Learn Hardcore French: Je veux aider mes amis autant que possible. - I want to help my friends as much as possible.

Je veux aider mes amis… = I want to help my friends…
- Direct, strong statement of will. Neutral in French, but can sound a bit blunt in some contexts.
Je voudrais aider mes amis… = I would like to help my friends…
- More polite/softened, often used when speaking to someone you want to be courteous with.
J’aimerais aider mes amis… = I would like / I’d love to help my friends…
- Expresses desire a bit more gently; feels a bit more emotional or aspirational.

In everyday neutral speech about yourself (not as a request), je veux is perfectly normal:
Je veux aider mes amis autant que possible. = “I want to help my friends as much as possible.”

Why is aider in the infinitive? Why not j’aide?

In French, after verbs like:

vouloir (to want)
pouvoir (to be able to)
devoir (to have to / must),

the second verb usually stays in its infinitive form.

So:

Je veux aider = I want to help
Je peux aider = I can help
Je dois aider = I must help

If you said Je veux j’aide mes amis, that would be wrong.
You either say:

Je veux aider mes amis. (I want to help my friends.)
or
J’aide mes amis. (I help my friends / I am helping my friends.)

But you don’t conjugate both verbs together.

Why isn’t there a preposition before mes amis? Why not aider à mes amis?

Because aider is a direct transitive verb in French. It takes a direct object with no preposition:

aider quelqu’un = to help someone

So:

aider mes amis = to help my friends
aider Marie = to help Marie
aider les gens = to help people

Using à (like aider à mes amis) is incorrect.
The preposition à appears in a different structure: aider quelqu’un à faire quelque chose:

J’aide mes amis à apprendre le français.
= I help my friends (to) learn French.

What exactly does autant que possible mean, grammatically?

Autant que possible is a fixed expression:

autant = as much / as many
que = as (used in comparisons: autant que, plus que, moins que)
possible = possible

Literally: “as much as (is) possible”.

Functionally, it means:

as much as possible
as far as possible / as much as I can

So:

Je veux aider mes amis autant que possible.
= I want to help my friends as much as possible.

You can reuse it in many contexts:

Je travaille autant que possible. = I work as much as possible.
Je veux parler français autant que possible. = I want to speak French as much as possible.

Can I say autant que je peux instead of autant que possible?

Yes, you can, and it’s natural:

Je veux aider mes amis autant que je peux.
= I want to help my friends as much as I can.

Nuance:

autant que possible is impersonal and a bit more neutral/formal.
autant que je peux is more personal and explicit: “as much as I personally am able to”.

Both are correct and common. In many contexts they’re interchangeable.

Why is it mes amis and not something like les amis?

mes amis = my friends
- mes is the 1st person singular possessive for plural nouns (my)
les amis = the friends (not necessarily mine; could be a specific group already known to the listener)

In English, you need my here: “I want to help my friends…”, so in French you naturally use mes amis.

If you said Je veux aider les amis, it would mean “I want to help the friends”, which sounds odd without context. You normally specify whose friends you mean.

Is amis masculine or feminine, and does it change the meaning?

Ami / amis is grammatically masculine, but:

ami = (male) friend
amie = (female) friend
amis (masc. plural) =
- a group of all male friends, or
- a mixed group of male and female friends
amies (fem. plural) = a group of all female friends

French uses the masculine plural form when the group is mixed or when we don’t specify. So:

mes amis = my friends (male or mixed / unspecified)
mes amies = my (all female) friends

If you just say mes amis, people usually understand “my friends” with no assumption about their gender unless context suggests otherwise.

Could I say Je veux autant que possible aider mes amis? Is the word order flexible?

You can move autant que possible around a bit, but not every position sounds equally natural.

Most natural:

Je veux aider mes amis autant que possible. ✅

Also possible, but more marked / stylistic:

Je veux, autant que possible, aider mes amis. (adds emphasis, written style)
Autant que possible, je veux aider mes amis. (emphasis at the start of the sentence)

Je veux autant que possible aider mes amis is understandable, but feels a bit clumsy in everyday speech. French generally prefers:

verb + object + adverbial phrase

So: aider mes amis autant que possible is the smoothest.

Do I ever need de here, like aider de mes amis (influenced by “help my friends” / “some of my friends”)?

Not in this sentence. Be careful not to overuse de because of English.

aider quelqu’un = to help someone (no de)
Je veux aider mes amis. = I want to help my friends.

If you want to say some of my friends, you say:

certains de mes amis / quelques-uns de mes amis
→ Je veux aider certains de mes amis. = I want to help some of my friends.

But you still don’t put de after aider:

aider certains de mes amis
(the de belongs to certains de, not to aider)

How is this sentence pronounced? Are there any important liaisons?

A careful, standard pronunciation (in IPA):

Je veux aider mes amis autant que possible.
/ʒə vø z‿ede me.z‿a.mi o.tɑ̃ kə pɔ.si.bl/

Key points:

Je veux: /ʒə vø/
veux aider: there is often a liaison: veux‿aider → /vø z‿ede/
mes amis: there is a liaison: mes‿amis → /me.z‿a.mi/
- The s of mes is pronounced /z/ before a vowel.
Final s of amis is silent: /ami/
autant: nasal vowel at the end: /o.tɑ̃/ (don’t pronounce the final t or n as consonants)
possible: /pɔ.si.bl/ (final e is not pronounced)

So you’ll hear something close to:

ʒə vø zede me.zami o.tɑ̃ kə pɔ.si.bl

What is the conjugation of vouloir in the present? Where does veux come from?

Veux is the 1st person singular (je) form of the verb vouloir in the present tense.

Present tense of vouloir:

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

It’s an irregular verb, so you can’t guess all its forms from the infinitive; you need to learn them.

Could I replace aider mes amis with les aider? What’s the difference?

Yes:

Je veux aider mes amis autant que possible.
Je veux les aider autant que possible.

Both are correct.

Difference:

aider mes amis: explicit; you say my friends again.
les aider: uses the direct object pronoun les = them.

You normally use les aider if it’s already clear from context who “them” refers to:

Mes amis ont des problèmes. Je veux les aider autant que possible.
= My friends have problems. I want to help them as much as possible.

In your original single sentence, aider mes amis is perfectly fine and clear.

Is je veux always appropriate, or can it sound too direct/pushy in French?

It depends on context:

Talking about yourself and your intentions, like here:
Je veux aider mes amis autant que possible.
→ Normal, not rude. You’re just stating your wish.
Making a request to someone (e.g., to a waiter, teacher, stranger), je veux… can sound too direct, even childish (“I want…”). In that case, French prefers softer forms:
- Je voudrais… = I would like…
- J’aimerais… = I’d like…
- Est-ce que je pourrais… ? = Could I…?

So for this particular sentence, je veux is fine. Just remember to switch to je voudrais / j’aimerais when you’re asking for something from others and want to sound polite.