Volition and Wishes: hteti, želeti, voleti | Serbian Grammar

Serbian distinguishes direct intention, neutral desire, and liking more clearly than English want and would like do. Хтети presents the subject’s will or intention; желети presents a desire or wish; волети presents affection or a habitual preference. In the conditional, желео/желела бих and волео/волела бих become central polite expressions for I would like.

These verbs can govern a noun in the accusative or a verbal complement. With another verb, both an infinitive and a same-subject да + present construction are possible in standard Serbian, but a different subject requires a finite да-clause.

Three Kinds of Volition

Verb	Core meaning	Typical use
хтети	want, intend, be willing	direct wants, decisions, refusal
желети	want, wish, desire	neutral or formal wishes, polite requests
волети	love, like, be fond of	people, things, habitual preferences

Хоћу да разговарам с тобом пре састанка.

I want to talk to you before the meeting.

Желим вам пријатан пут и леп одмор.

I wish you a pleasant journey and a nice vacation. (polite/plural address)

Волим да шетам поред реке после посла.

I like walking by the river after work.

Хоћу is more forceful because it foregrounds the will of the speaker. Желим can sound more neutral, restrained, or formal. Волим does not normally announce a one-time plan; it describes affection or what someone generally likes doing.

Compact Present Paradigms

Person	хтети	желети	волети
ја	хоћу	желим	волим
ти	хоћеш	желиш	волиш
он / она / оно	хоће	жели	воли
ми	хоћемо	желимо	волимо
ви	хоћете	желите	волите
они / оне / она	хоће	желе	воле

Хтети has irregular full present forms. Its negative is fused: нећу, нећеш, неће, нећемо, нећете, неће. Negation with the other two verbs is regular: не желим, не волим.

The Ijekavian Serbian infinitive is хтјети; the present remains хоћу, хоћеш.... This page otherwise follows the Ekavian baseline хтети.

Хоћеш да останеш на вечери.

You want to stay for dinner.

Нећеш да останеш на вечери.

You do not want to stay for dinner.

Хоћеш ли да останеш на вечери?

Do you want to stay for dinner?

The question uses the stressable full form хоћеш plus ли. Bare future clitic ћеш cannot normally stand first as ћеш ли.

Lexical хтети versus Future ћу

The full forms хоћу, хоћеш... retain lexical volition. The short forms ћу, ћеш, ће... are future-I clitics.

Хоћу да завршим овај посао данас.

I want to finish this job today.

Завршићу овај посао данас.

I will finish this job today.

The first sentence states a present desire or determination; the second predicts or promises a future completion. Context can bring intention into the future, but the grammatical contrast between full хоћу and clitic ћу remains real.

Negative нећу can express either future negation or refusal:

Нећу потписати уговор пре него што га адвокат прочита.

I will not sign the contract before a lawyer reads it; I refuse to do so.

The refusal reading becomes especially strong with нећу да + present. The page on бити and хтети clitics gives the full auxiliary system.

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Use the stress test: full хоћу can bear contrastive stress and means want/intend; clitic ћу is unstressed and builds future I.

Желети: Wishes and Neutral Politeness

Желети can take a direct object, a verbal complement, or a recipient in the dative when you wish something to someone.

Желим чашу воде, молим вас.

I would like a glass of water, please. (polite request)

Желимо да сазнамо када почиње пријава.

We would like to find out when registration begins.

Желим ти брз опоравак.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

Present желим can be polite when the context and intonation are courteous, but conditional желео бих / желела бих explicitly softens the request.

Желела бих да резервишем сто за четири особе.

I would like to reserve a table for four. (female speaker; polite)

The conditional auxiliary бих does not mark gender; the l-participle does: masculine желео, feminine желела. Plural forms likewise agree: желели бисмо for a masculine or mixed group, желеле бисмо for an all-female group.

Волети: Affection and Habitual Preference

With a noun or pronoun, волети ranges from like to love; context supplies the strength. It takes the accusative.

Волим своју сестру, али се не слажемо око политике.

I love my sister, but we disagree about politics.

Марко воли јаку кафу без шећера.

Marko likes strong coffee without sugar.

With an action, волети да + present commonly describes a general preference, not a plan for one occasion.

Волимо да путујемо ван сезоне, кад нема гужве.

We like traveling out of season, when it is not crowded.

Conditional волео/волела бих expresses I would like / I would love, often with a more personal or aspirational shade than желео/желела бих.

Волео бих да једног дана видим северну светлост.

