The Modal Verb "vil"
In Danish, the modal verb vil is used to express desires, intentions, or strong will. It is the present tense of ville and translates to "want to" or "will". Like all Danish verbs, its form stays exactly the same no matter who the subject is.
Just like other modal verbs, vil is followed directly by the bare infinitive of the action verb. You do not use the infinitive marker at.
To soften the tone and politely say "would like to" rather than a direct "want to," Danish speakers place the adverb gerne (gladly) immediately after vil.
| I would like to travel. | Jeg vil gerne rejse. |
| We want to drive our colleague to the station. | Vi vil køre vores kollega til stationen. |
| The man wants to relax this weekend. | Manden vil slappe af i weekenden. |
| She would like to stay home and relax. | Hun vil gerne blive hjemme og slappe af. |
Questions and Negations
To turn a statement with vil into a question, swap the subject and the modal verb. The second verb remains in its bare infinitive form later in the sentence.
| Do you want to drive to the city this weekend? | Vil du køre til byen i weekenden? |
| Would you like to drive us to the cinema? | Vil du gerne køre os til biografen? |
To make a sentence negative, place the adverb ikke (not) immediately after vil.
| We do not want to travel. | Vi vil ikke rejse. |
