To Want in French: How to use the verb Vouloir in French (2024)

The French verbvouloir is one of the most common verbs in the language. As it expresses intentions, wills, and desires, vouloirin French is usually translated into English as to wantor to wish.

In this post, we’ll first dig into the various meanings of vouloirin French, looking at different ways to build sentences with this word for towantin French. In addition, vouloiris often used in the conditional tense to make polite requests, so we’ll see how to use it to say I would likein French.

As it’s an irregular verb, you will have to learn by heart how to conjugate vouloirin French. But don’t worry, we’ll round out the post with a with a section on vouloir conjugation.

Et maintenant, si vouslevoulezbien, commencons! – And now, if you’rewillingto, let’s start!

Vouloir in French: meanings

Vouloiris a major verb in French that you will encounter frequently in your conversations. While its first meaning is similar to the English verbs towant and towish, it can also have other significations, depending on the tense and the mood it is conjugated to.

It can sometimes be translated by will, would like, and even completely different meanings such as tomeanor unintentionally. But the best way to understand the difference is to look at some examples. So, here are the meanings of vouloirinFrench.

To express an intention or a desire

One of the major uses of vouloiris to convey a desire or an intention to do something. That’s why to wantin French is usually translated by using vouloir.

The most iconic example is the famous sentence “voulez-vouscoucher avec moi, ce soir ?” which is known by all French learners yet not really recommended by French speakers (as it asks so directly, “doyouwantto sleep with me tonight”)!

Here are some more practical usages:

• Iwantto learn French. – Jeveux étudier le français.

• Hewantsto sit outside. – Ilveuts’assoeir en terrasse.

• Shewantsto become a doctor. – Elleveutdevenir médecin.

A good illustration of this usage is the famous saying “vouloir, c’est pouvoir” (“where there’s a will, there’s a way”) also commonly said as “quand on veut, on peut.”

Another way that vouloiris used to express wanting somethingis in a common phrase to describe someone ambitious. People may say that “elle enveut,” loosely translating as “she really wants it,” meaning that she wantsto make something of herself.

To politely express a desire or a wish

Vouloirin French is often conjugated in the conditionalto express strong desires and wishes. In English, it is mostly translated by wouldlikein these contexts.

• Iwouldlike to accompany you. – Jevoudrais t’accompagner.

• Shewouldliketo live in Paris. – Ellevoudraitvivre à Paris.

To make a polite request

To make requests, French speakers often use the verb vouloir. If you use it in the present tense, though, you will sound quite bossy. In order to be polite, it should be conjugated with the present conditional, translated into English by wouldlike.

• Iwouldlikea coffee, please. – Jevoudraisun café, s’il-vous-plaît.

• Wewouldliketo book a room for tonight. – Nousvoudrionsréserver une chambre pour ce soir.

• Wouldyoulikesome wine? – Voulez-vousdu vin ? – Voudriez-vousdu vin ?

To express a polite command

Vouloirin French is commonly used in the imperativeform to give commands. Here, it’s the equivalent of couldyouand wouldyou, or simply please, in English.

• Pleasefasten your seat belts. – Veuillezattacher vos ceintures.

• Pleasewait. – Veuillezpatienter.

• Wouldyoupleaseexcuse me? – Veuillezm’excuser.

To demand something

Because vouloiris equivalentto want in French, it is quite logical that this is the verb used to express a demand. In this usage, the action that follows is generally conjugated in the subjunctive, because it remains hypothetical until the demand is actually carried out.

• Theywantus to leave now. – Ilsveulentqu’on parte maintenant.

• Shewantsit to be finished by noon. – Elleveutque ce soit fini d’ici midi.

Likewise, the intransigence of vouloircan be understood with this common saying, generally stated on its own using the subjunctive vouloir conjugation:

• Whether you likeit or not. – Que tule veuillesou non.

To express regrets

Sometimes, vouloircan be used to refer to past actions the speaker wishes he or she had done. In this case, vouloiris conjugated with the conditional past tense: j’aurais voulucan translate as I would have likedor I wish that.

• Iwishthat he were with us. – J’auraisvouluqu’il soit avec nous.

• Iwould have likedto tell you sooner. – J’auraisvoulute le dire plus tôt.

Other meanings of vouloir in French

VouloirinFrenchcan also have different meanings when used in some specific expressions. That’s the case of sanslevouloir, envouloirà, vouloirdire, and bienvouloir. Let’s see how we use these expressions built with the verb vouloir.

Sans le vouloir: to express something unintentional

Sanslevouloirliterally means withoutwantingitand is the equivalent of withoutmeaningtoor unintentionally.

• We laughed but wedidn’t meanit. – On a rigolé sanslevouloir.

• I accidentally saw one of her gifts. – J’ai vu l’un de ses cadeaux sanslevouloir.

