Querer Examples, Sentences & Quiz in Portuguese

querer — to want — is one of the verbs you will use every day in Portuguese. It is a irregular -er verb, and it comes up in conversation, at work and at home. It expresses wishes, wants and polite requests, and it is the verb behind invitations and offers. It can take a noun or an infinitive, and its pretérito perfeito is irregular — quis, quiseste, quis — while the present is regular apart from the ele form quer. On this page you will find querer in real sentences, grouped by meaning and tense, two short texts that show it in context, the mistakes learners actually make with it, and a ten-question quiz with explained answers. Start with the examples, say them aloud, and then test yourself. The full conjugation tables are on the querer conjugation page, and the deep dive into its most practised tense is on the querer pretérito perfeito tense page.

Example sentences with querer

In the present tense

  • “Eu quero um café todos os dias.” — “I want a coffee”
  • “Tu queres um café todos os dias.” — “You want a coffee”
  • “Ele quer um café todos os dias.” — “He wants a coffee”
  • “Nós queremos um café todos os dias.” — “We want a coffee”
  • “Vós quereis um café todos os dias.” — “You want a coffee”
  • “Eles querem um café todos os dias.” — “They want a coffee”

In the pretérito perfeito

  • “Eu quis um café ontem.” — “I wanted a coffee”
  • “Tu quiseste um café ontem.” — “You wanted a coffee”
  • “Ele quis um café ontem.” — “He wanted a coffee”
  • “Nós quisemos um café ontem.” — “We wanted a coffee”
  • “Vós quisestes um café ontem.” — “You wanted a coffee”
  • “Eles quiseram um café ontem.” — “They wanted a coffee”

In other tenses

The same verb in the pretérito imperfeito, the futuro do presente, the futuro do pretérito, the presente do subjuntivo and the imperative — the tenses that complete the picture. All forms come from the verified tables.

  • “Eu queria um café antigamente.” — “I used to want a coffee”
  • “Tu quererás um café amanhã.” — “You will want a coffee”
  • “Ele quereria um café um dia.” — “He would want a coffee”
  • “É importante que nós queiramos um café.” — “It is important that we want a coffee”
  • “Quer um café!” — “Want a coffee!”

How querer is used

The first thing to know about querer is its core meaning: to want. It expresses wishes, wants and polite requests, and it is the verb behind invitations and offers. It can take a noun or an infinitive, and its pretérito perfeito is irregular — quis, quiseste, quis — while the present is regular apart from the ele form quer. In everyday speech it appears most often in the present and the pretérito perfeito, the two tenses on this page, because most of what we say is either what we do every day or what we have just done. Learn those two tenses first and the rest of the conjugation becomes a matter of adding forms one at a time. The second thing to know is the company querer keeps. The present eu form is quero, and it pairs naturally with the time words todos os dias and sempre for habits, and with agora for what is happening right now. The pretérito perfeito composto eu form is tenho querido, and it pairs with ontem and esta semana for finished actions. When you learn a verb form, learn its time words with it, and choosing the tense becomes automatic. The third thing to know is what querer does not do. It never appears as a bare infinitive after a subject pronoun — after eu you need quero, never querer. It never takes the wrong auxiliary in the perfect tenses: the pretérito perfeito composto is tenho querido, built with ter, and the other auxiliary does not belong here. And its participle querido is given in the masculine singular form in the tables, with agreement depending on the sentence, not on the verb table.

Querer in context

Eu quero um café todos os dias. Tu queres um café todos os dias. Ele quer um café todos os dias. Nós queremos um café todos os dias. That is a normal part of the routine, and that is why the present of querer is the first form worth learning. Each sentence uses a different person, so read them aloud and notice how the form changes — quero, queres, quer, queremos — while the meaning stays the same: to want. Eu quis um café ontem. Tu quiseste um café ontem. Ele quis um café ontem. Nós quisemos um café ontem. That was a normal day, but it is exactly on days like this that the pretérito perfeito of querer appears constantly: a finished action, a precise moment, and the story goes on. Compare these sentences with the present ones above: the verb changes tense, but the basic meaning — to want — does not change. That is the difference between a habit and a finished event.

Common mistakes

1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

✗ Wrong: “Eu querer um café.”

✓ Right: “Eu quero um café todos os dias.”

The infinitive querer never takes a subject. After eu you need the conjugated present form quero.

2. Using the wrong person

✗ Wrong: “Eu queres um café.”

✓ Right: “Eu quero um café todos os dias.”

queres is the tu form, not the eu form. The eu form is quero — check the person before you write the form.

3. Using the present for a finished past action

✗ Wrong: “Eu quero um café ontem.”

✓ Right: “Eu quis um café ontem.”

Ontem points to the past, so use the pretérito perfeito quis here, not the present quero.

4. Mixing up the auxiliary

✗ Wrong: “Eu sou querido um café.”

✓ Right: “Eu tenho querido um café esta semana.”

querer takes ter in the pretérito perfeito composto. The eu form is tenho querido — the other auxiliary never belongs with this verb.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on querer across the tenses. Answers with explanations follow each question.

  1. What is the tu form of querer in the Present indicative (presente)?

    • A) quero
    • B) queres
    • C) quer
    • D) queremos

  2. What is the eu form of querer in the Pretérito perfeito composto?

    • A) tens querido
    • B) tem querido
    • C) tenho querido
    • D) temos querido

  3. What is the ele/ela form of querer in the Pretérito imperfeito?

    • A) querias
    • B) queríamos
    • C) queríeis
    • D) queria

  4. What is the nós form of querer in the Futuro do presente?

    • A) quereremos
    • B) quererei
    • C) quererás
    • D) quererá

  5. What is the tu form of querer in the Futuro do pretérito?

    • A) quereria
    • B) quererias
    • C) quereríamos
    • D) quereríeis

  6. What is the eu form of querer in the Pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples?

    • A) quiseras
    • B) quiséramos
    • C) quisera
    • D) quiséreis

  7. What is the nós form of querer in the Presente do subjuntivo?

    • A) queira
    • B) queiras
    • C) queirais
    • D) queiramos

  8. What is the gerund of querer?

    • A) querendo
    • B) querido
    • C) querer
    • D) quero

  9. What is the past participle of querer?

    • A) querendo
    • B) querido
    • C) querer
    • D) quero

  10. What does querer mean in English?

  • A) to be
  • B) to have
  • C) to want
  • D) —

Answer key

  1. B) queres — the correct form is queres. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  2. C) tenho querido — the correct form is tenho querido. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  3. D) queria — the correct form is queria. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  4. A) quereremos — the correct form is quereremos. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  5. B) quererias — the correct form is quererias. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  6. C) quisera — the correct form is quisera. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  7. D) queiramos — the correct form is queiramos. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  8. A) querendo — the correct form is querendo. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  9. B) querido — the correct form is querido. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  10. C) to want — the correct form is to want. The other options are other forms of the same verb.

Frequently asked questions

What does querer mean in English?

querer means “to want”. You use it whenever you talk about to want in Portuguese, in the present, the past and the future.

Is querer regular or irregular?

querer is irregular. querer is irregular in pretérito perfeito, pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples, presente do subjuntivo, pretérito imperfeito do subjuntivo, futuro do subjuntivo, imperativo afirmativo, imperativo negativo — learn those forms as a set.

What are the gerund and past participle of querer?

The gerund is querendo and the past participle is querido. The perfect tenses use ter + querido.

Where can I see the full conjugation of querer?

On the querer conjugation page — every tense, every person, with tables. The querer pretérito perfeito tense page goes deeper into its most practised tense.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for querer, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

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