Querido - Quise - Quería

[BobRitter]

A poco confundido sobre esto.

1. Quería hacerle una pregunta. Acción continua.
2. Quise hacerle una pregunta. Un tiempo específico.
3. Yo querido hacerle una pregunta.
4. Siempre he querido preguntarte esta pregunta.

¿Cual es la diferencia entre numero 2 y 3?

Como siempre, gracias. Bob

[poli]

Number 3 is incorrect because querido is a past participle and not a verb. In cases like this it is accompanied by the verb haber.

[wrholt]

As poli says, #3 is wrong: past participles by themselves can't function as the verb in a sentence.

The difference between imperfect (#1) and preterite (#2) is whether or not the action/state completed, which typically results in some difference in meaning. With the verb querer the difference in meaning often is more striking than we native speakers of English expect.

A poco confundido sobre esto.

1. Quería hacerle una pregunta. Acción continua.
= "I/he/she/you wanted to ask him/her/you a question." (The wanting started earlier, and was not completed yet.)
2. Quise hacerle una pregunta. Un tiempo específico.
Possible translation = "I tried to ask him/her/you a question." (Preterite = ending of the act of wanting, suggesting attempting to ask. My attempt my have succeeded or failed.) The negative version "no quise hacerle una pregunta" = "I refused/declined to ask him/her/you a question".
3. Yo querido hacerle una pregunta.:bad:
4. Siempre he querido preguntarte esta pregunta.
= "I have always wanted to ask you that question" (The state of wanting started in the past, and continues to the present.)
¿Cual es la diferencia entre numero 2 y 3?

Como siempre, gracias. Bob

[aleCcowaN]

preguntar hacer una pregunta

a poco confundido sobre esto = shortly (I became) confused about this
un poco confundido sobre esto = a bit confused about this

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Poli and Wrholt. I would like to add a couple of side notes:

A poco Un poco (or, for a full sentence, "estoy un poco") confundido sobre con esto. [The verb "confundir(se)" is normally used with "con"]
- Disculpe, lo confundí con otra persona.
I'm sorry, I mistook you for someone else.
- Estamos confundidos con estos verbos.
We're confused about this verbs.
- Los niños están confundidos con tantas reglas.
So many rules are confusing the children.


3. Yo he querido hacerle una pregunta. -> When the compound tense is used, the meaning might depend on the region: in Spain, "he querido hacerle una pregunta" has the same meaning of "quise hacerle una pregunta", used in most Latin American regions. Yet, if you are in Mexico, "he querido hacerle una pregunta" means I have been wanting to ask him/her/you this question, and I haven't asked yet.

4. Siempre he querido preguntarte esta pregunta. -> Oh, never use this kind of formulation in Spanish! :blackeye: We're very touchy about pleonastic constructions, so we hate repetition. :D
We avoid expressions like "preguntar una pregunta", "soñar un sueño", "jugar un juego", "comer comida"... The thing is already implied in the verb, so we tend to leave the verb as it is.

- Le hice a Juan esta pregunta. -> I asked Juan this question.
- Le pregunté a Juan si podía venir. -> I asked Juan if he could come over.
- Le pregunté a Juan lo siguiente... -> I asked Juan this question... (We avoid "le pregunté a Juan la siguiente pregunta")

- Soñé contigo. -> I dreamt of you.
- Soñé que llovía. -> I dreamt that it was raining.
- Tuve un sueño raro. -> I had a weird dream. (We don't say "soñé un sueño raro".)

- Jugamos futbol. -> We play football.
- ¿Quieres entrar al juego? -> Do you want to play this game with us?
- Nunca participas en nuestros juegos. -> You never take part in our games.

- ¿Quieres comer sopa? -> Would you like to eat some soup?
- Me comí todo el plato. -> I ate the whole dish.
- Estoy comiendo puros alimentos sanos. -> I'm eating only healthy foods.
("Alimentos" isn't different from "comida" when thinking about what they are for, but "comida" and "comer" are related, so we change it for "alimentos")

Now about "siempre he querido hacerte esta pregunta": (again) if you are in Mexico, it's the same question as "he querido hacerte esta pregunta", only more specific about how long you have been wanting to ask. :)