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"to want" in seven languages

Meaningto want

Spanish

querer

/keˈɾeɾ/

other source · Latin QUAERERE 'to seek, ask for'

Also 'to love' a person: te quiero.

French

vouloir

/vulwaʁ/

inherited

Italian

volere

/voˈlere/

inherited

Portuguese

querer

/keˈɾeh/

other source · Latin QUAERERE 'to seek, ask for'

Romanian

vrea

/vre̯a/

inherited

Catalan

voler

/buˈle/

inherited

English

want

/wɑnt/

native English · Old Norse vanta

Native 'will' (willing) is the true distant cognate of VELLE (PIE *welh₁-).

English → Italianto wantvolereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: volition, voluntary, benevolent (VELLE); query, quest, inquire (QUAERERE).What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

  • voler (French) means “to fly; to steal” · voler (Catalan) means “to want”

    Coincidence. Catalan voler is spoken Latin *VOLĒRE (for VELLE 'to want'), the source of French vouloir; French voler is VOLĀRE 'to fly', and 'to steal' came from the falconer's bird flying off with its prey.

All false friends

The Latin ancestor

VELLE (spoken Latin *VOLĒRE)‘to want’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

French and Italian kept Latin's 'will', regularized from VOLO 'I want'. Spanish wants by seeking: querer is QUAERERE 'to look for', the source of English query and quest.

English relatives: volition, voluntary, benevolent (VELLE); query, quest, inquire (QUAERERE)

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In a sentence

  • esQuiero un café.
  • frJe veux un café.
  • itVoglio un caffè.
  • ptQuero um café.
  • roVreau o cafea.
  • caVull un cafè.
  • enI want a coffee.

More in Core verbs

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