désirais vs désormais, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“désirais” is a verb and “désormais” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,255
“désirais” frequency rank: #898
“désormais” frequency rank: 42153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	désirais	désormais
Definition	Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de désirer.	Dorénavant ; à l’avenir ; dès ce moment-ci ; à partir de maintenant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set désirais and désormais apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

désirais

9 ch

désormais

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: désirais is \de.zi.ʁɛ\ while désormais is \de.zɔʁ.mɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

désirais is recorded at frequency rank #41,255, classified as averb, pronounced \de.zi.ʁɛ\. désormais is at rank #898, tagged as anadv, pronounced \de.zɔʁ.mɛ\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 42153, this pair ranks #227,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of désirais vs désormais

Shared letters: adirsé. Private to "désirais": -. Private to "désormais": mo.

"désirais" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "désormais" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC

Frequency comparison

désirais#41,255

désormais#898

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "désirais" and "désormais" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "désirais" is a verb and "désormais" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "désirais" or "désormais"?

"désormais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #898 in our French list, against #41,255 for "désirais". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering désirais vs désormais

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “désirais”; for an adverb, it's “désormais”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “désirais” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable