Querer Conjugation Spanish: 3 Ultimate Ways To Use It With Chunks

¿Qué quieres? Ahh, estoy segura que quieres aprender como utilizar el verbo querer. (What do you want? Ohh, I’m sure you want to learn how to use the verb “to want”.)

The Spanish verb querer is tricky. It means “to want”, but is not always used exactly the same way as its English equivalent… AND it’s an irregular verb, with a special conjugation!

So, what better way to learn its querer conjugation Spanish and when to use it than… you guessed it: with chunks!

1. Chunks with querer in Spanish you cannot live without

Te quiero (I love you in Spanish)

Querer (to want) can work as an alternative to “amar” (to love) in Spanish.

Cory made a whole video about this that you can check out if you’re feeling curious, romantic or both.

You can use it towards people or pets, it doesn’t really work with things, so you can say:

In a real conversation, it could look like this:

Cuando quieras (whenever you want)

It works very similarly, but specifies that we’re talking about when to do something. Sometimes, it also works as an invitation to do something.

For example, waiters might say this when they’re waiting for you to pay for your meal, so you know you can do it now.

Dónde (Where) and quién (who) can also work with this quieras.

Like this:

Ya quisiera (I wish)

This is basically the “I wish” of English. It shows doubt.

At the same time, it clarifies that yes I would like it to be true, but the reality is either the opposite or the thing is very unlikely.

Some variations with ‘Ya quisiera‘

We’re going to save the best one for the end, so stick with us till then if you want an extra chunk, popularized by the beloved Hispanic character El Chavo del Ocho.

There’s probably no Latin-American who wouldn’t recognize it!

2. Conjugating Querer in the present tense

So you feel confident in using this verb today, let’s go over a little role play to show you how to conjugate this verb in the present tense.

3. When to use Querer conjugation Spanish

Here we’re going to talk about the many different uses this verb has in Spanish.

“Many” because if you compare it to English, you’ll find that it can mean as many verbs as: to love, to appreciate, to like, to want, to wish.

The most common way for us to use it would be as “to want” or “to wish” which would be almost interchangeable in Spanish. So, to say things like:

Honestly, guys, we are burning up in Madrid.

Just be ready to get many heat related chunks during these summer months because it is overtaking our lives for real.

As you saw in our first chunk of this lesson, you can use it to say “I love you”. Also, it can actually be closer to “appreciate” than to “love”, depending on the context, but it always means you “like” that person or animal:

• Yo quiero mucho a mis profesores del colegio. (I love my school teachers very much.)

Clearly, this is more about appreciation than love. But if you tell someone:

• Te quiero tanto. (I love you so much.)

It could be closer to the actual “I love you”.

Which basically means that you did something unintentionally. Using this is a sign of embracing the Latin culture as only a native could.

Si no has visto El Chavo del Ocho, anímate, seguro que lo encuentras en algún sitio y seguro que no te arrepientes. (If you haven’t seen El Chavo del Ocho, go ahead, I’m sure you can find it somewhere, and you definitely won’t regret it.)

Remember to check the link in the description and access our free Essential Spanish Chunking kit. It’s filled with chunks meant to open you up not only to the language, but to the culture behind it!

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Now, of all these uses, the only time you can find an exact equivalent between Spanish and English is when you’re using “querer” as “to want” or “to wish”. So the translation for:

• Queremos comer, would certainly be “We want to eat”.

Now, a big difference between these uses, is that though you can also talk about people or pets with “to want” in English, it doesn’t mean what it would in Spanish.

• La quiero mucho. (I love her so much.)  

If you translate this as “I love her so much”, it would have a soft and appreciative tone, whereas the literal translation, “I want her so much”, would quickly take a more aggressive and definitely sexual turn.

4. Recap of Querer Spanish conjugation

Here’s that table we always show you just to recap, so remember we do not even advise on struggling to learn this by memory.

In that case, learn the chunks instead, which will be much easier for you to remember.

You learned that it’s “yo quiero” when you want something, but it’s a bit rude. There are actually way better ways to say that you want something, in Spanish.

Check the video for yo quiero in Spanish.