Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.
prae-opto, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a., to choose or wish rather, to desire more, to prefer (class.; not in Cic.); constr. aliquid alicui, with an object-clause, or with ut: praeoptantes exsilio modicam domi fortunam, Liv. 29, 30, 12; 44, 22, 14; so, suas leges Romanae civitati, id. 9, 45, 7: Punicam societatem Romanae, id. 23, 43, 11: filiam equitis Romani nuptiis generosarum, Nep. Att. 12, 1.
With acc. and quam: nemo non illos sibi quam vos dominos praeoptet, Liv. 29, 17, 7: sterilem platanum quam maritam ulmum praeoptaverim, Quint. 8, 3, 8.
With object-clause: meum potius caput periculo Praeoptavisse quam is periret ponere, Plaut. Capt. 3, 5, 30: multi praeoptarent scutum manu emittere et nudo corpore pugnare, Caes. B. G. 1, 25; so, perire, Tac. H. 4, 58; Just. 8, 4, 5; 11, 14, 1; Val. Max. 4, 1, ext. 5; Sulp. Sev. Chron. 1, 32, 3; cf.: ut puerum praeoptares perire, Potius quam, Ter. Hec. 4, 1, 17.
With ut: praeoptavisti, amorem tuom uti virtuti praeponeres, Plaut. Trin. 3, 2, 22.