7.19 wollen

In the subjunctive II, sollen expresses a possible obligation ( ‘should’, ‘ought to’):

Das hätten Sie mir gestern sagen sollen. You ought to have told me that yesterday. Warum sollte sie nicht ins Kino gehen? Why shouldn’t she go to the cinema? Das sollte ihm inzwischen klar geworden sein. He ought to have realized that by now.

wollen most often expresses a desire ( ‘want/wish to’):

Sie will ihn um Geld bitten.

She wants to ask him for money. Sie wollte ihn um Geld bitten. She wanted to ask him for money. Hättest du wirklich kommen wollen? Would you really have wanted to come?

In this sense it can be used without a following infinitive, as a main verb:

wollen can express intention. In this sense it is close in meaning to the English future construction with ‘be going to’:

With an inanimate subject, wollen corresponds to English ‘need’ (or, when negative, ‘refuse’):

wollen can be used in the sense of ‘claim’, typically in the present tense with a perfect infinitive:

Sie will Geld. Was wollen Sie von mir? She wants money. What do you want from me?

Wie wollen Sie ihm das klarmachen? How are you going to explain that to him? Ich will sie erst morgen anrufen. I don’t intend to phone her till tomorrow. Ich wollte Sie danach fragen. I was going to ask you about that.

Eine solche Arbeit will Zeit haben. A piece of work like that needs time. Das will geübt sein. That needs to be practised. Das Fenster wollte nicht zugehen. The window refused to shut.

Sie wollen dich in Hamburg gesehen haben. They say they saw you in Hamburg. Er will krank gewesen sein. He claims to have been ill.