souhaiter
French
The Wish (1841) by Theodor von Holst.
Etymology
From Old French sohaidier, ultimately from Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin *subtushaitare (“vow with little commitment (lit. 'under-promise')”), a hybrid of Latin subtus "under" + Frankish *haitan (“to order, promise”), from Proto-Germanic *haitaną. Compare Picard souhédhier, and for the latter etymon see Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (haitan, “to address, call”), Old High German heizzan, Old English hātan (“to call, order”) (thence see dialectal English hight and hote) and Old Norse heita (“to call, name”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /swɛ.te/, /swe.te/
audio (file)
Verb
souhaiter
- to wish (for); to hope (for)
- Sinsemilia, Tout le bonheur du monde
- On vous souhaite tout le bonheur du monde
Pour aujourd'hui comme pour demain
Que votre soleil éclaircisse l'ombre
Qu'il brille d'amour au quotidien- We wish you all the happiness in the world
For today as for tomorrow
May your sun light up the shadows
May it shine love everyday
- We wish you all the happiness in the world
- Sinsemilia, Tout le bonheur du monde
- to wish someone well, particularly in a complimentary or polite way
- (rare, dated) to desire someone's presence
Conjugation
Conjugation of souhaiter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | souhaiter | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | souhaitant /swɛ.tɑ̃/ or /swe.tɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | souhaité /swɛ.te/ or /swe.te/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | souhaite /swɛt/ | souhaites /swɛt/ | souhaite /swɛt/ | souhaitons /swɛ.tɔ̃/ or /swe.tɔ̃/ | souhaitez /swɛ.te/ or /swe.te/ | souhaitent /swɛt/ |
| imperfect | souhaitais /swɛ.tɛ/ or /swe.tɛ/ | souhaitais /swɛ.tɛ/ or /swe.tɛ/ | souhaitait /swɛ.tɛ/ or /swe.tɛ/ | souhaitions /swɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /swe.tjɔ̃/ | souhaitiez /swɛ.tje/ or /swe.tje/ | souhaitaient /swɛ.tɛ/ or /swe.tɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | souhaitai /swɛ.te/ or /swe.te/ | souhaitas /swɛ.ta/ or /swe.ta/ | souhaita /swɛ.ta/ or /swe.ta/ | souhaitâmes /swɛ.tam/ or /swe.tam/ | souhaitâtes /swɛ.tat/ or /swe.tat/ | souhaitèrent /swɛ.tɛʁ/ or /swe.tɛʁ/ | |
| future | souhaiterai /swɛ.tʁe/ or /swe.tʁe/ | souhaiteras /swɛ.tʁa/ or /swe.tʁa/ | souhaitera /swɛ.tʁa/ or /swe.tʁa/ | souhaiterons /swɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /swe.tʁɔ̃/ | souhaiterez /swɛ.tʁe/ or /swe.tʁe/ | souhaiteront /swɛ.tʁɔ̃/ or /swe.tʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | souhaiterais /swɛ.tʁɛ/ or /swe.tʁɛ/ | souhaiterais /swɛ.tʁɛ/ or /swe.tʁɛ/ | souhaiterait /swɛ.tʁɛ/ or /swe.tʁɛ/ | souhaiterions /swɛ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /swe.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ | souhaiteriez /swɛ.tə.ʁje/ or /swe.tə.ʁje/ | souhaiteraient /swɛ.tʁɛ/ or /swe.tʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) | present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | souhaite /swɛt/ | souhaites /swɛt/ | souhaite /swɛt/ | souhaitions /swɛ.tjɔ̃/ or /swe.tjɔ̃/ | souhaitiez /swɛ.tje/ or /swe.tje/ | souhaitent /swɛt/ |
| imperfect2 | souhaitasse /swɛ.tas/ or /swe.tas/ | souhaitasses /swɛ.tas/ or /swe.tas/ | souhaitât /swɛ.ta/ or /swe.ta/ | souhaitassions /swɛ.ta.sjɔ̃/ or /swe.ta.sjɔ̃/ | souhaitassiez /swɛ.ta.sje/ or /swe.ta.sje/ | souhaitassent /swɛ.tas/ or /swe.tas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | souhaite /swɛt/ | — | souhaitons /swɛ.tɔ̃/ or /swe.tɔ̃/ | souhaitez /swɛ.te/ or /swe.te/ | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Related terms
- souhait
Descendants
- → Ladino: suetar
Further reading
- “souhaiter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.