Formwollen (Position 2) ... Infinitiv (Ende)
Meaning and usage
wollen means to want to. The verb wollen stands in second position and changes its form for each person: ich will, du willst, er will, wir wollen, ihr wollt, sie wollen. The second verb goes to the end of the sentence and never changes: Ich will gehen.
Use wollen for a strong wish or plan. It is not the future tense. Ich will gehen means I want to go, not I will go. The one mistake to avoid is putting the second verb in the middle: say Ich will heute arbeiten, not Ich will arbeiten heute.
Examples 5
Ich will mein Leben mit dir verbringen.
I want to spend my life with you.
Nächste Woche will ich meinen Freund besuchen.
I want to visit my friend next week.
Welchen Film willst du als nächstes sehen?
What movie do you want to watch next?
Er will immer das letzte Wort haben.
He always wants to have the last word.
Was willst du zu dem Gericht trinken?
What do you want to drink with your meal?
Test yourself
-
1 Sprachbausteine
Ich morgen meine Oma besuchen.
Show answer
Correct answer: will
The subject is ich, so the correct form of wollen is will. The second verb besuchen stays at the end.
- wollen belongs to wir or sie (plural), not to ich.
- willst belongs to du, not to ich.
- wollt belongs to ihr, not to ich.
In this topic: Modal verbs
- Modalverb + … + Infinitiv modal verb second, main verb at the end
- ich kann, er kann ich and er forms of können: no ending, no umlaut
- können can, be able to, know how to
- müssen must, have to
- wollen want to
- möchte would like, polite way to say what you want
- dürfen may, be allowed to; asking permission
- sollen should, be supposed to, someone else's instruction
- mögen to like, mostly with a noun
- Verb + gern like doing something
- nicht müssen, nicht dürfen not have to vs must not
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.