58 Comments
I put 'I can meet you". It was marked wrong, even though that was one of the translations for esperar.
I felt like conocer was the meet for the first time, but esperar was to meet at a place. Does conocer fulfill both functions?
Neither WordReference nor SpanishDict offer "to meet" as a translation for "esperar"
Esperar - to wait, to wait for, to hope, to expect
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/esperar
http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=esperar
I find wordreference to attest esperar as to meet/greet, for example, to meet the plane
http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=meet
Could be idiomatic though.
I think that would be a non-common usage. And it does mean "to meet" but kind of in the sense of waiting - they will meet the plane -- by waiting for it.
For 90% of usage of esperar, especially in Duo, it's "to wait/wait for/hope for"
...probably?
Te puedo esperar and puedo esperarte should be equivalent.
My Spanish teacher told me that largely, the choice to attach the IO to the infinitive vs. before the verb is just a choice of style.
For some reason, given the nature of this verb, I think Te puedo esperar sounds better. Can't explain why, just a gut feeling.
Why wouldn't it be "Yo puedo te esperar."? Doesn't the current placement of the "te" indicate the "puedo" is acting on the "te"?
You cannot put the object pronoun between the two verbs, but you can attach it to the infinitive if you want. Ex: "Yo puedo esperarte" is equally as correct as "Yo te puedo esperar".
The "for" of "wait for" is contained within the verb, so you don't need "para". Think of "esperar" as meaing "to await", and you can see why the "para" is not necessary.
No, you can't say "esperar para ti" the right traslation for "wait for" could be "puedo esperar por ti" and means the same as "te puedo esperar" :)
2018
Roosky2013 (supra) explains that the for is contained in the verb which means "wait for". Another "for" would be redundant. I also found a more technical explanation in my new grammar book (Christmas present). It says that esperar is a special case (like buscar) - It is a transitive verb and in this sentence te is a direct object!! (In the English translation it's a prepositional phrase, though) So, no. In my opinion, you can't say, "Yo puedo esperar para ti"
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Could you say "I can hope/wish for you"? I can wish for you if I want....throwing a penny in fountain or I can wish for you....to go to college.....or would this be more of 'deserar'?
I do understand 'wait' sounds a lot more natural and is probably a far more common use of the word but I was just wondering with my comments above.
And I will wait, I will wait, for you... upvote if you like this band :P
"Esperar"="Hope" or "Wait for" so if this "esperar" meant "hope" there would be no "for" in the sentence: "I can hope you" which makes no sense. Perhaps "Puedo esperar por ti" could mean "I can hope for you" as in "I can hope on your behalf."
Why is it "por" instead of "para" in "Puedo esperar por ti"? I've been trying to find the answer, but I keep thinking it would be "para". Please help, jelllonz, gracias
Por indicates some type of exchange.
Trabajo por Juan - Juan has the day off, and I am taking his place.
Para indicates an end point, something going in one direction and stopping.
Trabajo para Juan - Juan is my boss.
(Think of an organizational chart, where there is an arrow pointing from Juan to me, his employee)
Both sentences would translate to "work for" in English (in this, I like the way Spanish does it).
This is why, if you want to wait on behalf of someone, por is used. You are (In a way) exchanging your body for theirs :)
Gracias, wazzie, that was quick! I made a copy of your answer. Have a lingot!
Wazzie's advice is good. "Por" is used more for things that carry a sense of motion: velocity, exchange, duration, cause. "Para" is more end point: destination, receipt, deadline, purpose.
I feel like "I can wait on you" would be an appropriate translation. Am I wrong?
Within context it would be understood just fine, and it is possibly even the norm in some English dialects. However, out of context "I can wait on you" would commonly be taken as meaning "I can serve you" so DL is probably right to discourage it here to avoid confusion.
So why couldn't "I can hope for you" be accepted? Isn't 'hope' one of the translations for esperar? The sentence sounds strange, sure. But it could be a valid sentence.
Im am a bit unclear about the placement of te. Would it ever be correct to say "yo puedo TE esperar"? Because I wait for you?
No. The conjugated verb / infinitive structure here cannot be split. "Te puedo esperar" or "Puedo esperarte."
Where does this 'te' come from?! Why not, 'Puedo esperar por tù'? Where does the 'te' come in? I guess I completely missed that part or have yet to learn it... No comprendo :(
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Esperar is better translated as 'await' - it is a transitive verb - so this sentence translates as I await you - te is the direct object pronoun - there is no need for 'for' in the Spanish translation.
this may sound like a stupid question,but is the word esperanto delivered from this one?
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Ok it can be a little bit off the topic, but it would be appreciated if someone enlightens me: I translated the sentence as "I can make you wait". It is marked wrong. I can understand that, after reading this page, but now I wonder that what would be the proper Spanish tranlation for the sentence "I can make you wait"
"Esperar" as a transitive verb translates as "Wait for" and requires a direct object. In this case that direct object is represented by the direct object pronoun for "you" - "te". You can rephrase to make it clearer: Puedo (I can) esperarte (wait for you).
