Willen is the Dutch verb for to want — and, importantly, also to be willing. Ik wil koffie ("I want coffee"), Wil je me helpen? ("Are you willing to help me? / Will you help me?"). It is among the most frequent verbs you'll use, and it has three wrinkles worth knowing from the start: the jij-form wavers between wil and wilt; the past has a written form (wilde) and a spoken form (wou) that split by register; and the polite version, zou willen, is how grown-up Dutch makes requests without sounding blunt. This page lays out all of that with natural examples. For the bare reference table, see verb-reference/willen; for zou more broadly, see verbs/conditional/zou-conditional.
Conjugation: present
Willen is irregular in the singular: ik wil, hij wil — bare, no -t. The jij-form has two accepted shapes, jij wil and jij wilt, with wilt the slightly more careful/formal one and wil fully standard in speech.
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| ik | wil |
| jij | wil / wilt |
| hij / zij / het | wil |
| u | wilt / wil |
| wij / jullie / zij | willen |
As with kunnen, the -t never survives in inversion: it's wil je?, never wilt je? The -t only appears when jij (or u) comes first.
Wat wil je drinken?
What do you want to drink? — inversion 'wil je', never 'wilt je'.
Jij wilt altijd het laatste woord.
You always want the last word. — statement, formal-leaning 'wilt'.
Mijn kinderen willen nooit naar bed.
My kids never want to go to bed. — plural 'willen'.
Conjugation: past — wilde vs wou
Here is the wrinkle that surprises learners. Willen has two past forms, and they split by register, not by meaning:
| Subject | Written / formal | Spoken / informal |
|---|---|---|
| ik / jij / hij / zij | wilde | wou |
| wij / jullie / zij | wilden | wouden / wilden |
Wilde is the form you write — in essays, emails, anything careful. Wou is the form you say — in everyday conversation, wou is everywhere, and wilde can sound stiff out loud. They mean exactly the same thing. (The plural wouden exists but is more colloquial still; many speakers just use wilden in the plural even when speaking.) Knowing wou is essential for understanding spoken Dutch — and for not sounding like a textbook.
Ik wou je iets vragen.
I wanted to ask you something. — spoken past 'wou', the natural everyday form.
Ik wou net bellen, maar toen belde jij.
I was just about to call, but then you called. — 'wou' + 'net' = 'was just about to'.
In zijn brief schreef hij dat hij niet wilde komen.
In his letter he wrote that he didn't want to come. — written 'wilde' fits the formal register.
Use 1: willen + infinitive (to want to do)
Willen takes a bare infinitive at the end for "want to do something" — the standard modal frame, no te.
Ik wil even gaan liggen.
I want to go lie down for a bit.
Wil je vanavond mee naar de film?
Do you want to come to the cinema tonight? — 'mee' + dropped infinitive, very common.
Hij wil niet meedoen.
He doesn't want to join in. — note: bare 'niet' is fine here because 'meedoen' is present.
Use 2: willen + object (to want a thing)
Willen also takes a plain noun object — "to want something." This is where it acts like a full lexical verb rather than a helper.
Ik wil een koffie, alsjeblieft.
I'd like a coffee, please. — 'willen' + bare object.
De baby wil zijn knuffel.
The baby wants his cuddly toy.
A caution worth its own line: bare Ik wil... with an object can sound demanding, even rude — like an English child's "I want." For requests and orders, polite Dutch softens it to Ik wil graag... ("I'd like...") or, better still, the conditional Ik zou graag... willen (next section). A waiter hears Ik wil een koffie as curt; Ik wil graag een koffie or Mag ik een koffie? is the courteous version.
Use 3: willingness — "will you?"
English "will you help me?" isn't really about the future — it asks about willingness. Dutch uses willen for exactly this, and it's one of the cleanest overlaps with English.
Wil je het raam even dichtdoen?
Will you close the window for a sec? — asking willingness, a polite request.
Hij wil niet.
He won't. / He doesn't want to. — one of the rare cases where 'willen' stands alone.
