wollen: Wanting and Intention | German Grammar

wollen is the modal of the will — it expresses what the subject wants or intends. It is also home to the single most dangerous false friend in German: the form will looks exactly like English "will," but it means want, not the future. Get that straight and the rest of this verb is easy.

Conjugation: will in the singular, wollen in the plural

wollen changes its stem vowel in the singular (woll- becomes will-) and drops the -t in the third person singular. The plural keeps the o.

Person	Form
ich	will
du	willst
er / sie / es	will
wir	wollen
ihr	wollt
sie / Sie	wollen

The governed infinitive goes to the end of the clause, with the modal in second position.

Ich will jetzt nach Hause.

I want to go home now. (the verb 'gehen' is so obvious it's dropped)

Sie will Deutsch lernen.

She wants to learn German.

Wir wollen am Wochenende wandern.

We want to go hiking at the weekend.

Notice the first example: wollen is one of the few verbs that can stand without an infinitive when the action (here gehen) is obvious. Ich will nach Hause needs no "go."

The big false friend: will = "want," not "will"

This deserves a full stop and your full attention. English "I will go" is a future statement. German Ich will gehen is not that — it means "I want to go." The two languages built nearly identical-looking words for completely different jobs.

Ich will essen.

I want to eat. (NOT 'I will eat')

Er will nicht mitkommen.

He doesn't want to come along. (NOT 'he won't come')

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The trap is historical: English will once meant "want" too (it survives in "if you will," "willing," "willpower"), but English drifted into using it as a future auxiliary while German kept the original "desire" meaning. So the words share an ancestor and look alike — yet today they are opposites in function. Whenever you see German will, read "want."

If you actually mean the English future, German uses werden, not wollen:

Ich werde morgen anrufen.

I'll call tomorrow. (future → werden)

Es wird regnen.

It's going to rain.

So the pair is symmetrical and treacherous: German will = "want" (English), and the English future "will" = German werden. See the Futur I page for how German actually builds the future (and how the present tense often does the job).

Desire and intention

Within German itself, wollen runs from a firm wish to a settled intention or plan. It is direct and a little forceful — you are asserting your own will.

Ich will ein eigenes Café aufmachen.

I want to open my own café. (a real intention)

Was willst du später werden?

What do you want to be later in life? (informal)

Die Kinder wollen unbedingt einen Hund.

The kids desperately want a dog.

Because plain wollen is so direct, it can sound blunt or demanding in requests. Ich will einen Kaffee ("I want a coffee") is something a child or an irritated customer might say. For polite ordering and requesting, German switches to möchte ("would like"), which is covered on the mögen and möchte page.

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Rough rule of thumb: wollen is "I want" (assertive), möchte is "I'd like" (polite). In shops, restaurants and any request to a stranger, reach for möchte. Save wollen for stating genuine intentions and for contexts where directness is fine.

Past tense

The Präteritum is wollte (weak, with the stem vowel reverting to o), and in speech this is the normal way to talk about a past wish or intention.

Person	Präteritum
ich / er / sie / es	wollte
du	wolltest
wir / sie / Sie	wollten
ihr	wolltet

Ich wollte dich gestern anrufen, aber ich hatte keine Zeit.

I wanted to call you yesterday, but I had no time.

The Konjunktiv II is also wollte — identical in spelling to the Präteritum, with context distinguishing them. The Perfekt with a governed verb uses the double infinitive wollen (Ich habe gehen wollen); standalone, the participle is gewollt (Das habe ich nie gewollt — "I never wanted that"). See the Perfekt and double infinitive page.

The claim use: "claims to"

Like sollen, wollen has a subjective reading — but the mirror image. When the subject reports something about themselves that the speaker doubts, wollen means "claims to."

Er will alles gewusst haben.

He claims to have known everything. (but I don't believe him)

Sie will den Mann nie gesehen haben.

She claims never to have seen the man.

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Match the two subjective modals: sollen reports what others say about the subject ("he's said to be rich"), while wollen reports what the subject claims about himself ("he claims to be rich") — usually with a hint of speaker skepticism. The full picture is on the objective vs subjective modals page.

Common mistakes

❌ Ich will dich morgen anrufen.

Wrong if you mean 'I'll call you tomorrow' — this says 'I WANT to call you tomorrow.'

✅ Ich werde dich morgen anrufen.

I'll call you tomorrow. (future → werden)

❌ Ich will einen Kaffee, bitte.

Too blunt when ordering from a waiter — sounds demanding to a stranger.

✅ Ich möchte einen Kaffee, bitte.

I'd like a coffee, please. (polite → möchte)

❌ Du willt mitkommen?

Wrong ending — the du form is willst.

✅ Willst du mitkommen?

Do you want to come along?

❌ Wir willen ins Kino gehen.

Wrong — the plural keeps the o: wollen, not 'willen.'

✅ Wir wollen ins Kino gehen.

We want to go to the cinema.

Key takeaways

German will = "want," never the English future. The English future "will" is German werden.
Conjugation: will, willst, will in the singular; wollen, wollt, wollen in the plural.
wollen is assertive ("I want"); for polite requests use möchte ("I'd like").
Subjective wollen = "claims to" (about oneself); compare hearsay sollen ("is said to be").

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