wollen
to want
Wollen (to want) is a modal verb, and modal verbs conjugate unlike anything else in German. The singular forms change the stem vowel and drop their usual endings: ich will, du willst, er will. Notice that ich and er are identical and neither takes a -t. The plural forms return to normal: wir wollen, ihr wollt, sie wollen.
This creates the single most damaging false friend in the language. Ich will does not mean "I will". It means "I want". German builds the future with werden, so "I will go" is ich werde gehen, while ich will gehen means "I want to go". Getting this backwards can make a polite sentence sound like a demand.
On that note, ich will can sound blunt in German, roughly like saying "I want" flatly in English. The subjunctive form ich möchte (I would like) is softer and is what you should use when ordering food or asking for something: ich möchte einen Kaffee, bitte.
Like other modals, wollen sends the main verb to the end of the sentence in its infinitive form: ich will heute Abend ins Kino gehen (I want to go to the cinema tonight).
The simple past is wollte and is common in speech. The past participle is gewollt, but when a second verb is present, German uses a double infinitive instead: ich habe gehen wollen (I wanted to go), not gewollt.
English
to want
Perfekt
ich habe gewollt
Partizip II
gewollt
Auxiliary
wollen appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Ich will heute Kaffee trinken.
I want to drink coffee today.
Modal verbs stand in position 2, the infinitive goes to the end.
Wir wollen einen Apfel essen.
We want to eat an apple.
Direct objects are in the accusative case.
Willst du heute Abend kommen?
Do you want to come tonight?
In yes/no questions, the verb comes first.
- What does wollen mean in German?
- Wollen means "to want". It is a modal verb, so it usually appears with a second verb in the infinitive at the end of the sentence.
- How do you conjugate wollen?
- The present tense is ich will, du willst, er/sie/es will, wir wollen, ihr wollt, sie wollen. The ich and er forms are identical and take no ending, which is normal for German modal verbs.
- Does ich will mean "I will" in German?
- No. Ich will means "I want". This is a false friend with English. To say "I will", use werden: ich werde kommen (I will come).
- What is the difference between wollen and möchten?
- Wollen states a want directly and can sound blunt. Möchten is the polite form, closer to "would like", and is what you use in shops and restaurants: ich möchte bitte zahlen (I would like to pay, please).
- What is the past tense of wollen?
- The simple past is wollte and is widely used in conversation. In the perfect tense with a second verb, German uses a double infinitive: ich habe bleiben wollen (I wanted to stay).