Phrase · 🎩 Polite requests and permission

Quería preguntarte una cosa.

I wanted to ask you something.

B1making polite requestsinformalAudio · coming soon

Why every word is where it is

Quería1verbI wantedquerer · imperfect · 1st sing.preguntarte2verbto ask youpreguntar · infinitiveunadeterminera, oneuno · fem. · sing. · indefinitecosanounthingfem. · sing..

Quería → preguntarte: querer + infinitive
una → cosa: f. sg.

Why it's built this way

The notes match the numbers above.

1
quería: imperfect of politeness, softer than quiero. Imperfect: forms and uses →
2
te is attached to the infinitive: preguntarte = te quería preguntar. Indirect object pronouns and doubling →

Variations

Quería preguntarle una cosa.
Te quería preguntar algo.