Vouloir is one of the essential verbs to master in the French language. The meaning of vouloir is “to want”. The conjugation of vouloir in the present tense is: Je veux (I want), tu veux (you want), il/elle veut (he/she wants), nous voulons (we want), vous voulez (you want) and ils/elles veulent (they want).
How to pronounce vouloir
The pronunciation of vouloir (to want) is: “voo-lwahr” or vulwaʀ. In the following video you can watch my good YouTube friend, Vincent, pronouncing vouloir. In addition, this page on Forvo offers some very good audio samples of vouloir.
Vouloir Conjugation Chart
Vouloir present tense conjugation
The following table contains the conjugation of vouloir in the present tense (le présent de l’indicatif). You will see in the example sentences (for all the tenses on this page) that vouloir can be followed by an infinitive (“to” form of the verb) or a noun.
| French | English | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Je veux | I want | Je veux du fromage. I want some cheese. |
| Tu veux | You you (familar) | Tu veux de la glace. You want some ice cream. |
| Il, elle, on veut | He, she, one wants | Elle veut apprendre le français. She wants to learn French. |
| Nous voulons | We want | Nous voulons partir demain. We want to leave tomorrow. |
| Vous voulez | You want (formal, plural) | Vous voulez commander une pizza. You want to order a pizza. |
| Ils, elles veulent | They want | Ils veulent aller à Chamonix. They want to go to Chamonix. |
The following video from Français Facile does a great job teaching the present tense conjugation of vouloir.
Vouloir – present tense negation
The following table covers vouloir using short sentences in the negation. In the negation, the partitive article (some in English) becomes “de”. For example, the affirmative “Je veux du fromage” (I want some cheese) becomes “Je en veux pas de fromage” (I don’t want any cheese). This rule is covered in detail towards the bottom of this page.
| English | French | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Je veux pas | I don't want | Je ne veux pas de légumes. I don't want any vegetables. |
| Tu ne veux pas | You don't want (informal) | Tu ne veux pas partir. You don't want to leave. |
| Il, elle, on ne veut pas | He, she, one doesn't want | Elle ne veut pas travailler aujourd'hui. She doesn't want to work today. |
| Nous ne voulons pas | We don't want | Nous ne voulons pas apprendre ce mot. We don't want to learn this word. |
| Vous ne voulez pas | You dont want (formal, plural) | Vous ne voulez pas acheter la voiture. You won't want to buy the car. |
| Ils, elles ne veulent pas | They don't want | Ils ne veulent pas de viande. They don't want any meat. |
Vouloir passé composé conjugation
French has two main tenses for the past tense: The passé composé (used for past actions that occurred at a specific point in time) and the imperfect (used for past actions that occurred at undefined moments of time).
The following table covers vouloir in the passé composé (called both the compound past and past indefinite in English). This page offers a complete explanation of this tense. The verb vouloir uses avoir (to have) as its auxiliary (or helping) verb in the passé composé. The past participle of vouloir in the passé composé is “voulu”.
In the passé composé, all sentences vouloir have an underlying meaning or understanding of willingness. In the negation, the sentences have an underlying meaning of not wanting or unwillingness.
| French | English | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| J'ai voulu | I wanted to | Je n'ai pas voulu vendre la voiture. I didn't want to sell the car. |
| Tu as voulu | You wanted to (familiar) | Tu n'as pas voulu m'aider. You didn't want to help me. |
| Il, elle, on a voulu | He, she, one wanted to | Il n'a pas voulu etudier entre les leçons. He didn't want to study between the lessons. |
| Nous avons voulu | We wanted to | Nous avons voulu acheter les billets. We wanted to buy the tickets. |
| Vous avez voulu | You wanted to (formal, plural) | Vous avez voulu travailler dans le jardin. You wanted to work in the yard. |
| Ils, elles ont voulu | They wanted to | Ils ont voulu apprendre l'italien. They wanted to learn Italian. |
Vouloir imperfect conjugation
In the imperfect tense (called l’imparfait in French), “Je voulais” translated to “I wanted”. You’d use this to describe things you wanted to or didn’t want to do in the past. This page on our site covers the imperfect tense in detail.
| French | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Je voulais | I wanted to | Je ne voulais pas partir. I didn't wanted to. |
| Tu voulais | You wanted to (familiar) | Tu ne voulait pas commencer. You didn't want to begin. |
| Il, elle, on voulait | He, she, one wanted to | Il voulait acheter la maison. He wanted to buy the house. |
| Nous voulions | We wanted to | Nous ne voulions pas louer la chambre. We didn't want to rent the room. |
| Vous vouliez | You wanted to (formal, plural) | Vous vouliez passer trois mois dans les Alpes. You wanted to spend there months in the Alps. |
| Ils, elles voulaient | They wanted to | Ils voulaient louer l'appartement. They wanted to rent the apartment. |
Vouloir conjugation in the future tense
This next section will look at vouloir conjugated in the future tenses. French has two main future tenses: the futur simple (used for actions which aren’t 100% certain) and futur proche (used for much more certain future actions. The page covers the French future tense in great detail.
