quérir

See also: querir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French querir, from Old French querre (with conjugation change), from Latin quaerere (“to seek”). Compare also Walloon cweri. Cognate with Portuguese querer and Spanish querer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ke.ʁiʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

quérir

1. (literary or archaic) to seek; used especially after certain verbs

   Il a fait (ou envoyé) quérir son frère. ― He bade his brother come.

   Il est allé quérir le château. ― He went in quest of the castle.

2. (archaic) to want

Conjugation

• Many dictionaries give quérir as a defective verb, only appearing as an infinitive. However historically, it has a conjugation.

This verb is impersonal and is conjugated only in the third-person singular.

Conjugation of quérir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	quérir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	quérant /ke.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		quis /ki/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	—	—	quiert /kjɛʁ/	—	—	—
	imperfect	—	—	quérait /ke.ʁɛ/	—	—	—
	past historic2	—	—	quit /ki/	—	—	—
	future	—	—	querra /kɛ.ʁa/ or /ke.ʁa/	—	—	—
	conditional	—	—	querrait /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/	—	—	—
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	—	—	quière /kjɛʁ/	—	—	—
	imperfect2	—	—	quît /ki/	—	—	—
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	—	—	—	—	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of quérir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	quérir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	quérant /ke.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		quis /ki/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	quiers /kjɛʁ/	quiers /kjɛʁ/	quiert /kjɛʁ/	quérons /ke.ʁɔ̃/	quérez /ke.ʁe/	quièrent /kjɛʁ/
	imperfect	quérais /ke.ʁɛ/	quérais /ke.ʁɛ/	quérait /ke.ʁɛ/	quérions /ke.ʁjɔ̃/	quériez /ke.ʁje/	quéraient /ke.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	quis /ki/	quis /ki/	quit /ki/	quîmes /kim/	quîtes /kit/	quirent /kiʁ/
	future	querrai /kɛ.ʁe/ or /ke.ʁe/	querras /kɛ.ʁa/ or /ke.ʁa/	querra /kɛ.ʁa/ or /ke.ʁa/	querrons /kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ke.ʁɔ̃/	querrez /kɛ.ʁe/ or /ke.ʁe/	querront /kɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ke.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	querrais /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/	querrais /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/	querrait /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/	querrions /kɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ke.ʁjɔ̃/	querriez /kɛ.ʁje/ or /ke.ʁje/	querraient /kɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ke.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	quière /kjɛʁ/	quières /kjɛʁ/	quière /kjɛʁ/	quérions /ke.ʁjɔ̃/	quériez /ke.ʁje/	quièrent /kjɛʁ/
	imperfect2	quisse /kis/	quisses /kis/	quît /ki/	quissions /ki.sjɔ̃/	quissiez /ki.sje/	quissent /kis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	quiers /kjɛʁ/	—	quérons /ke.ʁɔ̃/	quérez /ke.ʁe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• acquérir
• conquérir
• enquérir
• requérir

Descendants

• Sabir: quérir

Further reading

• “quérir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Sabir

Etymology

From French quérir (“to seek”).

Verb

quérir

1. to want

References

• Feissat et Demonchy, Dictionnaire de la Langue Franque, ou Petit Mauresque