Querer: Saying What You Want
Querer lets you express a want directly, while tone and courtesy keep it friendly. Use quiero and quiere with simple nouns and everyday actions.
Learning objective
Use quiero and quiere to express simple wants politely.
Querer is a verb that can mean to want. Use quiero for what the speaker wants: Quiero agua means I want water. Use quiere with usted, él, or ella: ¿Quiere café? can mean Would you like coffee? when respectfully addressing one person in a service exchange.
Tú uses quieres, nosotros or nosotras uses queremos, and ustedes, ellos, or ellas uses quieren. Quiero, quieres, quiere, and quieren change the middle e of querer to ie, while queremos does not. This is called a stem change, meaning part of the verb before its ending changes in certain forms.
Quiero is direct, but it is not automatically rude. Context, voice, and courtesy matter. Quiero un café, por favor is a workable polite request in many settings. Quisiera un café, meaning I would like a coffee, can sound softer, but a bare formula never replaces attentive tone and local expectations.
A verb can follow a form of querer in its infinitive, the unchanged dictionary form: Quiero comer means I want to eat, and Quiere hablar means He, she, or you want to speak. The first verb changes for the subject; the second remains in its infinitive form.
Examples
Quiero agua.
I want water.
Quiero expresses the speaker's want.
¿Quiere café?
Would you like coffee?
In context, quiere can politely ask one person addressed as usted.
Quiero un café, por favor.
I want a coffee, please.
Courtesy and friendly delivery support the direct request.
Ella quiere comer.
She wants to eat.
Quiere changes, while the infinitive comer remains unchanged.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- Yo quiere una ensalada.
- Try
- Yo quiero una ensalada. / Quiero una ensalada.
The speaker requires quiero, while quiere matches usted, él, or ella. The subject pronoun yo can be omitted because quiero already identifies the speaker. Una agrees with the feminine singular noun ensalada, so the corrected request also preserves article-and-noun matching.
Practice
Try it yourself
Complete with quiero or quiere: Yo ___ agua; Usted ___ café; Ella ___ comer. Then turn the first two into courteous service phrases with por favor where appropriate.