‘Wollen’ Conjugations

Learning ‘wollen’ is tricky because German verbs have more conjugation options compared to English verbs –so there’s more that our brains have to remember!

How is ‘Wollen’ Used in German?

Knowing how to correctly use ‘wollen’ in its many diverse forms allows you to speak masterfully in German in a wide variety of contexts.

‘Wollen’ allows you to talk about yourself and others ‘wanting’ (I want a cookie/ She wants to take a vacation; etc.) in all manner of situations past, present, future, and hypothetical. 

You’ll use ‘wollen’ in order to …

• ✅ Talk about what / how / when / etc. someone is wanting.
• ✅ Utilize certain idioms and other common figures of speech.
• ✅ Say that someone wants, wanted, will have wanted, will want, etc.

What Are The 6 Conjugations of ‘Wollen’? 

The 6 conjugations of ‘wollen’ in the present tense line up with our 6 subject pronouns to give us ‘ich will’, ‘du willst’, ‘er / sie / es will’, ‘wir wollen’, ‘ihr wollt’, and ‘sie wollen.’

There are, of course, even more forms of ‘wollen’ in other tenses (and moods). 

But it’s best to first focus strictly on the present tense conjugations of ‘wollen’, so let’s look at it side-by-side with the English ‘to want’:

‘Wollen’ (in English)

I want

you want

he/she/it wants

we want

they want

‘Wollen’ in German is ‘to want’ in English. And in the present tense, we have two possible conjugations: ‘want’, and ‘wants’.

In the case of ‘want’, it is recycled –that is, it’s used with multiple different pronouns (i.e. I, you, we, they). It’s only he/she/it that uses its own unique conjugation ‘wants’.

Those same conjugations in German look like this:  

‘Wollen’ (Present Tense) English vs German

Comparing German & English

It’s important to notice the patterns of similarities and differences at this point. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• Where does German ‘recycle’ the same conjugations?
• Are the German & English changes to ‘wollen’ (to want) occurring with equivalent pronouns?
• Which language includes more changes compared to the other? 

‘Wollen’ in the Present Tense

The present tense conjugations of ‘wollen’ are ich will, du willst, er / sie / es will, wir wollen, ihr wollt, and sie wollen.

Put into a typical conjugation table, these options are presented like this:

Present Tense Conjugation Chart:

ich  will	wir wollen
du willst	ihr wollt
er/sie/es will	sie wollen

You truly haven’t even begun to learn ‘wollen’ until you know ALL the nominative case pronouns and which form of ‘wollen’ each of them takes.

To talk about the conjugations of ‘wollen’ used by the various pronouns, we have to work backward by starting with the pronouns. 

And in order to understand nominative case (i.e. subject) pronouns, we need to talk about the grammar concept of ‘persons’.

What are ‘persons’?

The ‘persons’ (I, you, they, etc.) are split into two categories that interact with each other: 

There are 3 subcategories of ‘persons’ (1st Person, 2nd Person, and 3rd Person) and each of these has a ‘singular’ and a ‘plural’ variant. 

When we intersect this information on Y and X axes, we get these ultra-familiar English subject pronouns:

English Subject Pronouns Chart

	Singular	Plural
1st	I	we
2nd	you	you
3rd	he/she/it	they

Now, here is the German version of the same table of subject pronouns: 

German Subject Pronouns Chart

	Singular	Plural
1st	ich	wir
2nd	du	ihr
3rd	er/sie/es	sie

German & English Pronouns Side-by-Side

Where do English and German line up and where are there differences?

English and German have 1-to-1 equivalents for all pronouns … except that German has extra pronouns for ‘you’ (highlighted).

FULL German Subject Pronouns Chart

	Singular	Plural
1st	ich	wir
2nd (informal)	du	ihr
(formal)	Sie	Sie
3rd	er/sie/es	sie

Understanding the ‘ihr’ plural of ‘du’ is straightforward enough: Americans might relate it to the concept of y’all. We’re simply talking to multiple ‘you’s at the same time.

But what is the deal with the singular and plural ‘Sie’?

Formal vs. Informal ‘You’

If you took high school Spanish, you’ve already been exposed to the idea of ‘you’ having an informal version and a formal version (e.g. ‘tu’ [informal] and ‘Usted’ [formal]).

It’s the exact same idea in German.

We need to use the formal ‘you’ when we address …

• someone we don’t intimately know 
• someone to whom we want to show additional respect
• someone in a relative position of authority 

Of course, these separate categories have some obvious potential overlaps in that many times we perceive others as authority figures whom we also genuinely respect and with whom we wouldn’t go out to a pub for a beer because we don’t know them intimately enough.

