Intentar vs Tratar De vs Querer

Question

Yo sé que ambas "interntar" y "tratar de" significan "to try" en inglés. Por ejemplo:

Intenté aprender español = I tried to learn Spanish
Traté de aprender español = I tried to learn Spanish

También sé que "querer" a veces significa "to try", por lo general en el preterito.

Quise aprender español = I tried to learn Spanish.

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre estas 3 palabras? ¿Se usa cada una en paises diferense? ¿O es como "todavía" y "aún" (una es más formal que la otra)? Gracias.

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I know "intentar", "tratar de" and "querer" (in the preterit) all mean "to try". Is there any usage difference between the 3? Is one more formal than the others? Is this a regional preference? Thanks.

Well , I wish i knew also so good luck mate. - ray76, Feb 20, 2015

Answer 1

'Intentar' and 'tratar de' are interchangeable but 'querer' is not because it's meaning in the preterite changes as you have noted. However.....

Quise aprender español would be more like "I wanted to learn Spanish, but I failed (I didn't do it). There is no such implication with the other two verbs. This also depends on context and what you're trying to say.

Quise llamarte = I tried to call you (and failed, or didn't do it)
It could also mean I tried and succeeded, but that is not as common, at least in my opinion.

Quería llamarte = I wanted to call you (irrelevant if I did it or not).

:) - Kiwi-Girl, Feb 20, 2015

Good answer. - annierats, Feb 20, 2015

Answer 2

You might like this thread about the many Spanish options for 'to try'

to try

:) nice to see that you are still here amiga. - ian-hill, Feb 20, 2015

You "dug deep" to find that from 2010 :) - ian-hill, Feb 20, 2015

that's a bunch of 'trys' :) - Jack-OBrien, Feb 20, 2015

Hola Kiwi, ¿Que tal? - annierats, Feb 20, 2015