Vouloir – futur proche
The futur proche combines a aller (to go) conjugated in the present tense with the infinitive. For example “Je vais vouloir” means I’m going to want. The page covers the conjugation of aller in detail.
| French | English | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Je vais vouloir | I'm going to want to | Je vais vouloir partir de bonne heure. I'm going to want to leave early. |
| Tu vas vouloir | You're going to want to (familiar) | Tu vas vouloir te coucher tôt. You're going to want to go to bed early. |
| Il, elle, on va vouloir | He, she, one is going to want to | Elle va vouloir vendre la maison. She's going to want to sell the house. |
| Nous allons vouloir | We are going to want to | Nous allons vouloir partir demain. We're going to want to leave tomorrow. |
| Vous allez vouloir | You are going to want to (formal, plural) | Vous allez vouloir apprendre tous les verbes. You're going to want to learn all the verbs. |
| Ils, elles vont vouloir | They are going to want to | Ils vont vouloir voyager en France. They're going to want to travel to France. |
Vouloir – futur simple
The following table contains vouloir conjugated in the futur simple tense. This is also simply called the future tense.
| French | English | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Je voudrai | I will want | Je voudrai partir demain. I will want to leave tomorrow. |
| Tu voudras | You will want (familiar) | Tu voudras passer la journée à Paris. You're going to want to spend the day in Paris. |
| Il, elle, on voudra | He, she, one will want | Elle voudra louer un vélo. She will want to rent a bike. |
| Nous voudrons | We will want | Nous voudrons assister au spectacle. We will want to attend a show. |
| Vous voudrez | You will want (formal, plural) | Vous voudrez acheter tous les livres. You are going to want to buy all the books. |
| Ils, elles voudront | They will want | Ils voudront partiquer le français. They will want to practice French. |
Vouloir conjugation in the conditional
The French conditional (called le conditionnel in French) is the “would” tense. The page covers the conditional in detail. When conjugated in the conditional tense, “je voudrais”, for example, translates to “I would like”. Actually, we have an entire lesson covering “je voudrais”.
| English | French | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Je voudrais | I would like to | Je voudrais parler couramment. I would like to speak fluently. |
| Tu voudrais | You would like to (familiar) | Tu voudrais maîtriser le verbe vouloir. You'd like to master the verb vouloir. |
| Il, elle, on voudrait | He, she, one would like to | Il voudrait acheter une grande maison. He'd like to buy a big house. |
| Nous voudrions | We would like to | Nous voudrions faire du ski en France. We'd like to ski in France. |
| Vous voudriez | You would like to (formal, plural) | Vous voudriez manger une pizza. You'd like to eat a pizza. |
| Ils, elles voudraient | They would like to | Elles voudraient regarder un film. They'd like to watch a movie. |
Vouloir past conditional conjugation
The past conditional (le passé du conditionnel) is considered an advanced tense. However, vouloir in the past conditional is very useful for expressing regrets.
“J’aurais voulu” translates to “I would have wanted”. The past conditional for vouloir is formed by combining avoir as auxiliary verb in the present conditional with the past participle voulu.
| English | French | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| J'aurais voulu | I would have wanted to | J'aurais voulu partir un peu plus tôt. I would have wanted to leave a bit earlier. |
| Tu aurais voulu | You would have wanted to (familiar) | Tu aurais voulu apprendre l'espagnol avant le français. You would have wanted to learn Spanish before French. |
| Il, elle, on aurait voulu | He, she, one would have wanted to | Il aurait voulu acheter la maison il y a 5 ans. He would have wanted to buy the house five years ago. |
| Nous aurions voulu | We would have wanted to | Nous aurions voulu acheter les billets en avance. We would have wanted to buy the tickets in advance. |
| Vous auriez voulu | You would have wanted to (formal, plural) | Vous auriez voulu vendre la masion. You would have wanted to sell the house. |
| Ils, elles auraient voulu | They would have wanted to | Ils auraient voulu commencer à 8h00. They would have wanted to start at 8am. |
Vouloir conjugation in the subjunctive mood
The following table contains the verb vouloir conjugated in the subjunctive mood. The French subjunctive is used for expressing wishes, emotions and doubts. This page on our site covers the subjunctive in detail.
While vouloir isn’t very commonly used in the subjunctive, it’s still good to know the conjugation. Note that the nous and vous forms have two spellings.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| que je veuille | that I want |
| que tu veuilles | that you want (familiar) |
| qu'il, elle, on veuille | that he, she, one wants |
| que nous voulions / euillions | that we want |
| que vous vouliez / euilliez | that you want (formal, plural) |
| qu'ils, elles veuillent | that they want |
Vouloir conjugation in the imperative mood
The French imperative mood is used for giving commands. Similar to the above subjunctive, vouloir isn’t very useful in the imperative.
However, it is still good to know the verb endings. This page covers the French imperative in detail. Note that there are dual spellings for vouloir in the imperative.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Veux! / Veuille! (tu form) | Want! |
| Voulons! / Veuillons! (nous form) | Let's want! |
| Voulez! / Veuillez! (vous form) | Want! |
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