voulez

Voulez is the second-person plural present tense form of the French verb vouloir, meaning "to want." It is used with the subject vous, which can denote either you (plural) or you in a formal singular address in contemporary French. The full present tense of vouloir is: je veux, tu veux, il/elle veut, nous voulons, vous voulez, ils/elles veulent. Thus, voulez corresponds to "you want" or, in polite questions, to "you would like."

Usage and function

Voulez is most commonly found in questions and polite requests. Inverting or placing the pronoun after the verb forms the standard polite question: "Voulez-vous quelque chose ?" or "Que voulez-vous manger ?" In everyday conversation, vous voulez is used to ask about someone’s preferences or to offer something, as in "Voulez-vous un café ?" You can also use it with subjects other than vous when speaking more formally to a single person.

Related forms and notes

The related verb vouloir is irregular; its other present-tense forms differ significantly from a regular -er verb. The verb’s past participle is voulu, used with avoir to form compound tenses such as "j’ai voulu." The imperative forms differ from the present indicative: the informal imperative is "veux" (to one person), while the polite imperative is "veuillez," as in "Veuillez patienter." Voulez therefore sits within a family of expressions that express desire, will, and polite requests in French.