When to Use the Formal ‘Sie’

As you can see in the table, if you’re using the formal address ‘Sie’, it doesn’t matter if you’re talking to one person or multiple –the pronoun AND its conjugation of ‘wollen’ stays the same:

German Subject Pronoun & ‘Wollen’ Conjugations Chart:

	Singular	Plural
1st	Ich will	wir wollen
2nd (informal)	du willst	ihr wollt
(formal)	Sie wollen	Sie wollen
3rd	er/sie/es will	sie wollen

In German, you generally need to use this formal version of ‘you’ if you’re talking with…

• professionals (e.g. clerks, police officers, doctors, plumbers, etc.) 

• leaders (e.g. priests, politicians, choir directors, bosses, etc.)
• elders (e.g. anyone clearly at least a generation older than you are)

Examples of ‘Wollen’

Knowing how to use ‘wollen’ in the present tense for all the 1st, 2nd (formal and informal) and 3rd persons, singular and plural, is exactly what you should know for now. 

1st Person, Singular & Plural

Ich will ein Eis. (I want an ice cream.)
Ich will ein neues Auto. (I want a new car.)

Wir wollen ein Eis. (We want an ice cream.)
Wir wollen ein neues Auto. (We want a new car.)

2nd Person (Informal), Singular & Plural

Du willst ein Eis. (You want an ice cream.)
Du willst ein neues Auto. (You want a new car.)

Ihr wollt ein Eis. (You want an ice cream.)
Ihr wollt ein neues Auto. (You want a new car.)

2nd Person (Formal), Singular & Plural

Sie wollen ein Eis. (You want an ice cream.)
Sie wollen ein neues Auto. (You want a new car.)

Sie wollen ein Eis. (You want an ice cream.)
Sie wollen ein neues Auto. (You want a new car.)

3rd Person, Singular & Plural

Der Kunde will ein Eis. (The customer wants an ice cream.)
Der Kunde will ein neues Auto. (The customer wants a new car.)

Die Kunden wollen ein Eis. (The customers want an ice cream)
Die Kunden wollen ein neues Auto. (The customers want a new car.)

Comparing German & English

There are several interesting points to make on the above examples so that you can further your general knowledge of German beyond specifics of ‘wollen’.

• NOTE: most so-called ‘modal’ verbs must pair with a 2nd verb. ‘Wollen’ however, doesn’t have to and can simply ‘take’ a direct object noun (the ‘what’ you desire!). Thus, in our examples, ‘ice cream’ and ‘a new car’ are the items that are wanted. Read an overview of modal verbs here.
• Did you notice the ‘ein’ in front of ‘Eis’ and ‘Auto’? How about the ‘neues’? Have you noticed elsewhere that sometimes ‘a/an’ is einen, eine, einem, einer or eines? And did you know that the adjective ‘neu’ (new) might be neue, neuen, neuner, or neues when its plugged into a German sentence? Yikes! These little differences are called declensions and you can’t speak German unless you know how to use them. Learn more here. 
• Almost every English noun pluralizes simply with ‘s’ (e.g. customer -> customers), but German has SEVEN different options that we have to know how to choose between! You may have noticed specifically the -n plural at play in ‘Kunde’ (customer) becoming ‘Kunden’ (customers). Learn more about noun plurals here.

Skills You’ll Need to Use ‘Wollen’ Conjugations:

‘Wollen’ makes it possible to relay information about what you (or someone else) want or don’t want in all manner of situations past, present, future, and hypothetical. 

‘Wollen’ is such a common, everyday verb that you can’t masterfully speak German if you don’t understand how to use its various conjugations.

You’ll use ‘wollen’ in order to …

• ✅ Talk about strong desires (vs. weaker / politer desires using ‘möchte’)
• ✅ Communicate higher likelihood of the desire being fulfilled.
• ✅ Desiring someone/something in the past, present, and future.
• ✅ Speak hypothetically (e.g. I should/would have wanted XY, if only …)

Building Blocks You Need For ‘Wollen’

‘Wollen’ conjugations empower you to express yourself in a LOT of different ways. You need to correctly wield ‘wollen’ in a variety of contexts in order to speak German capably, comfortably, and confidently.

To correctly use ‘wollen’ in various tenses and moods, to give commands or offer suggestions, or to speak hypothetically, you need to build these foundational skills:

1. Know the subject [i.e. nominative] pronouns for all singular & plural persons.
2. Learn the present and simple past tense conjugations of ‘wollen’ for all persons.
3. Learn the ‘wollen’ conjugations for the conditional/ subjunctive moods.
4. Know how to use the ‘double infinitive’ formulation with ‘wollen’.

