A2 · Formal and informal you
Polite verb forms: queria
Politeness is a verb form here, not a word added to the end.
At a glance
- Remember
- In a café, queria is better than quero.
- Form
- queria um caféI would like a coffee
- Signal words
- queria
- gostaria
- podia
- devia
- importa-se de
- Trap
- Wrong:Quero um café, se faz favor.Right:Queria um café, se faz favor.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Portuguese. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending
| I would like a coffee | queria um café |
| I would like to know | gostaria de saber |
| could you help me? | podia ajudar-me? |
| you should rest | devia descansar |
| would you mind waiting? | importa-se de esperar? |
| please | se faz favor |
| I wanted (imperfect) | (eu) queria |
| you wanted | (tu) querias |
| he / she wanted, you wanted (você) | (ele, ela, você) queria |
| we wanted | (nós) queríamos |
| you wanted, plural (elevated) | (vós) queríeis |
| they wanted, you wanted (vocês) | (eles, elas, vocês) queriam |
| I would like (conditional) | (eu) gostaria |
| you would like | (tu) gostarias |
| he / she would like, you would like (você) | (ele, ela, você) gostaria |
| we would like | (nós) gostaríamos |
| you would like, plural (elevated) | (vós) gostaríeis |
| they would like, you would like (vocês) | (eles, elas, vocês) gostariam |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
queria replaces quero in any order.
Queria um café e um pastel de nata.I would like a coffee and a custard tart.
podia is the polite request.
Podia repetir, se faz favor?Could you say that again, please?
devia turns a must into a piece of advice.
Devia ir ao médico.You should go to the doctor.
importa-se de introduces a polite request.
Importa-se de fechar a janela?Would you mind closing the window?
Example sentences
Queria reservar uma mesa para dois.I would like to book a table for two.
Desculpe, podia dizer-me onde fica a estação?Excuse me, could you tell me where the station is?
Gostaria de falar consigo um momento.I would like a word with you.
Não devias trabalhar tanto.You should not work so much.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Quero is not meant rudely and lands that way all the same — it sounds like a demand. In a café, a shop or on the telephone it is queria. Adding « please » does not fix it, which is exactly the habit an English speaker has to break.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
In Portuguese it is not a word that makes a sentence polite but the form of the verb. Quero um café is « I want a coffee »; queria um café is « I would like one » — and only the second is said.
That is the shift English speakers most need to make. English politeness is largely additive: « please », « would you mind », « sorry to bother you », « if that's all right ». Those pieces bolt on to a sentence that is otherwise unchanged. Here the sentence itself changes, and se faz favor on the end will not rescue a quero in front.
Two forms are available and both are correct: the Imperfeito (queria, podia) and the Condicional (gostaria, poderia). The Imperfeito is the commoner one in spoken European Portuguese.
In a request: podes ajudar-me? is direct, podias ajudar-me? is friendly, podia ajudar-me? is both friendly and formal, because você takes the same form. And there are fixed phrases needing no verb form at all: se faz favor, importa-se de …?, desculpe.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: poder · dever · ficar · fazer · dizer · ir · falar · fechar