Voglio vs Vorrei in Italian: What’s the difference?

As human beings, we have the natural tendency to talk about what we want in conversation with friends and family, be it food, drink, sleep, company or something more profound.

In Italian, the infinitive verb for to want is volere and when expressing a personal desire in the first person, it can be conjugated in two ways.

(Io) voglio – Present tense

The first is the present indicative tense (Io) voglio… which translates as I want... in English.

Note that the personal pronoun io ( I ) is optional because the verb’s ending (voglio) already indicates who is carrying out the action. As in English, it can be followed by a noun or another verb. For example:

(Io) vorrei – Conditional tense

The second is the present conditional tense (Io) vorrei… which means I would like…

Unlike English, which combines the auxiliary verb would with the verb to like, Italian directly conjugates volere into its conditional form. Once again, the personal pronoun io is optional thanks to the conjugation.

In the same way that would like is more polite than want in English, so too is vorrei more courteous and respectful than voglio in Italian.

It is perfectly fine to use (but not overuse!) voglio with your significant other, friends and close family but vorrei is definitely preferred when talking to acquaintances you don’t know very well, colleagues, older people, strangers, or people of a higher status.

Vorrei is also the safest option for non-native Italian speakers, especially when they first start learning, as overusing voglio might lead people to believe that you are self-centred!

Note that vorrei can also be translated as I wish… or I would love… when expressing a strong desire to do something. For example, we could have translated the previous sentence Vorrei andare al mare as I wish I could go to the sea or I would love to go to the sea. In this case, however, vorrei will quite often be accompanied by the emphatic adverb quanto (Quanto vorrei andare al mare! = How I wish I could go to the sea!)

Heather Broster

Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.