The French for want is the verb désirer

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French for want is the regular ER verb désirer, laid out here in the most practically formatted verb table.

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So, if you want to know how to say want in French, how to express the verb in all the main tenses, here it is.

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The 6 Simple Tenses of the conjugated verb désirer - French for want

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Here you’ll learn the conjugations of désirer, which is French for want.

• I want.
• you wanted.
• he will want.
• we would want.
• they may want.

The Verb Conjugating Tables below for désirer, encourage you to practise your French verb drills both by PRONOUN (vertically), and by TENSE (horizontally). Keep doing these many times.

VERB CONJUGATION TABLE désirer
Simple Tenses désirer
TENSE	je/j’	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
Present Présent want	désire	désires	désire	désirons	désirez	désirent
Past Imperfect Imparfait wanted	désirais	désirais	désirait	désirions	désiriez	désiraient
Simple Past Passé Simple wanted	désirai	désiras	désira	désirâmes	désirâtes	désirèrent
Future Futur will want	désirerai	désireras	désirera	désirerons	désirerez	désireront
Conditional Conditionnel would want	désirerais	désirerais	désirerait	désirerions	désireriez	désireraient
Subjunctive Subjonctif may want	désire	désires	désire	désirions	désiriez	désirent
Compound Tenses désirer
Present Perfect Passé Composé have wanted	ai désiré	as désiré	a désiré	avons désiré	avez désiré	ont désiré
Past Perfect Plus-que-Parfait had wanted	avais désiré	avais désiré	avait désiré	avions désiré	aviez désiré	avaient désiré
Future Perfect Futur Antérieur will have	aurai désiré	auras désiré	aura désiré	aurons désiré	aurez désiré	auront désiré
Conditional Perfect Conditionnel Passé would have wanted	aurais désiré	aurais désiré	aurait désiré	aurions désiré	auriez désiré	auraient désiré
Imperative Imperatif want!		désire		désirons	désirez

Present Indicative Tense conjugations of désirer the French for want
présent de l’indicatif

je désire
- I want
tu désires
- you want - (familiar or informal)
il, elle, on désire
- he, she, it, one wants
nous désirons
- we want
vous désirez
- you want (formal or plural)
ils, elles désirent
- they want

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Imperfect Indicative Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
imparfait de l’indicatif

je désirais
- I wanted
- I was wanting
tu désirais
- you wanted- (familiar or informal)
- you were wanting
il, elle, on désirait
- he, she, it, one wanted
- he, she, it, one was wanting
nous désirions
- we wanted
- we were wanting
vous désiriez
- you wanted- (formal or plural)
- you were wanting
ils, elles désiraient
- they wanted
- they were wanting

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Simple Past or Past Definite Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
passé simple

je désirai
- I wanted
tu désiras
- you wanted- (familiar or informal)
il, elle, on désira
- he, she, it, one wanted
nous désirâmes
- we wanted
vous désirâtes
- you wanted- (formal or plural)
ils, elles désirèrent
they wanted
(The passé simple tense is mainly used in literature and books, and is rarely used in spoken French language).

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Future Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
futur

je désirerai
- I will want
tu désireras
- you will want (familiar or informal)
il, elle, on désirera
- he, she, it, one will want
nous désirerons
- we will want
vous désirerez
- you will want (formal or plural)
ils, elles désireront
- they will want

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Conditional Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
conditionnel

je désirerais
- I would want
tu désirerais
- you would want (familiar or informal)
il, elle, on désirerait
- he, she, it, one would want
nous désirerions
- we would want
vous désireriez
- you would want (formal or plural)
ils, elles désireraient
- they would want

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Present Subjunctive Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
présent de subjonctif

que je désire
- that I may want
que tu désires
- that you may want(familiar or informal)
qu’il, qu’elle, qu’on désire
- that he, she, it, one may want
que nous désirions
- that we may want
que vous désiriez
- that you may want(formal or plural)
qu’ils, qu’elles désirent
- that they may want

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The Four Compound Tenses of the French for verb désirer - the verb ‘to want’ in French

Past Participle of désirer is:
désiré -wanted.

These past tenses are all made using the tenses of avoir (to have) and the past participle. Being made of two parts they are called 'compound'.

• I have wanted
• you had wanted
• he will have wanted
• we would have wanted

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Compound Past, Present Perfect or Past Indefinite Tense conjugations of désirer - French for want
passé composé

Here’s the French for want conjugated with all the pronouns in the present perfect tense.
j’ai désiré
- I have wanted or I did want or
- I wanted
tu as désiré
- you have wanted or you did want - (familiar or informal) or
- you wanted
il, elle, on a désiré
- he, she, it, one has want or did want
- he, she, it wanted
nous avons désiré
- we have wanted or we did want
- we wanted
vous avez désiré
- you have wanted or you did want (formal or plural) or
- or we wanted
ils, elles ont désiré
- they have wanted or they did want
- they wanted

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Past Perfect Indicative or Pluperfect Tense conjugations of désirer - want in French
plus-que-parfait de l’indicatif

Here’s the French for -want conjugated with all the pronouns in the past perfect tense.
j’avais désiré
- I had wanted
tu avais désiré
- you had wanted- (familiar or informal)
il, elle, on avait désiré
- he, she, it, one had wanted
nous avions désiré
- we had wanted
vous aviez désiré
- you had wanted (formal or plural)
ils, elles avaient désiré
- they had wanted

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Future Perfect or Future Anterior Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
futur antérieur

j’aurai désiré
- I will have
tu auras désiré
- you will have - (familiar or informal)
il, elle, on aura désiré
- he, she, it, one will have
nous aurons désiré
- we will have
vous aurez désiré
- you will have - (formal or plural)
ils, elles auront désiré
- they will have

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Conditional Perfect Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
conditionnel passé

j’aurais désiré
- I would have wanted
tu aurais désiré
- you would have wanted- (familiar or informal)
il, elle, on aurait désiré
- he, she, it, one would have wanted
nous aurions désiré
- we would have wanted
vous auriez désiré
- you would have wanted- (formal or plural)
ils, elles auraient désiré
- they would have wanted

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Imperative Tense conjugations of désirer, the French for want
impératif

désire
- want!
désirons
- let’s want!
désirez
- want!

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Present Participle of désirer

désirant - wanting

Menu of Conjugated French verbs like désirer the French for want

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