expectar

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin expectāre, variant of exspectō (“to wait”). Alternatively, possible backformation from expectante interpreted as a present participle, influenced as well by expectación and expectativa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɡspeɡˈtaɾ/ [eɣ̞s.peɣ̞ˈt̪aɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ex‧pec‧tar

Verb

expectar (first-person singular present expecto, first-person singular preterite expecté, past participle expectado)

1. (literary) to wait

   Synonym: esperar

2. to expect

   Synonym: esperarse

Conjugation

    Conjugation of expectar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			expectar
gerund			expectando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		expectado		expectada
		plural		expectados		expectadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	expecto	expectastú expectásvos	expecta	expectamos	expectáis	expectan
	imperfect	expectaba	expectabas	expectaba	expectábamos	expectabais	expectaban
	preterite	expecté	expectaste	expectó	expectamos	expectasteis	expectaron
	future	expectaré	expectarás	expectará	expectaremos	expectaréis	expectarán
	conditional	expectaría	expectarías	expectaría	expectaríamos	expectaríais	expectarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	expecte	expectestú expectésvos2	expecte	expectemos	expectéis	expecten
	imperfect (ra)	expectara	expectaras	expectara	expectáramos	expectarais	expectaran
	imperfect (se)	expectase	expectases	expectase	expectásemos	expectaseis	expectasen
	future1	expectare	expectares	expectare	expectáremos	expectareis	expectaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		expectatú expectávos	expecte	expectemos	expectad	expecten
	negative		no expectes	no expecte	no expectemos	no expectéis	no expecten

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

Further reading

• Lauro Capdevila (2026), “expectar”, in Diccionario de variantes del español [Dictionary of Spanish Variants] (in Spanish)