Learn Hardcore French: Je veux de la soupe maintenant.

de la soupe = some soup (an unspecified quantity, like “I want (some) soup.”)
la soupe = the soup (a specific soup that both people know about: “I want the soup [that we talked about].”)
une soupe = a soup (one whole soup, usually one serving or one kind of soup: “I want a soup.” This is less common in everyday speech unless you mean a portion, e.g. in a restaurant: Je vais prendre une soupe.)

In Je veux de la soupe maintenant, the idea is “I want some soup now,” not “the specific soup” or “one whole soup,” so de la soupe (partitive) is the most natural.

What exactly is de la here?

de la is a partitive article: de + la (for feminine singular nouns).

Partitive articles express an indefinite quantity of something that is not usually counted item by item, like:

du pain = some bread
de la soupe = some soup
de l’eau = some water

So Je veux de la soupe literally means “I want some of the soup-stuff,” which English normally just shortens to “I want (some) soup.”

Could I say Je veux soupe like in English “I want soup”?

No. In French, you almost always need an article (or another determiner) before a noun, especially with food:

✅ Je veux de la soupe.
❌ Je veux soupe.

Natural options are:

Je veux de la soupe. – I want (some) soup.
Je veux la soupe. – I want the soup (a specific one).
Je veux une soupe. – I want a soup (a portion / a bowl / one soup).

Leaving soupe bare without an article is not correct in standard French in this context.

How is veux formed? Why not something like je veut?

Veux is the 1st person singular (and also 2nd person singular) form of the verb vouloir (to want) in the present tense:

je veux – I want
tu veux – you want (singular, informal)
il / elle / on veut – he / she / one wants
nous voulons – we want
vous voulez – you want (plural or formal)
ils / elles veulent – they want

So:

✅ Je veux de la soupe.
❌ Je veut de la soupe.

The ending for je is -x here, not -t.

Is Je veux de la soupe polite, or is it too direct?

Je veux de la soupe is grammatically correct but sounds quite direct, even demanding, especially with an adult speaking to another adult. It’s fine in informal contexts (e.g. a child to a parent, or between close friends joking around).

To sound more polite or softer, French usually uses:

Je voudrais de la soupe. – I would like some soup.
J’aimerais de la soupe. – I would like some soup.
In a restaurant: Je vais prendre de la soupe. – I’ll have some soup.

So in many real-life situations, Je voudrais de la soupe maintenant would be more polite than Je veux de la soupe maintenant.

Can I put maintenant somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Maintenant (now) is flexible in position, with slightly different emphases:

Je veux de la soupe maintenant. – neutral: “I want some soup now.”
Maintenant, je veux de la soupe. – emphasizes “now” as a contrast: “Now, I want soup.” (e.g. I was fine before, but now I want soup.)
Je veux maintenant de la soupe. – possible, but less common and a bit more formal/literary in everyday speech.

The most natural everyday version is exactly what you have: Je veux de la soupe maintenant.

How would I say “I don’t want any soup now”?

Use ne … pas for negation and change the partitive:

Je ne veux pas de soupe maintenant. – I don’t want any soup now.

Notice the change:

Affirmative: de la soupe
Negative: pas de soupe (no la)

In French, partitive and indefinite articles (du, de la, des, un, une) usually become de (or d’ before a vowel) after ne … pas:

Je veux du pain. → Je ne veux pas de pain.
Je veux de la soupe. → Je ne veux pas de soupe.

Why is it de la soupe and not du soupe?

Because soupe is feminine singular. The partitive article agrees with the gender and number of the noun:

du = de + le (masculine singular):
- du pain (bread), du fromage (cheese)
de la (feminine singular):
- de la soupe, de la viande
de l’ (before a vowel or mute h, any gender):
- de l’eau, de l’huile
des (plural):
- des carottes, des pommes

So with soupe (feminine), the correct form is de la soupe.

How do you pronounce veux and veux de la soupe?

Pronunciation tips:

veux is pronounced roughly like vuh, with rounded lips: [vø] in IPA.
- The x is silent here.
Je veux de la soupe ≈ zhuh vuh də la soop
- Je = [ʒə]
- veux = [vø]
- de = [də] (often very weak, almost like “duh”)
- la = [la]
- soupe = [sup]

There is no liaison between veux and de: you don’t pronounce the x. It’s just [vø də], not [vøz də].

Would a French person really say this, or is there a more natural everyday way?

Je veux de la soupe maintenant is correct and understandable. In real life, tone and context matter a lot:

A hungry child: Je veux de la soupe maintenant ! – very natural.
An adult in a restaurant to a waiter: it sounds too direct; they’d use:
- Je voudrais de la soupe, s’il vous plaît.
- Je vais prendre de la soupe, s’il vous plaît.

Among adults in informal conversation, you might also hear a softer version like:

J’ai envie de soupe maintenant. – I feel like having soup now.

But grammatically and structurally, your sentence is fine.

What’s the difference between Je veux de la soupe and Je veux la soupe?

Je veux de la soupe.
- General, non-specific: you want some soup (soup in general, some amount).
Je veux la soupe.
- Specific, definite: you want the soup that both people know about (maybe the one on the table, or the one someone else has).

In English, we usually just say “I want soup” for both, but French makes a clearer distinction between some soup (de la soupe) and the soup (la soupe).