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He wants vs he wanted

Both "he wants" and "he wanted" are correct, but they are used in different contexts. "He wants" is used to express a current desire or need, while "he wanted" is used to talk about a past desire or need.

Last updated: April 01, 2024 • 3051 views

He wants

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to express a current desire or need.

Use "he wants" to talk about something that someone desires or needs at the present moment.

Examples:

  • He wants to go to the park today.
  • She wants a new phone for her birthday.
  • He wants the party leadership for a protégé.
  • He wants the Replicator classified inactive.
  • He wants the Replicator classified inactive.
  • He wants you to come to the cocktail party.
  • He wants to give me some business.
  • He wants to shoot through glass so he can see my face.
  • He wants to trade corine for the disk.
  • He wants to show me he's more popular.
  • He wants surveillance files on them.
  • He wants to know if a hurricane's coming.
  • He wants to discuss about my projects with me.
  • He wants to invite you to a cat shoot.
  • He wants the temple land donated to you by president.
  • He wants me to do him a favour.
  • He wants to turn us against each other.
  • He wants to meet the right girl and be a farmer.
  • He wants to tell you something.
  • He wants to borrow my shirt now.
  • He wants you to work on his apparatus.
  • He wants them for execution by the morning.

Alternatives:

  • he desires
  • he needs
  • he wishes
  • he craves
  • he longs for

he wanted

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to talk about a past desire or need.

Use "he wanted" to refer to something that someone desired or needed in the past.

Examples:

  • He wanted to be a doctor when he was younger.
  • She wanted to travel the world before settling down.
  • Mister said that he wanted my happiness.
  • You did exactly what he wanted.
  • Unless he wanted to be captured.
  • We asked him what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween...
  • I wish my son knew what he wanted.
  • Mitch has always done exactly what he wanted to do.
  • He always accomplished what he wanted.
  • Maybe he wanted Russo to self-destruct.
  • Because he wanted to rot quickly..., to feed the leaves.
  • All right, he wanted to move on before somebody traced his whereabouts.
  • The CAG got what he wanted.
  • That's too bad nobody told his brother what he wanted.
  • That's what he wanted on his tombstone.
  • He always told Nabe-san that he wanted to stay here...
  • I won because I accepted what he wanted.
  • You could've said what he wanted.
  • But it was brilliant, because he knew exactly what he wanted.
  • You'd cheat for this man, do just what he wanted.
  • Then he wanted it open farther.
  • No wonder he wanted to get out of jail so bad.

Alternatives:

  • he desired
  • he needed
  • he wished for
  • he craved
  • he longed for

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