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Definition 2025
vouloir
vouloir
French
Verb
vouloir
- (transitive) to want, wish, desire
- (reflexive) to see oneself as; to give the impression of, to seem
Conjugation
Conjugation of vouloir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | vouloir | avoir voulu | |||||
| gerund | en voulant | en ayant voulu | |||||
| present participle | voulant /vu.lɑ̃/ |
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| past participle | voulu /vu.ly/ |
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| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il | nous | vous | ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | veux /vø/ |
veux /vø/ |
veut /vø/ |
voulons /vu.lɔ̃/ |
voulez /vu.le/ |
veulent /vœl/ |
| imperfect | voulais /vu.lɛ/ |
voulais /vu.lɛ/ |
voulait /vu.lɛ/ |
voulions /vu.ljɔ̃/ |
vouliez /vu.lje/ |
voulaient /vu.lɛ/ |
|
| past historic1 | voulus /vu.ly/ |
voulus /vu.ly/ |
voulut /vu.ly/ |
voulûmes /vu.lym/ |
voulûtes /vu.lyt/ |
voulurent /vu.lyʁ/ |
|
| future | voudrai /vu.dʁe/ |
voudras /vu.dʁa/ |
voudra /vu.dʁa/ |
voudrons /vu.dʁɔ̃/ |
voudrez /vu.dʁe/ |
voudront /vu.dʁɔ̃/ |
|
| conditional | voudrais /vu.dʁɛ/ |
voudrais /vu.dʁɛ/ |
voudrait /vu.dʁɛ/ |
voudrions /vu.dʁi.jɔ̃/ |
voudriez /vu.dʁi.je/ |
voudraient /vu.dʁɛ/ |
|
| compound tenses |
present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior1 | Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il | que nous | que vous | qu’ils | |
| simple tenses |
present | veuille /vœj/ |
veuilles /vœj/ |
veuille /vœj/ |
voulions /vu.ljɔ̃/ |
vouliez /vu.lje/ |
veuillent /vœj/ |
| imperfect1 |
voulusse /vu.lys/ |
voulusses /vu.lys/ |
voulût /vu.ly/ |
voulussions /vu.ly.sjɔ̃/ |
voulussiez /vu.ly.sje/ |
voulussent /vu.lys/ |
|
| compound tenses |
past | Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect1 | Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nous | vous | – | |
| — | veux or veuille /vø/ or /vœj/ |
— | voulons or veuillons /vu.lɔ̃/ or /vœ.jɔ̃/ |
voulez or veuillez /vu.le/ or /vœ.je/ |
— | ||
| 1literary tenses | |||||||
Usage notes
- The second-person singular and plural imperatives have alternate forms: veuille and veuillez, which have slight differences in usage. See individual articles for details.
Derived terms
Noun
vouloir m (plural vouloirs)