Jag vill spara pengar.

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Breakdown of Jag vill spara pengar.

• vilja: to want
• pengarna: the money
• spara: to save

Questions & Answers about Jag vill spara pengar.

Why is it spara and not sparar?

Because vill behaves like a modal verb and is followed by the bare infinitive. So you say Jag vill spara pengar. Use sparar (present tense) only when spara is the main verb by itself: Jag sparar pengar.

Common verbs that take a bare infinitive (no att) after them: vill, ska, kan, måste, bör, får, brukar, tänker (when it means intend to).

Should there be att between vill and spara? When do I use vill att?

No att here. You say Jag vill spara pengar.

Use vill att only when it’s followed by a full clause with its own subject:

• Jag vill att du sparar pengar. (I want you to save money.) Saying Jag vill att spara pengar is ungrammatical.

Where does negation go to say “I don’t want to save money”?

Place inte after the finite verb vill:

• Jag vill inte spara pengar.

If you want the sense of “any money,” use a negative-indefinite:

• Jag vill inte spara några pengar.

Can I say Jag vill pengar to mean “I want money”?