16 Comments
Perhaps it's not super proper english, but I have always said "I'm waiting on you" if I'm actually waiting on someone to catch up (in other words having nothing to do with being a waiter). This gave me a wrong answer for that though.
I'm from the south, so it could be a dialect thing.
To me, in english "I am waiting for you" implies waiting patiently, while "I am waiting on you" Is there a swedish equivalent to the latter sentence?
830
There seems to be something missing in your comment. What do you mean more exactly?
In english you can say both "I am waiting for you" and "I am waiting on you". The former implies patient waiting what the latter implies impatient waiting. If "jag väntar på dig" means "i am waiting for you", is there any way to imply the nuance of impatience that "I am waiting on you" holds in english?
- 830
Not that I'm aware of. Other native speakers have told me they use the two expressions completely interchangeably, so there may be regional variance within English here.
How would you say "I wait on you", like a waiter in a restaurant attending a customer?
I'm not sure (haven't worked as a waiter or in the business) but I think Jag betjänar dig/er would work, although is sounds very formal. I think a waiter would rather say that Jag är din/er servitör/servitris för i kväll.
Thanks, I figured it would be a totally different verb but I just wanted to check. I've seen a lot of verbs that have dual meanings in English and have the same meanings in Swedish, and thought this would be an interesting one to look at.
It looks like the difference between att besvara and att svara på. Does that mean that "jag tjänar på dig" would work, or did I just step into some sexual euphemism?
Kan man säga att ibland blandar jag engelska med svenska ?... Is is right ?
is it correct "Jag väntar dig"? i don't understand why they have to use på. May be because my native language is russian..
- 830
It's just that we need the preposition with some verbs. So in Russian you don't use a preposition with ждать, (they do in Polish: czekam na ciebie) but you do need one with e.g. думать - думать о тебе. Basically you just have to learn which verbs require a preposition.
It's possible to say väntar without a preposition in some contexts, but it has a different meaning – 'expect' in English: Jag väntar dig klockan fem 'I'm expecting you at five'. I think that's probably also ждать in Russian, but wait means 'be somewhere until someone arrives' whereas expect means 'believe that someone will come', so the meaning is pretty different.