I would love to see the northern lights one day. (male speaker)

For the contrast between affection with волети and an experiencer construction with свиђати се, see волети versus свиђати се.

Infinitive and да + Present

When the subject of both verbs is the same, standard Serbian permits both patterns.

Желим разговарати с директорком.

I want to speak with the director. (neutral/formal style)

Желим да разговарам с директорком.

I want to speak with the director.

The finite да construction is especially frequent in everyday Serbian. The infinitive remains standard; the balance varies by verb, style, region, and speaker. Do not label either universally wrong.

When the desired action has a different subject, use да + finite verb:

Желим да пођеш са мном.

I want you to come with me.

English can put you before an infinitive. Serbian cannot copy that frame as желим тебе доћи. The subordinate verb дођеш explicitly marks second person.

Aspect Changes the Desired Event

The volition verb does not determine the complement’s aspect. Choose it according to whether the desired action is an activity or a bounded result.

Желим да читам више током распуста.

I want to read more during the vacation.

Желим да прочитам овај роман до понедељка.

I want to finish reading this novel by Monday.

Imperfective читам presents an open or repeated activity; perfective прочитам makes completion the goal. With волети, a habitual imperfective is especially common because liking normally concerns a recurring activity.

Past Wanting and Polite Conditional

English wanted and would like do not map to the same Serbian form.

Meaning	Masculine	Feminine
wanted	хтео сам / желео сам	хтела сам / желела сам
would like	хтео бих / желео бих	хтела бих / желела бих
would love	волео бих	волела бих

Хтела сам да те позовем, али ми се испразнио телефон.

I wanted to call you, but my phone ran out of battery. (female speaker)

Желео бих да поставим још једно питање.

I would like to ask one more question. (male speaker; polite)

The first is past fact; the second is present politeness. Auxiliary order matters: желео бих, or with a fronted pronoun Ја бих желео...; do not form ја желео бих.

Object clitics inside a finite complement follow да in their normal order. In да ти га покажем, dative ти precedes accusative га.

Волео бих да ти га покажем пре него што донесеш одлуку.

I would like to show it to you before you make a decision. (male speaker)

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For a safe polite request, use agreeing желео/желела бих + да + present. The form is conditional in Serbian even when English translates it simply as I would like.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Desire, Preference, or Intention?

Express a direct plan, a general preference, and a formal wish.

Хоћу да кренем рано. Волим да путујем ујутру. Желим вам срећан пут.

I want to leave early. I like traveling in the morning. I wish you a safe journey. Answer: хтети for intention, волети for preference, желети for a wish.

Task 2: Make the Request Polite and Agreeing

A female speaker asks to change her reservation.

Желела бих да променим резервацију.

I would like to change my reservation. Answer: feminine желела plus conditional auxiliary бих and first-person present променим.

Common Mistakes

Confusing lexical хоћу with future ћу

❌ Сутра хоћу послати извештај.

Incorrect for the intended neutral future announcement—full хоћу foregrounds wanting or determination.

✅ Сутра ћу послати извештај.

I will send the report tomorrow.

Writing the negative of хтети separately

❌ Не ћу да се расправљам пред децом.

Incorrect spelling—negative нећу is one word.

✅ Нећу да се расправљам пред децом.

I do not want to argue in front of the children.

Copying English object-plus-infinitive syntax

❌ Желим тебе доћи раније.

Incorrect—Serbian needs a finite да-clause when the desired action has another subject.

✅ Желим да дођеш раније.

I want you to come earlier.

Forgetting gender in the polite conditional

❌ „Желела бих лимунаду без леда“, рекао је гост.

Incorrect—the male guest requires masculine желео, not feminine желела.

✅ „Желео бих лимунаду без леда“, рекао је гост.

‘I would like a lemonade without ice,’ said the guest. (male speaker)

Using волети for a one-time intention

❌ Волим да пођем сада, јер ми аутобус креће за пет минута.

Incorrect for an immediate decision—волети expresses liking or habitual preference, not this one-time intention.

✅ Хоћу да пођем сада, јер ми аутобус креће за пет минута.

I want to leave now because my bus departs in five minutes.

Key Takeaways

Хтети expresses will, intention, or refusal; желети expresses desire or a wish; волети expresses affection and habitual preference.
Full хоћу is lexical; unstressed ћу is a future auxiliary. Negative нећу is written as one word.
Желео/желела бих is the central polite I would like pattern; participle gender must agree with the speaker.
Both an infinitive and same-subject да + present are standard; a different subject requires a finite да-clause.
Complement aspect distinguishes an open activity from a desired bounded result.

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