Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to want.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désire | I want | |
| tu | désires | you want | |
| il / elle / on | désire | he / she / it wantson: we want / one wants | |
| nous | désirons | we want | |
| vous | désirez | you want | |
| ils / elles | désirent | they want |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul désire une chambre plus calme.
Paul wants a quieter room.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai désiré | I wanted | |
| tu | as désiré | you wanted | |
| il / elle / on | a désiré | he / she / it wantedon: we wanted / one wanted | |
| nous | avons désiré | we wanted | |
| vous | avez désiré | you wanted | |
| ils / elles | ont désiré | they wanted |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a désiré une chambre plus calme.
Yesterday, Paul wanted a quieter room.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désirais | I used to want | |
| tu | désirais | you used to want | |
| il / elle / on | désirait | he / she / it used to wanton: we used to want / one used to want | |
| nous | désirions | we used to want | |
| vous | désiriez | you used to want | |
| ils / elles | désiraient | they used to want |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul désirait une chambre plus calme.
Back then, Paul used to want a quieter room.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désirerai | I will want | |
| tu | désireras | you will want | |
| il / elle / on | désirera | he / she / it will wanton: we will want / one will want | |
| nous | désirerons | we will want | |
| vous | désirerez | you will want | |
| ils / elles | désireront | they will want |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul désirera une chambre plus calme.
Later, Paul will want a quieter room.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désirerais | I would want | |
| tu | désirerais | you would want | |
| il / elle / on | désirerait | he / she / it would wanton: we would want / one would want | |
| nous | désirerions | we would want | |
| vous | désireriez | you would want | |
| ils / elles | désireraient | they would want |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul désirerait une chambre plus calme.
Paul would want a quieter room.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | désire | (that) I want | |
| tu | désires | (that) you want | |
| il / elle / on | désire | (that) he / she / it wantson: (that) we want / one wants | |
| nous | désirions | (that) we want | |
| vous | désiriez | (that) you want | |
| ils / elles | désirent | (that) they want |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul désire une chambre plus calme.
It is possible that Paul wants a quieter room.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to desire, want
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations