Questions & Answers about Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
In German, wollen is a modal verb that primarily means “to want (to do something)”, not the English future “will”.
- Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
= I want to go to sleep now.
To talk about the future in German, you usually just use the present tense with a time expression:
- Ich gehe morgen schlafen. = I’ll go to sleep tomorrow.
You can use werden to form a clear future tense, but it’s less common in everyday speech for simple “will”:
- Ich werde jetzt schlafen gehen. = I will now go to sleep. (sounds a bit more formal/pointed)
So: will = want, not future “will”, in most everyday uses.
German often uses gehen + infinitive to describe going somewhere in order to do something, especially with everyday activities:
- schlafen gehen = go (off) to sleep
- einkaufen gehen = go (out) shopping
- spazieren gehen = go for a walk
Ich will jetzt schlafen.
= I want to sleep now. (focus on the state of sleeping)
Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
= I want to go to bed / go off to sleep now. (focus on the action of going to bed, getting ready to sleep)
Both are correct; schlafen gehen adds the idea of “heading off to bed”, not just the act of sleeping itself.
German modal verbs (like wollen, können, müssen, sollen, dürfen, mögen) take another verb in the infinitive form (the dictionary form):
- Ich will schlafen gehen.
- Ich kann schwimmen.
- Ich muss arbeiten.
So:
- The finite (conjugated) verb is the modal: will (1st person singular of wollen).
- The other verb(s) go to the end, in the infinitive: schlafen gehen.
You only conjugate one verb per simple clause; the others stay in the infinitive.
After a modal verb, German does not use zu with the following infinitive(s):
- ✅ Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
- ❌ Ich will jetzt zu schlafen gehen.
The rule:
modal verb + bare infinitive (without zu):
- Ich kann schwimmen.
- Ich muss lernen.
- Wir dürfen heute länger aufbleiben.
You use zu with many other verbs (versuchen zu…, anfangen zu…, aufhören zu…, etc.), but not with modal verbs like wollen.
Yes, it’s correct and common:
- Ich will jetzt schlafen. = I want to sleep now.
- Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen. = I want to (go to bed and) go to sleep now.
Difference in nuance:
- …schlafen. – Focuses more on the act/state of sleeping.
- …schlafen gehen. – Adds the idea of going off to bed / getting ready to sleep, which is very natural in everyday speech, especially at night.
wollen can sound a bit direct or strong-willed, especially when used about other people:
- Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen. – Neutral when talking about your own wish.
- Er will jetzt gehen. – Neutral.
- Ich will einen Kaffee. – Can sound somewhat demanding, depending on tone.
möchte (from mögen) is softer and more polite, especially for requests:
- Ich möchte jetzt schlafen gehen. – I’d like to go to sleep now. (sounds gentler)
- Ich möchte einen Kaffee. – I’d like a coffee. (normal polite request)
So your sentence with will is fine for stating your own intention, but in polite situations and requests, möchte is often better.
The most natural word order here is:
- Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
Other possibilities:
- Jetzt will ich schlafen gehen.
– Also correct; puts emphasis on “now” (as a contrast: not earlier, not later).
Putting jetzt at the very end:
- Ich will schlafen gehen jetzt.
– Grammatically possible but sounds colloquial and less neutral; you might hear it in speech with special emphasis (“…right now!”).
General rule: time adverbs like jetzt, heute, morgen usually go after the conjugated verb (or at the start of the sentence for emphasis).
German main clauses usually follow:
- Position 1: one element (often the subject) → Ich
- Position 2: finite verb (the conjugated verb) → will
- Middle field: other elements → jetzt
- End field: infinitives/participles → schlafen gehen
So you get a verb-second structure with a verb bracket:
- Left bracket: will
- Right bracket: schlafen gehen
Everything else (“jetzt”) is in the middle. This basic pattern is very typical for German main clauses with modal verbs.
wollen is irregular. Present tense:
- ich will – I want
- du willst – you want (informal singular)
- er/sie/es will – he/she/it wants
- wir wollen – we want
- ihr wollt – you (informal plural) want
- sie/Sie wollen – they / you (formal) want
So in Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen, ich matches will.
Grammatically it’s present tense, but it usually refers to the immediate future:
- Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
= I want to go to sleep now / shortly.
German very often uses the present tense with a time word (like jetzt, morgen, bald) to express the future. You only need the future tense (werden) if you want to emphasize prediction or uncertainty:
- Ich werde später schlafen gehen.
= I will (probably / definitely) go to sleep later. (more like a prediction or plan)
Yes, you can:
- Ich werde jetzt schlafen gehen.
– Literally: I will now go to sleep.
Difference in nuance:
- Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
– Focus on your desire/intention (“I want to go to bed now.”) - Ich werde jetzt schlafen gehen.
– Focus on the future action (“I’m going to go to bed now.”), a bit more like announcing a decision.
Both are correct; in everyday speech, will + infinitive (want) is more common to express “I’m going to bed now” as a wish/decision.
It depends on what exactly you want to negate.
Negating the whole action (“I don’t want to go to sleep now”):
- Ich will jetzt nicht schlafen gehen.
Here, nicht comes before the infinitive phrase (schlafen gehen).
Contrasting the time (“I want to sleep, but not now”):
- Ich will nicht jetzt schlafen gehen, sondern später.
Now, nicht comes before jetzt to show “not now, but later”.
Position of nicht is important in German because it shows what part of the sentence is being negated.
Both are natural, but the focus is slightly different:
Ich will jetzt schlafen gehen.
– Emphasis on the act of going to sleep.Ich will jetzt ins Bett gehen.
– Emphasis on going to bed (physically), with sleeping implied.
In practice, both are often used interchangeably when you mean “I’m going to bed to sleep now.”