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"to wait for" vs "to expect"

by Ilmen, May 13, 2013

Messages: 9

Language: English

Ilmen (User's profile) May 13, 2013, 8:26:54 PM

Hello everybody! It's been a while since my last visit. ♪

I have some trouble figuring out how to make the distinction between "to wait for" and "to expect" (to deem an event as probable) in Esperanto, as they both translate to "atendi".

Could you please show me how would you translate the two following sentences?
• "I wait for the weather to improve."
• "I expect the weather to improve (soon)."

Thank you in advance. ridulo.gif
Ilmen.

oxymor (User's profile) May 13, 2013, 9:11:40 PM

I would say, for the second one :

I expect the weather to improve (soon) : Mi kredas ke la vetero baldaŭ pliboniĝos.

sudanglo (User's profile) May 13, 2013, 11:18:19 PM

Mi atendos ĝis la vetero pliboniĝos = I'll wait for the weather to improve

Mi atendas ke la vetero pliboniĝos = I expect the weather will get better.

Evildela (User's profile) May 14, 2013, 12:51:17 AM

I wait for the weather to improve - Mi atendas la pliboniĝon de la vetero
I expect the weather to improve (soon) - Mi prognozas, ke la vetero baldaŭ pliboniĝos

J_Marc (User's profile) May 14, 2013, 9:26:06 AM

Anticipi could also be used for 'wait', and maybe 'expect' too. Anticipi la pliboniĝon de la vetero. (Anticipate the improvement of the weather).

'supozi' could also be used for 'expect'.

Ilmen (User's profile) May 14, 2013, 1:32:35 PM

Thank you very much!

Also "antaŭvidi", "pensi", "konjekti", "diveni" and perhaps even "opinii" could stand for "expect" depending on the context/nuance, I think.

sudanglo (User's profile) May 14, 2013, 9:15:09 PM

Ilmen, doesn't attendre in French also double up on the meanings of expect and wait?

brw1 (User's profile) May 15, 2013, 5:04:59 AM

sudanglo:Ilmen, doesn't attendre in French also double up on the meanings of expect and wait?
You correct it does but, I had to look that up to see for sure! French is full of words with double meanings such as esperer means both to wait and hope in France it means both but, in cajun french attendre means to hear just as entendre does in Standard French and esperer means only to wait and I to say I hope is the same as I wish Je souhaite but, thats Cajun French the dialect of French which is spoken where I grew up in Louisiana

Can (User's profile) May 15, 2013, 6:03:19 AM

Worse yet, Spanish "esperar" has THREE meanings: "to wait", "to expect" and "to hope"! However, there is no problem in everyday use due to the context and the alternatives available. I guess it's the same with the two meanings of "atendi" in Esperanto.

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