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Glite Dictionary
to wanna

to wanna

1 8.6
An informal way of saying 'want to' or 'want a' in casual speech
  • verb
  • /ˈwɑːnə/
  • Informal
translation icon : querer
  • Do you wanna go to the movies this weekend?

Maybe your song make me wanna roll my windows down.

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Examples

  • Please raise your hand if you wanna continue playing the game.

  • OK, so I did not wanna go to MIT.

  • Is this really how I wanna spend my day days?

    Dr. Mayim Bialik

  • Yeah, and I wanna be a dog mom.

  • Yes Mom, do you wanna try to tackle that?

  • So what else would you wanna say about Bitcoin or crypto?

  • I'm like, Lord, I wanna brush my teeth.

  • But I don't wanna do this so I shall be reading.

  • Kirchi, I wanna give you a hint now.

  • Before I fire up a game I wanna flip on HDR. Hey, you,

Surface Forms

wanna infinitive

Morphology

wanna = want + to (semi-transparent) = want + to

The form clearly reflects the spoken reduction of 'want to' (and sometimes 'want a'), so the relation is recognizable in casual speech but orthographically nonstandard and may be unfamiliar to learners who haven't been exposed to informal pronunciation.

Etymology

Wanna is a very informal way of saying want to and sometimes want a, made by saying 'want' and 'to' quickly together. So, when people use wanna, they are giving a quick, casual way to say they 'want' or 'intend' to do something.