Dictionary / I'm looking for
How to Say "I'm looking for" in French
Je cherche…
/ʒə ʃɛʁʃ/
Literally: I seek
Je
I
cherche
am looking for
Good to know
In a shop, Je cherche… on its own is perfectly polite. Je suis à la recherche de… is the formal written version and sounds stiff out loud.
Correct
Je cherche…
What people say wrong
Je cherche pour…
no such construction in French
The mistake to avoid. Same trap as attendre. Chercher takes a direct object, so the for is baked into the verb. Two verbs, one habit to unlearn: je cherche la gare, not je cherche pour la gare.
In context
Je cherche la gare.
I'm looking for the station.
Je cherche un cadeau pour ma mère.
I'm looking for a present for my mother.
Vous cherchez quelque chose ?
Are you looking for something?