Querer Past Tense Conjugation: Preterite & Imperfect

The verb ”querer” means ‘to want’ or ‘to love’ in Spanish. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to conjugate ”querer” in the preterite and imperfect tenses, which are both forms of the past tense. You’ll also see examples of how to use the verb.
Let’s Learn About Querer
Sara and Melisa are talking about what they wanted to do last year for vacation. The verb ‘to want’ in Spanish is querer. Querer can also mean ‘to love’. In this lesson, we’ll learn how to use querer correctly for ‘to want’ and ‘to love’. We’ll also learn how to conjugate the verb querer in the preterite and imperfect tenses. And lastly, we’ll check in with Sara and Melisa to see what they wanted to do on vacation..

All verbs in this lesson will be conjugated in the indicative mood. Also, remember that in Spanish, pronouns are only used when needed to specify who is speaking. For example, pronouns are necessary for the third-person singular (él, ella, usted), but not for the second person (tú).

‘To Love’ or ‘To Want’
The verb querer can mean ‘to love’ or ‘to want’ depending on how it’s used. It’s most commonly used to mean ‘to want’. For this context, you’ll use a verb + object or verb construction. For example:

Quise una manzana. (I wanted an apple.)
I wanted an apple.
I wanted an apple
Ellos quisieron ir a la playa. (They wanted to go to the beach.)
In order to use querer to mean ‘to love’, you will use an object pronoun or the personal a+ object. For example:

Él la quiso. (He loved her.)
Quisimos a nuestro perro. (We loved our dog.)
Querer in the Preterite Tense
The preterite tense is used to talk about things that happened in the immediate past. The verb querer in the preterite tense specifically means that you wanted or loved something in the past, but you no longer want or love that person or thing. The verb querer is irregular in the preterite tense.

Subject Pronoun Preterite Tense Pronunciation Translation
yo quise KEY-say I wanted/loved
tú quisiste key-SEE-stay You (informal) wanted/loved
él, ella, usted quiso KEY-so He, she, you (formal) wanted/loved
nosotros/nosotras quisimos key-SEE-mose We wanted/loved
vosotros/vosotras quisisteis key-see-STAY-ees You (plural, informal) wanted/loved
ellos, ellas, ustedes quisieron key-see-EH-rone They (male, female), you (plural, informal) wanted/loved
Examples in the Preterite
Here are some more examples of querer in preterite tense:

Te quise con toda mi corazón, pero ya no. (I loved you with all my heart, but not anymore.)
Los niños no quisieron limpiar su cuarto. (The children didn’t want to clean their room.)
Mi esposo no quiso ir hasta que vio las fotos del lugar. (My husband didn’t want to go until he saw the photos of the place.)
He didn
Now let’s check in with Sara and Melisa:

Sara: Hola Melisa, que gusto verte. (Hi Melisa, how good to see you.)

Melisa: Igual. ¿Como estás? (Same. How are you?)

Sara: Muy bien, apenas regresé de vacaciones. (Very good, I just returned from vacation.)

Melisa:¡Genial! ¿Donde fuiste? (Cool! Where did you go?)

Sara: Pues, mi esposo y yo fuimos a Anguila. Realmente, él no quiso ir hasta que vio las fotos del lugar. (Well, my husband and I went to Anguilla. Actually, he didn’t want to go until he saw pictures of the place.)

Melisa: Que bueno que le convenciste. (It’s good that you convinced him.)

Querer in the Imperfect Tense
The imperfect tense is used to talk about things that happened repeatedly in the past. The verb querer in the imperfect tense specifically means that you wanted or loved something in the past, and it is possible that you still want or love that person or thing in the present. The verb querer is regular in the imperfect tense. It follows the normal pattern for -er/-ir verbs.