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 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