fatesock

[stark ocean]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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[agile bone]

When asking for something politely or wishing for something, “je voudrais” and “j’aimerais” are synonymous, though "je voudrais" is more commonly used with a noun and "j'aimerais" is more commonly used with a verb. They are used like “I’d like” in English.
Example:

• Je voudrais un café
• J'aimerais te revoir
  It's perfectly correct to say "J'aimerais un café" and "Je voudrais te revoir".

Otherwise, when used in the literal sense, “j’aimerais” is "aimer" in the conditional mood so it means “I would like" or "I would love". And “je voudrais” is "vouloir" in the conditional mood so it means “I would want”. Though because "je voudrais" is normally used for polite requests, the literal meaning of "I would want" is more likely to be expressed as "j'aurais envie de/que"

As for “je voulais”, that’s “vouloir” in the imparfait tense, so it means “I wanted” or “I used to want”.