That second example is important: willen normally needs an object or an infinitive, but bare Ik wil niet / Hij wil niet ("I don't want to / he won't") is a fixed, fully natural exception — the thing wanted is left implicit because context supplies it. Outside of this negative refusal, don't leave willen dangling; Ik wil on its own sounds unfinished.
Use 4: the polite zou willen
The grown-up way to make a request is the conditional zou willen — literally "would want," functionally "would like to." It is markedly more polite than plain willen, because the conditional softens the desire into something tentative and considerate.
Ik zou graag een afspraak willen maken.
I'd like to make an appointment. — 'zou ... willen' + 'graag', the standard polite request.
Zou je me willen helpen met de verhuizing?
Would you be willing to help me with the move? — very polite ask.
We zouden graag willen weten of het nog mogelijk is.
We'd like to know whether it's still possible. — formal, e.g. in an email.
Notice the shape: zou (or plural zouden) is the conjugated verb, graag slots in, and both willen and the main verb go to the end as infinitives (willen maken, willen helpen). The zou ... willen frame is the politeness workhorse of Dutch — for the full conditional, see verbs/conditional/zou-conditional, and for how willen relates to graag and houden van, see choosing/graag-vs-willen-vs-houden-van.
Common Mistakes
❌ Wilt je een kopje thee?
Incorrect — in inversion the -t drops; it's 'wil je', never 'wilt je'.
✅ Wil je een kopje thee?
Do you want a cup of tea?
❌ Ik wilde net weggaan. (spoken, casually)
Stiff out loud — in speech the natural past is 'wou'; 'wilde' is the written form.
✅ Ik wou net weggaan.
I was just about to leave. — natural spoken past.
❌ Ik wil te slapen.
Incorrect — no 'te' after a modal; the infinitive is bare.
✅ Ik wil slapen.
I want to sleep.
❌ Ik wil. (meaning: I'd like to)
Unfinished — 'willen' needs an object or infinitive, except in the fixed refusal 'Ik wil niet'.
✅ Ik wil graag. / Ik wil dat wel.
I'd like to. — supply something: 'graag' or an object like 'dat'.
❌ Ik wil een tafel voor twee. (to a waiter, blunt)
Curt — bare 'ik wil' + object can sound demanding when ordering.
✅ Ik zou graag een tafel voor twee willen.
I'd like a table for two. — the polite 'zou ... willen' frame.
Key Takeaways
- Willen = to want / to be willing — with an infinitive (Ik wil slapen), an object (Ik wil koffie), or in willingness questions (Wil je...?).
- Present singular wil; jij wil/wilt both fine, but never wilt je in inversion.
- Past splits by register: write wilde, say wou; participle gewild.
- Bare Ik wil is unfinished — except the fixed refusal Ik wil niet / Hij wil niet.
- Plain Ik wil
- object can sound demanding; soften with graag or the polite zou ... willen.
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Modal Verbs: OverviewA2 — A map of the six Dutch modals — kunnen, mogen, moeten, willen, zullen, hoeven — and the one pattern they share: modal + bare infinitive at the end of the clause.
- Mogen: May, Be Allowed, To LikeA2 — How to use and conjugate mogen — for permission, prohibition, and its surprising second life as a full verb meaning 'to like a person' (Ik mag hem wel).
- Willen (to want) — Full ConjugationA2 — Complete conjugation of willen ('to want') — the jij wil / jij wilt variation, the written wilde vs spoken wou past, the double-infinitive perfect, and the polite zou willen.
- The Conditional with Zou(den)B1 — Zou is the past of zullen and the engine of Dutch 'would' — present/future hypotheticals, reported future, softened opinions, and above all the politeness formula zou + willen/kunnen that turns a blunt request into a courteous one.
- Graag, Willen, Houden van: Like, Want, LoveB1 — Dutch has no single verb 'to like'. Instead it splits the job three ways: graag (for liking an activity), willen (for wanting), and houden van (for loving a thing or person). This page shows which one each English sentence needs, and why the calque 'ik like' or 'ik hou van koffie drinken' goes wrong.