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Portuguese Verbs: Expressing Wishes and Desires


Expressing wishes and desires is one of the most important things to work on when learning a foreign language, because being able to say what you want is extremely important when trying to make your way in a foreign country. In this post, we look at two Portuguese verbs, querer and gostar, that enable you to do so. Once you’ve finished reading this post, it’s advisable to book a personalized lesson with one of our Portuguese tutors to help you work on using this vocabulary.


Using “Querer”

Querer, “to want,” is the most common Portuguese verb used for expressing wishes and desires, and the one you should work on first. It’s an irregular verb, so you can’t just use the normal Portuguese rules of verb conjugation—you have to look at the verb table. For example, the third-person present tense form is quer, rather than quere. The simple past, pluperfect, and all three subjunctive tenses are also completely irregular. Below, we go through the most useful forms of querer.


If you’re not familiar with Portuguese personal pronouns, the ones below translate as follows: eu – I, tu – you (informal), nós – we, ele – he/it, ela – she/it, você – you (singular), eles/elas – they, and vocês – you (plural).


Infinitive; “to want”

Querer


Gerund; “wanting”

Querendo


Past participle; “wanted”

Querido(a)

Note: querido(a) is more often used as a term of endearment, meaning something like “beloved,” than it is as the past participle of querer.


Indicative mood: simple present; “want”

Eu quero

Tu queres

Nós queremos

Ele/ela/você quer

Eles/elas/vocês querem


Indicative mood: simple past; “wanted”

Eu quis

Tu quiseste

Nós quisemos

Ele/ela/você quis

Eles/elas/vocês quiseram


Indicative mood: past imperfect; “wanted, used to want”

Eu queria

Tu querias

Nós queríamos

Ele/ela/você queria

Eles/elas/vocês queriam


Indicative mood: pluperfect; “had wanted”

Eu quisera

Tu quiseras

Nós quiséramos

Ele/ela/você quisera

Eles/elas/vocês quiseram


Indicative mood: simple future; “will want”

Eu quererei

Tu quererás

Nós quererémos

Ele/ela/você quererá

Eles/elas/vocês quererão


Indicative mood: conditional/future of the past; “would want”

Eu quereria

Tu quererias

Nós quereríamos

Ele/ela/você quereria

Eles/elas/vocês quereriam


Subjunctive mood: present; “that (pronoun) want/wants”

Que eu queira

Que tu queiras

Que nós queiramos

Que ele/ela/você queira

Que eles/elas/vocês queiram


Subjunctive mood: imperfect; “if (pronoun) wanted”

Se eu quisesse

Se tu quisesses

Se nós quiséssemos

Se ele/ela/você quisesse

Se eles/elas/vocês quisessem


Subjunctive mood: future; “when (pronoun) want/wants”

Quando eu quiser

Quando tu quiseres

Quando nós quisermos

Quando ele/ela/você quiser

Quando eles/elas/vocês quiserem


Now that you’ve seen the various Portuguese verb forms for querer, we look at ten examples of how to use them in practice, using the various pronouns and tenses.


I want to go to the party.

Eu quero ir para a festa.


She always wanted a pet dog.

Ela sempre quis um cachorro de estimação.


They wanted to leave the party.

Eles queriam sair da festa.


It was something I had previously wanted to do, but had not been able to.

Foi algo que eu quisera fazer antes, mas não consegui.


When the time comes, they will want to prevent it.

Quando chegar a hora, eles quererão impedi-lo.


I don’t think we would want that to happen.

Eu não acho que nós quereríamos que isso aconteça.

Note: this is the simple form, rather than the more common compound form. In conversation, you would be more likely to say: eu não acho que nós iríamos querer que isso aconteça.


In case you want to share it, bring a friend.

Caso você queira compartilhá-lo, traga um amigo.


If I wanted it, I would have said so. Se eu quisesse, eu teria dito.

We can do it when we want to.

Nós podemos fazer isso quando quisermos.


Lots of people have contacted me, wanting to help.

Muitas pessoas me contataram, querendo ajudar.


Using the Verb “Gostar”

Much like in English, sometimes in Portuguese it is considered more polite to say “I would like” rather than “I want.” However, the use of the Portuguese verb querer is not generally considered to be rude, like “want” sometimes is in English, so you should be able to get by just using querer to start off with. Once you’ve mastered querer, if you are in polite company and wish to sound elegant, you can also consider using the conditional forms of gostar (“to like”), which are listed below.


Eu gostaria de

Tu gostarias de

Nós gostaríamos de

Ele/ela/você gostaria de

Eles/elas/vocês gostariam de


Note that in Portuguese you don’t just “like” something, you like “of” it, so the conditional forms of gostar are always followed by de, as shown in the example below.


I would like a glass of water, please.

Eu gostaria de um copo de água, por favor.


Practice Is the Key

Reading about Portuguese verbs is all very well, but they work significantly differently from their English counterparts, so you won’t be able to pick up the grammar right away. The best way to learn them is to practice with an expert tutor. No matter what your schedule, we’ll be able to find a lesson plan that works for you.


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