Expert: Maria - 7/21/2011

Question
Hello,
Can you please translate the phrase " I Will" in Latin? I would like to use it for my daughters room to go with her theme.
Thanks!

Answer
Hello,

“Volo” is the Latin translation of the present indicative “I will”.

“Volo” is in fact the 1st.person singular, present indicative of this verb.

As you can see, in “Volo” there is no translation of the English pronoun subject “I” simply because  Latin verbs do not need the subject pronoun, since personal endings of the verb carry a sense of person and number which delimit the subject, unlike English verbs which do not carry as much information. That is, "will" in English could pertain to "I will" or "you will" or "we will"  or "they will”.
Thus, English must state the subject explicitly.

Conversely, Latin “Volo” means only "I will" as well as e.g. “volumus” means only “we will” and so there is no need to state "I" or “we”,  since the ending “–o”  or “-umus”  betokens “I” and "we."
Thus, Latin must  not state the pronoun subject explicitly.

Best regards,
Maria