Quiero comprar un billete.
I want to buy a ticket.
Quiero identifies I; comprar stays in the infinitive.
Build a request, then change who is speaking
Turn a memorized phrase into a sentence you can adapt: say what you want, ask another person, and recognize a polite request.
What you will be able to do
Write a request for yourself, one for a group, and a question addressed to one person. Explain which verb changes and which stays unchanged.
Lesson 1 of 2 in this Spanish path.
Before you start
You can read the Latin alphabet. Start with yo (I), tú (informal singular you), usted (polite singular you) and nosotros/nosotras (we). You do not need to know a conjugation table yet.
How to use this lesson
- Read the four patterns and identify who wants something.
- Follow the ticket example. Change only the person first, then the action.
- Write your answers before opening the explanations. Finish by making three requests for your own trip.
Learn the pattern
Two verbs, two jobs
In quiero comprar, quiero identifies the person who wants something. Comprar means “to buy” and is an infinitive: a verb form that does not identify a person. For this pattern, change querer and keep the action in its infinitive form. Do not write quiero compro. A noun can follow directly instead: quiero un billete (I want a ticket).
Choose the speaker or listener
Use quiero for I, quieres for tú, quiere for usted, and queremos for we. Querer is irregular: the stressed root changes to quier- in these singular forms, but queremos keeps quer-. The subject pronoun can be omitted when the meaning is clear. These examples use tú and usted; vos has its own regional forms.
A question and a courteous request
¿Quiere comprar un billete? asks whether the listener wants to buy a ticket. Quisiera comprar un billete expresses your own wish more tentatively: “I would like to buy a ticket.” Learn quisiera as a useful request form here; it is grammatically an imperfect subjunctive, not the conditional querría. Politeness also depends on tone and local custom.
Worked examples
Queremos comprar dos billetes.
We want to buy two tickets.
The group changes quiero to queremos. Dos requires the plural billetes.
¿Quieres comer aquí?
Do you want to eat here? (tú)
Quieres addresses one person informally; comer means to eat and aquí means here.
Quisiera pagar, por favor.
I would like to pay, please.
Pagar is the action. Por favor adds please; quisiera presents a tentative request.
Build it step by step
- Start with the intention “I want to buy”: quiero + comprar.
- Add the item: un billete. You now have Quiero comprar un billete.
- For two travelers speaking together, choose queremos and dos billetes: Queremos comprar dos billetes.
- For a softer request from one speaker, use Quisiera comprar dos billetes, por favor. The number of tickets does not determine the person of the verb.
Try it before looking
Write or say each answer first. Open the explanation to check the pattern, then close it and try again. These are self-checks; your answers are not stored by this page.
1. Complete “We want to eat here”: ___ comer aquí.
Show answer and explanation
Queremos comer aquí.
The speaker is a group, so use queremos. Comer remains an infinitive.
2. Repair this sentence: Quiero compro un billete.
Show answer and explanation
Quiero comprar un billete.
Quiero is already marked for I. The action after it uses comprar, not compro.
3. Ask one person using usted whether they want to pay: ¿___ pagar?
Show answer and explanation
¿Quiere pagar?
Usted takes quiere. Quiero would ask about your own wish, not the other person’s.
4. Make “I would like to buy two tickets, please” using quisiera.
Show answer and explanation
Quisiera comprar dos billetes, por favor.
Keep comprar unchanged; dos billetes is plural. Boleto is also used for ticket in many American varieties.
Keep and use the result
Identify the person first, choose the form of querer, then use an infinitive or a noun. Buying two things does not turn “I” into “we”.
Write requests using comer (eat), pagar (pay) and estudiar español (study Spanish). Change each from I to we. Keep your sentences in your own notes, then use the grammar practice to work on other verb patterns.
Sources and scope
Grammar references checked October 25, 2026. Teaching examples and exercises are original. This is a focused learning unit, with no recorded audio or human teaching review claimed.