Olá, queridos alunos! (Hello, dear students!)
In this lesson, you will learn when you should use the present tense (se você quer) and when you should you the future subjunctive (se você quiser). This subject is appropriate for students at an intermediate or advanced level.
I’ve prepared a PDF with exercises so you can practice what you’ve learned in this lesson.
Fill out the form below to download your worksheet.
What is the difference between “quer” and “quiser”?
Both words are verbal forms of the verb “querer” (to want).
“Quer” is the verb “querer” (to want) conjugated in the third person singular of the present tense. For example:
Você quer aprender português? (Do you want to learn Portuguese?)
“Quiser” is the verb “querer” (to want) conjugated in the first or third person singular of the future subjunctive tense. For example:
Quando você quiser aprender português, inscreva-se em nossos cursos. (When you want to learn Portuguese, sign up for our courses.)
“Se você quer” or “se você quiser”? Which one is correct?
Many learners think that, if we use the word “se,” we need to use the subjunctive, but it’s not really like that. There are many nuances regarding this topic.
Although it’s commonly used with verbs in subjunctive mode, the term “se” can also be used with some verb tenses in the indicative mode. It depends on what you want to say.
I’m going to give you some common examples so you can understand when to say “se você quer” or “se você quiser.”
Let’s look at the first example:
Se você quer aprender português, deve estudar todos os dias. (If you want to learn Portuguese, you should study every day.)
Se você quiser aprender português, deve estudar todos os dias. (If you would like to learn Portuguese, you should study every day.)
Both sentences are correct. The meaning is very similar, but it’s not exactly the same.
It’s important to note that the future subjunctive always refers to the future. When I say, “se você quiser,” I am inherently referring to the future, even if it’s a very soon future.
However, the present tense can be used to refer to the future, the present, or can be timeless. We use the present a lot when talking about facts or timeless truths.
When I say, “se você quer,” normally I am using the present in a timeless way. If you want to learn a language, today, tomorrow, or at any time in your life, you should study a lot. It’s a fact.
When I say, “se você quiser,” I am demonstrating an uncertainty about the future. I don’t know if you want to learn Portuguese, but if you would like to, in the future, I recommend that you study every day.
Let’s look at another example:
Se você quer ficar fluente, vai ter que praticar muito. (If you want to become fluent, you will have to practice a lot.)
Se você quiser ficar fluente, vai ter que praticar muito. (If you’d like to become fluent, you will have to practice a lot.)
Here also, the meaning of the two sentences is very similar.
It’s important to observe that the indicative mood, “se você quer,” sounds like a more direct conditional – if you want this, do that. It’s timeless.
The subjunctive, on the other hand, sounds more like a suggestion or advice – if you would like to do this, do that.
It’s a very subtle difference.
Many times, we use “se você quer” and “se você quiser” in an interchangeable way, but in some situations, we use these phrases in very distinct ways.
For example, sometimes we already know what the person wants, and we still use the phrase “se você quer” in the sense of “since you want to…”.
For example:
Let’s say I want to go to the movies and watch a movie, but my husband doesn’t want to go.
I could say to him:
Se você não quer ir ao cinema, podemos assistir a um filme em casa. O que você acha? (If you don’t want to go to the movies, we could watch a movie at home. What do you think?)
Here, I know he doesn’t want to, but I used the sentence “if you don’t want to” in the sense of “since you don’t want to…”.
When you’re unsure and want to try to find out what a person wants, you can use the future subjunctive as a way to ask an indirect question.
For example:
Se você quiser, podemos pedir pizza. (If you’d like, we could order pizza.)
Here I am trying to find out if the person wants to eat pizza.
Another example:
Eu posso fazer isso para você, se você quiser. (I could do that for you, if you’d like.)
Here I am offering help and trying to find out if the person wants my help.
In these last two examples, the future subjunctive sounds much more natural.
So, as you can see, this subject is long and complex. I tried to cover the most common situations in this lesson, but when a subject involves many nuances, the best way to learn is really through observation. So, I recommend that you pay attention to how Brazilians use these terms.
Today, we focused on the verb “querer” (to want), but many things I mentioned in this video could also apply to other verbs.
If you need help conjugating verbs in Portuguese, I recommend my course Verb Conjugation Crash Course, in which I teach all the verb tenses used in Brazil, how to use each verb tense, and which verbs are used the most in the Portuguese language. To find out more, click here.
To really grasp what we studied today, you need to keep practicing. That’s why I’ve prepared a PDF with extra exercises. Fill out the form below to download your worksheet.
Até a próxima!
Virginia & Speaking Brazilian Team
