What is the Spanish translation for ‘looking forward to’ something?
Perhaps you’ve heard that ‘tener ganas de + inf’ is the correct translation for ‘looking forward to something’. I guess it is along similar lines but really that saying means ‘to want to do something’ which is slightly different, so let’s look at a few alternatives for how to say ‘looking forward to something’.
Bear in mind that some of the following expressions are regional so you will need to be careful because you can end up sounding weird or giving the wrong idea which is not ideal 🙂
For example, when it comes to ‘looking forward to something’ you’ll likely hear ‘esperar con ilusión + inf ‘ and ‘contar los días que faltan para + inf’ in Spain, but perhaps you’ll hear ‘esperar con ansias + inf’ in Chile, ‘estar deseosa/ansiosa de + inf’ in Mexico, or Puerto Rico you might hear things like ‘estar ansioso por’, estar emocionado por’ or ‘no poder contener la emoción’, and the list goes on.
!Qué ganas tengo de + inf
Or ¡Cuántas ganas tengo de + inf
Cuento los días que faltan para + inf
And this one may seem strange but I don’t think it sounds quite as over the top as it does in English …. No veo la hora/el momento de + inf
Now let’s take a couple of specific examples:
Let’s say someone says ‘see you tomorrow’ and you want to say ‘I’ll look forward to it’ or something along those lines.
You could say ‘¡allí estaré! which indirectly shows your enthusiasm.
Or sometimes, in certain situation … Espero con impaciencia, / ansias would work.
Often just the verb ‘esperar’ is enough.
Here are some more examples:
Let’s say you want to conclude a letter or email with, ‘I look forward to hearing from you’. In that case you might just use the verb ‘esperar’.
Eg. ‘Espero noticias tuyas.’ or ‘Espero su respuesta.’
(Another option might be ... quedo a la espera de sus (atentas) noticias.)
I look forward to hearing from you’ as a voicemail message might be:
Espero su llamada.
Sometimes you will use ‘poder’ with ‘esperar’:
‘I look forward to working with you soon.’ would be …
Espero poder trabajar con ustedes pronto.
or for ‘I look forward to speaking with you again soon.’
‘Espero poder conversar pronto de nuevo con usted.
You can also use ‘con interés’ with ‘esperar’.
‘I look forward to doing business with you.’ would be …
‘Espero con interés poder hacer negocios con ustedes.’
How about when you just want to say …. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’ or ‘I’m looking forward to it’?
Try this one … Estoy deseándolo.