French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French voloir, voleir, from Vulgar Latin volēre, regularized from Latin velle.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /vu.lwaʁ/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -waʁ

Verb

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vouloir

  1. (transitive) to want, wish, desire
    Je veux voir le soleil.I want to see the sun.
    Hitler voulait la guerre, mais beaucoup n’en étaient pas conscients.
    Hitler wanted war, but many were not aware of it.
  2. to expect; to think; forms rhetorical questions, perhaps better translated to English by rephrasing with would or should
    Qu’est-ce que vous voulez que j’en sache?
    How should I know?
    (literally, “What do you expect me to know about it?”)
    • 1943, Antoine Saint-Exupéry, chapter II, in Le petit prince [The Little Prince], New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 8:
      — Mais si tu ne l’attaches pas, il ira n’importe où, et il se perdra... [] / — Mais où veux-tu qu’il aille ! / — N’importe où. Droit devant lui... [] / — Ça ne fait rien, c’est tellement petit, chez moi !
      “But if you don't tie him,” I said, “he will wander off somewhere, and get lost.” [] / “But where do you think he would go?” / “Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.” [] / “That doesn't matter. Where I live, everything is so small!”
  3. (reflexive) to see oneself as; to give the impression of, to seem

Usage notes

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  • vouloir que takes the subjunctive.
  • The second-person singular and plural imperatives have alternative forms: veuille and veuillez, which have slight differences in usage. See individual articles for details.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Saint Dominican Creole French: vlé
    • Haitian Creole: vle

Noun

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vouloir m (plural vouloirs)

  1. will

Derived terms

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Further reading

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