voloir

Old French

Alternative forms

voleir (archaic or northern)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin volēre, regularized from Latin velle.

Pronunciation

(archaic) IPA^(key): /vuˈlei̯ɾ/
(classical) IPA^(key): /vuˈloi̯ɾ/, (northern) /vuˈlei̯ɾ/
(late) IPA^(key): /vuˈlo̯ɛɾ/, (northern) /vuˈleɾ/

Verb

voloir

to want
- 1260–1267, Brunetto Latini, “Cist premiers livres parole de la naissance de toutes choses [This first book talks about the birth of all things]” (chapter 1), Livre I - Premiere partie, in Livres dou Tresor [Book of Treasures]; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler, Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini‎, Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1863, page 1:
  si come li sires qui vuet en petit leu amasser choses de grandisme vaillance […] por acroistre son pooir […] i met il les plus chieres choses et les plus precieux joiaus que il puet, selonc sa bone entencion, tout autressi est li cors de cest livre compilez de sapience
  Just like the lord, who wants to accumulate very valuable things in a tiny place in order to increase his power, puts there—according to his good intention—the dearest things and the most precious jewels he can, so the body of this book is filled with knowledge

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem vuel distinct from the unstressed stem vol, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Conjugation of voloir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		voloir			avoir volu
gerund		en volant, voillant, vueillant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		volant, voillant, vueillant
past participle		volu
person		singular			plural
person		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	voil, vueil, vuel	vueus, vues	vueut, vuet	volons	volez	vuelent, volent
	imperfect	voloie, voleie	voloies, voleies	voloit, voleit	voliiens, voliens	voliiez, voliez	voloient, voleient
	preterite	voil, vol, vous, voli, vousi	volis, vousis	vout, voust, voli, vousi	volimes, vousimes	volistes, vousistes	voudrent, volrent, voustrent, volirent, vousirent
	future	voudrai	voudras	voudra	voudrons	voudroiz, voudreiz, voudrez	voudront
	conditional	voudroie, voudreie	voudroies, voudreies	voudroit, voudreit	voudriiens, voudriens	voudriiez, voudriez	voudroient, voudreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	vueille	vueilles	vueille	voilliens, voillons, vueilliens, vueillons	voilliez, vueilliez	vueillent
simple tenses	imperfect	volisse, vousisse	volisses, vousisses	volist, vousist	volissons, volissiens, vousissons, vousissiens	volissoiz, volissez, volissiez, vousissoiz, vousissez, vousissiez	volissent, vousissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
compound tenses	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
imperative		—	vueilles	—	vueilliens, vueillons	vueilliez	—

The past participle has the forms: feminine singular volüe; masculine plural volus; feminine plural volües.

Noun

voloir oblique singular, m (oblique plural voloirs, nominative singular voloirs, nominative plural voloir)

desire; wish
- 12^th Century, Unknown, Raoul de Cambrai:
  Et dist l'abbet : « Vostre voloir ferons. [»]
  The abbot said "we will do your will".
- c. 1250, Rutebeuf, C’est li diz des regles:
  Il welent faire lor voloir,
  They want to do their will,

Descendants

Bourguignon: veuloi
French: vouloir
Gallo: vóleir
Norman: vouler, vouleî
Picard: vouloér
Walloon: voleur

voloir

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