Terminology Explained

subject pronouns are the words ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘we’ and ‘they’ in English. German has these same options BUT also three more! These pronouns are categorized as ‘persons’ that are either singular (e.g. ‘I’) or plural (e.g. ‘we’). 

conjugations are slight changes to a verb that line up with different ‘persons’. The same base verb ‘should’  is used in English for all persons, but typically there are two conjugation options (e.g. sing vs. sings). German, however, typically uses four different conjugations, even for modal verbs such as ‘wollen’ (see above tables).

tense & mood are simply variants of a verb such as ‘I should’ (present / future tense –it could still happen) vs. ‘I should have’ (past tense –it definitely didn’t happen and still won’t). German and English generally have all the same verb tenses and moods (sometimes German has more) and they function similarly.

double infinitives generally involve a modal verb, a main verb, and a helping / auxiliary verb (‘sein’, ‘haben’, or ‘werden’) to talk about –in the instance of ‘wollen’– feeling/ being obligated to do XY [main verb] in the future (which you may or may not do) or having felt / been obligated to do XY [main verb] in the past (which you didn’t do, although you ‘should have’). Learn more here.

“HELP! This Feels Overwhelming!”

This can understandably feel like a LOT, but the good news is that you DON’T have to fully master all the applications of ‘wollen’ right now as a beginner learner –which also means you don’t have to have all the relevant lingo totally down yet, either.

The ideal place to start is by learning just the German subject pronouns and the present tense conjugations of ‘wollen’. We covered this in depth above, but here is the table with both pieces of information, again, here:

Repetitious, simple sentences (like the examples I gave you above in an earlier section) will help you drill these present tense ‘wollen’ conjugations into your memory. 

And since all the subject pronouns are exactly the same no matter what German verb conjugations we’re learning, we’ll get lots of mileage out of learning our ‘ich’ and ‘du’, etc.

If you’re beyond a beginner level already, you’ll see those ‘ich’s and ‘du’s repeated again and again in the following tables of ALL the ‘wollen’ conjugations. 

‘Wollen’ Conjugations in ALL Tenses & Moods

‘Wollen’ is used in 6 tenses (of the indicative mood), and an additional mood (the subjunctive). We use ‘wollen’ to talk about ‘wanting’ in the past, present, and future (e.g. I wanted I want, I will want). ‘Wollen’ is also used to say ‘I would want’ (subjunctive).

For those of you who are ready for it, here are the full conjugation tables for ‘wollen’:

Indicative (Indikativ)

The indicative mood is how we talk most of the time: about real facts (I want to talk with you later today. Are you wanting to get together this weekend? He wanted to leave earlier. She wants to bake a pie.) 

The indicative mood subcategories into SIX tenses in both English and German. Most of these tenses are used very similarly. 

With modal verbs explicitly, it’s essential to learn the present tense first, and then the simple past and subjunctive II mood. 

The future indicative and the subjunctive pluperfect mood (a.k.a subjunctive past perfect) are also used, but most commonly with a ‘double infinitive.’ 

The other tenses / moods are rarely –if ever– used for ‘können’ (and sometimes don’t even apply, such as the imperative mood.)

Present (Präsens)

‘WOLLEN’- Present Tense (Präsens) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich will	wir wollen
2nd	du willst	ihr wollt
3rd	er will	sie wollen

Simple Past (Präteritum)

‘WOLLEN’- Simple Past (Präteritum) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich wollte	wir wollten
2nd	du wolltest	ihr wolltet
3rd	er wollte	sie wollten

Present Perfect (Perfekt)

‘WOLLEN’ – Present Perfect (Perfekt) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich habe gewollt	wir haben gewollt
2nd	du hast gewollt	ihr habt gewollt
3rd	er hat gewollt	sie haben gewollt

Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt)

‘WOLLEN’ – Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich hatte gewollt	wir hatten gewollt
2nd	du hattest gewollt	ihr hattet gewollt
3rd	er hatte gewollt	sie hatten gewollt

Simple Future (Futur I)

‘WOLLEN’ – Simple Future (Futur I) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich werde wollen	wir werden wollen
2nd	du wirst wollen	ihr werdet wollen
3rd	er wird wollen	sie werden wollen

Future Perfect (Futur II)

‘WOLLEN’ – Future Perfect (Futur II) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich werde gewollt haben	wir werden gewollt haben
2nd	du wirst gewollt haben	ihr werdet gewollt haben
3rd	er wird gewollt haben	sie werden gewollt haben

Important Notes on German Tenses

Although German and English HAVE all the same tenses, they aren’t necessarily all used the same way.