En vouloir à/de: to express angry feelings

When vouloir is bookended by the French pronoun en and the French prepositionàor de, followed by something or someone, it indicates that this someone or something really gets us angry. Envouloirà somebody means tobeangryatsomeoneor toholdagrudgeagainstsomeone, while en vouloir desomething refers to what causes the anger. Used in the first person, je m’en veux desomething means to or to blame oneselffor something.

• Sheholdsagrudgeagainst everyone! – Elleenveuxàla terre entière !

• Iblamemyselffor trusting him. – Jem’enveuxde lui avoir fait confiance.

Vouloir dire: to explain a meaning

Vouloirdire, meaning literally to wanttosay, is simply translated as to meanin English. It is always used with que.

• What doyoumean? – Que veux-tudire?

• What Imeanis that you’re not forced to do it. – Jeveuxdireque tu n’es pas obligé de le faire.

• Itmeansyou won’t come to the party? – Çaveutdireque tu ne vas pas venir à la fête ?

Bien vouloir: to express willingness

A common use of vouloiris in the expression bien vouloir. It’s the equivalent of tobewillingto, used to form polite requests, and can also be translated by couldyou.

• Couldyouplease give me the bread? – Tuveuxbienme passer le pain, s’il-te-plaît ?

• Heiswillingtolend you his laptop. – Ilveutbiente prêter son ordinateur.

• I don’t know if hewillbewillingtodo it. – Je ne sais pas s’il va bienvouloirle faire.

How to conjugate vouloir in French

Now that you understand how vouloiris used in French, it’s time to have a look at its conjugation. Vouloiris an irregular verb, so it doesn’t always follow the standard conjugation pattern of other French verbs ending in ‑ir.

For a recap of how we conjugate verbs in French, read our detailed guide on French conjugation.

In this section on vouloir conjugationwe’ll focus on the most common tenses that you need to know. For completeness, we’ll finish up with the rest of the tenses.

Vouloir conjugation: Présent de l’indicatif

One of the most useful tenses and moods of vouloir in French is the présent de l’indicatif, the indicative present.

Vouloir conjugation: Passé composé

The passé composéis a compound tense that is often used in French. We recommend you read this post about this major French past tenseto know how to form it and when to use it. The passé composé needs to be used with an auxiliary verb: for vouloir, it’s always formed with the auxiliary verb avoir.

In English, vouloir conjugated in the passé composé is translated to wanted.

Vouloir conjugation: Imparfait

Vouloir, conjugated with the French imperfect tense l’imparfait, follows the rules of the regular -ir verbs. For a full explanation of this tense, we also have a full post to teach you how to use the imparfait in French.

In English, vouloir conjugated in the imparfait is translated to wantedor wished.

Vouloir conjugation: Conditionnel présent

In most polite forms, vouloirin French is conjugated in the present conditional tense, le conditionnel présent. Here again, it follows the rules of the regular -ir verbs. In English, vouloir conjugated in the conditionnel présent will often be translated as would like or wanted.

Vouloir conjugation: Conditionnel passé

Used to talk about past events,the French vouloirconjugation in the past conditional tense, or le conditionnel passé, is irregular. In English, it is usually translated as wouldhave liked, though sometimes it’s translated simply as wish.

Vouloir conjugation: Futur simple

Another common tense for vouloirin French is le futur simple. Read our complete post about the French future tenseif you’re not yet familiar with its usages and conjugation. Good news, this time again, vouloirconjugated in the simple future tense follows the regular rules for -ir verbs. In English, it is translated as to wantor would like.

Vouloir conjugation: Subjonctif présent

The last common vouloirconjugation that we’ll cover individually is the present subjunctive tense, le subjonctif présent. Vouloirfollows the regular pattern in the nousand vousconjugations, while for the other grammatical persons the irregular stem is veuill-. Check out our post on subjunctive conjugationfor a full explanation of this tense.

Vouloir conjugation: Additional conjugation tables

So far, we’ve covered the main tenses where it’s likely that you’ll actually need to conjugate vouloir. For completeness, we’re including the remaining tenses in the following tables. For explanations of any of them, please refer to our big post on all the French verb tenses.

The vouloir present participleis voulant. The past participlesare ayant voulu, and voulu(or its variants voulue, voulus, and voulues). The infinitif passéis avoir voulu.

Conclusion

Vouloir is a major verb in French, definitely among the ten most common. It’s often translated as to wantand to wishin English, as its main usage is to express desires and wishes. Conjugated in the conditionnel présent and the conditionnel passé, vouloiralso allows the speaker to make polite requests.

Watch out for its conjugation: vouloiris an irregular verb and some of its tenses and moods don’t follow the rules of other verbs ending with -ir. For the most part, however, our vouloir conjugationisn’t too complicated, and in any case it’s such a common verb that you’ll soon master its important tenses. As we’ve seen in this post: vouloir, c’est pouvoir!