means "refused".
Querer in sentences
Quiero aprender español. I want to learn Spanish.
No quiso venir a la fiesta. He refused to come to the party.
De niña quería ser médica. As a child I wanted to be a doctor.
Quisiera una mesa para dos. I'd like a table for two.
Haz lo que quieras. Do whatever you want.
How to remember querer
querer[keh-REHR] sounds like the English “carer”. Picture this:
The carer wants only one thing: that everyone is tucked in, fed, and smiling.
A sound-alike plus a vivid scene is the keyword method: the sound pulls the meaning along. How it works.
Practice the querer conjugation
Practice querer
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FAQ
Is querer a regular or irregular verb?
Irregular -er verb (e → ie, preterite quis-). In the tables on this page, 35 forms differ from the regular pattern; they are highlighted.
Tables: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and UniMorph, CC BY-SA 3.0, cross-checked on September 30, 2026. Notes on mistakes and the examples were written with the help of our model (AI); every form in the examples is matched against the chart, and the text was proofread separately. How we make it.