In German …

• The Present Tense covers three different English options: for example, I eat, I do eat, I am eating would ALL simply be ‘Ich esse’ in German. 
• The Present Perfect Tense (which would technically translate to, e.g. I have eaten) actually correlates with English’s simple past (i.e.  I ate) in terms of usage.
• The Simple Future tense is frequently avoided in favor of the Present tense and a time adverbial. 

Imperative (Imperativ)

The imperative mood is used in both English and German for giving commands. Note that a ‘du’ or ‘ihr’ subject is generally omitted, but that a ‘wir’ and ‘Sie’ must be present.

‘WOLLEN’- Imperative (Imperativ) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st		– wir!
2nd Informal	– [du]!	– [ihr]!
2nd Formal	– Sie!	– Sie!
3rd

Subjunctive (Konjunktiv)

The subjunctive mood is used in both English and German (but much more frequently in German!) to communicate hypothetical (i.e. not factual [indicative]) situations. 

The subjunctive can be used to communicate a present or future likelihood (but not certainty) OR a complete impossibility in the past, present, or future. 

The subjunctive is also used for expressing polite requests vs. the commands of the imperative mood.

Present Subjunctive (Konjunktiv I) 

‘WOLLEN’- Present Subjunctive (Konjunktiv I) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich wolle	wir wollen
2nd	du wollest	ihr wollet
3rd	er wolle	sie wollen

Past Subjunctive (Konjunktiv II) 

‘WOLLEN’- Past Subjunctive (Konjunktiv II)  Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich wollte	wir wollten
2nd	du wolltest	ihr wolltet
3rd	er wollte	sie wollten

Perfect Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Perfekt) 

‘WOLLEN’ – Perfect Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Perfekt) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich habe gewollt	wir haben gewollt
2nd	du habest gewollt	ihr habet gewollt
3rd	er habe gewollt	sie haben gewollt

Past Perfect Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Plusquamperfekt) 

‘WOLLEN’ – Past Perfect Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Plusquamperfekt) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich hätte gewollt	wir hätten gewollt
2nd	du hättest gewollt	ihr hättet gewollt
3rd	er hätte gewollt	sie hätten gewollt

Future Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Futur I) 

‘WOLLEN’ – Future Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Futur I) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich werde wollen	wir werden wollen
2nd	du werdest wollen	ihr werdet wollen
3rd	er werde wollen	sie werden wollen

Future Perfect Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Futur II)

‘WOLLEN’ – Future Perfect Subjunctive (Konjunktiv Futur II) Table
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ich werde gewollt haben	wir werden gewollt haben
2nd	du werdest gewollt haben	ihr werdet gewollt haben
3rd	er werde gewollt haben	sie werden gewollt haben

Common Confusion

What is the difference between ‘wollen’ and ‘möchte’?

‘Wollen’ allows you to talk about yourself and others ‘wanting’ (I want a cookie/ She wants to take a vacation; etc.), whereas, ‘möchten’ (the infinitive form of ‘möchte’) allows you to talk about yourself and others ‘wanting to’ (I would like to ask you a question/She would like to leave earlier/ etc.) in all manner of situations past, present, future, and hypothetical. 

Is it ‘sollen’ or ‘wollen’?

Both ‘sollen’ and ‘wollen’ are verbs in the German language. The context of the sentence will be the determining factor in whether to use ‘sollen’ (to should) or ‘wollen’ (to want).

How do you use ‘wollen’ in German?

‘Wollen’ is a German verb that requires a direct object (accusative case). Thus, we’d compose, for example, ‘I want a cookie’ (Ich will einen Keks). For more examples, see here.

Rapid Q&A

Is ‘wollen’ an irregular verb in German?

‘Wollen’ wouldn’t be classified as an irregular (i.e. strong) verb, though it does require a vowel change in various conjugations. One big difference is that it requires a vowel change with ‘ich’ in the present tense, unlike our irregular verbs. So, ‘wollen’ is more of a ‘strong+’ verb because its irregularities go beyond just normal ‘strong’ verbs.

What is the simple past of ‘wollen’?

The simple present tense form of the verb ‘wollen’ is ‘wollten’ which then needs to be conjugated for all persons.

Is ‘wollen’ a modal verb?

Yes, ‘wollen’ is a modal verb. Most so-called ‘modal’ verbs must pair with a 2nd verb. ‘Wollen’ however, doesn’t have to and can simply ‘take’ a direct object noun (the ‘what’ you desire!).

What are the 3 forms of ‘wollen’?