34 - How to Conjugate French Verb "Vouloir" (to Want) [Present Tense]

 
 

Know how to use the French verb “vouloir” (to want)? Listen to this lesson to find out! I’ll share a pronunciation tips and examples too.

If you’d prefer to listen on the go, listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Links & Cheat Sheet

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!

Bonjour à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy Podcast! Thanks for joining me here! This is episode number 34, numero 34! In this lesson, you'll be learning how to use the French verb "vouloir" (which means to want) in the present tense! I'll first share with you the conjugation of the verb; then, I'll give you some examples. 

Ok. As usual… make sure you download your lesson's cheat sheet; it's free. After the lesson, time to practice! Head over to the French Made Easy Library, where you can download your lesson's exercises. 

Vous êtes prêts? Are you guys ready? On y va. 

Alright, so quickly, why should you learn the verb "vouloir." Well, if you've been following the podcast for a while, you probably know what I'm going to say next. This is an important verb, and it's irregular, so please learn it by heart. That's it! No, seriously, lots of students get confused with the conjugation of the verbs "pouvoir" (that we've seen in episode 31), "vouloir," "devoir," and "savoir". So that's why I want you to learn the conjugation of these four verbs. 

👉 Conjugation of French Verb “Vouloir”

But for now, let's see the conjugation in the present tense of the French verb "vouloir" (to want)"

Répétez après moi (repeat after me)

  • je veux (I want)

  • tu veux (you want - sing. informal)

  • il veut (he wants)

  • elle veut (she wants)

  • on veut (we want - informal)

  • nous voulons (we want - formal)

  • vous voulez (you want - plural or sing. formal)

  • ils veulent (they want - masculine)

  • elles veulent (they want - feminine)

Bit of pronunciation: 

If you look at the cheat sheet or the transcript, the letters that I've underlined here are silent. 

👉 Don't pronounce the “x”, don't pronounce the “t”, don't pronounce the “s”, and don't pronounce the “ent.”

Attention, that doesn't always mean that they are always silent. But if you need to more about it, check out my course, French Pronunciation Kickstarter (NOW -> French Pronunciation Made Easy, where I explain when and when not to pronounce the final consonants.

👉 Examples

Très bien. Now let's see some examples of the French verb "vouloir" conjugated in the present tense. 

  • Je NE veux PAS travailler aujourd’hui. (I don’t want to work today.)

Here you've got an example of the negation. I'm adding "ne" before the conjugated verb and "pas" right after it. 

  • Tu veux du chocolat? (Do you want some chocolate?)

  • Il veut sortir ce week end. (He wants to go out this weekend.)

  • Elle veut apprendre le français. (She wants to learn French.)

  • On veut manger une raclette ce soir. (We want to eat a raclette tonight.)

  • Nous voulons acheter une nouvelle télé. (We want to buy a new TV.)

  • Vous voulez aller au cinéma demain? (Do you want to go see a movie tomorrow?)

  • Ils veulent partir en vacances. (They want to go on holidays.)

  • Elles NE veulent PAS faire leurs devoirs. (They don't want to do their homework.)

Ok, super! That's it for the examples! 

👉 Recap

Now let's just recap what we've learned:

The conjugation of "vouloir" in the present tense is.

  • je veux (I want)

  • tu veux (you want)

  • il veut (he wants)

  • elle veut (she wants)

  • on veut (we want)

  • nous voulons (we want)

  • vous voulez (you want)

  • ils veulent (they want)

  • elles veulent (they want)

Woohoo! On a fini la leçon d'aujourd'hui! We've finished today's lesson. If you've liked this episode, let me know and leave me a review on Apple Podcast. Now don't forget to download your lesson's exercises. It's free.

Thanks for your time. I'll talk to you next week.

Merci beaucoup et à bientôt. 💗

 
Mathilde Kien5 Comments