We will look forward to 'it'

Question

Ok peeps, simple I know but how could you say in Spanish - I'll look forward to 'it' or We will look forward to 'it' without repeating the whatever 'it' was - getting together, receiving something etc?

tener ganas de 'it'?

Perhaps lo or eso? It's the looking forward part that intrigues me. - webdunce, Dec 15, 2010

oh I should have put that - I would use tener ganas de ... :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010

I wonder if "Tengo ganas de eso" would work? I'm not putting it as a response because I have doubts about it. - webdunce, Dec 15, 2010

Kiwi, Have you answered your own question? You will get all the reputation stars! But please complete the sentence for the rest of us. :) - Sabor, Dec 15, 2010

ja ja but I want 'it' not that - or wouldn't 'it' be used like 'that' lol in this case - if that doesn't confuse you, nothing will :p - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010

Answer 1

your vocab is amazing Gekko, didn't Freud have something interesting to say about what a lapsus represents?

That's interesting! I bet in in Spain almost everybody uses "lapsus". I think of it as a rather common word.

Thanks Lazarus, so lets say someone said that they will prepare a Spanish test for me next week and I wanted to say 'I'll look forward to it' - what would be the most common way to do that?

I can think of more than 20 or 30 different ways of expressing a similar idea depending on how many factors. There is no such equivalent in Spanish.

¡No puedo esperar! (that sounds a bit anxious or exaggerated)

¡Allí nos veremos! (we'll meet there! - It indirectly suggests you like the idea)

¡Allí estaré!

No me lo perdería por nada. (this is more intense than "looking forward to")

¡A ver si es verdad!

I'm here Lazarus - if ganar is to earn, how did tener ganas de come about?

"Ganar" and "gana(s)" are not likely to be related. "Ganar" is a Germanic word, and no one is sure about where "gana" comes from, although the main theories are Arabic, Iberian-Libyan and Gothic. The word "gana(s)" doesn't have a counterpart in English (but it does in German: Lust), and it means "desire" or "will", used in the construction "Tener ganas de algo/hacer algo" (To fancy something/To feel like doing something)

re - lapsus, really? Here you would here more - 'he's having a memory lapse' etc, I've never heard anyone - other than Freud and Gekko use it in English - although I guess Freud would have been writing in German and just been translated and Gekko I'm - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010

sure thinks in Spanish and English simultaneously :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010

Answer 2

It depends on the context. In general you can say "esperar (ansiosamente / con impaciencia)", like at the end of a letter, but you have to consider the circumstances.

A: We're having a party tomorrow!

B: I know and I'm looking forward to it!

¡Mañana tenemos una fiesta!

¡Qué ganas tengo (de ir)!

I'm looking forward to the summer:

Estoy contando los días que quedan para el verano.

¡Qué ganas tengo de que llegue el verano!

Estoy deseando que llegue el verano.

¡A ver si llega ya el verano!

I wasn't sure if I was having a lapsus. I can also think of different ways to express the feeling depending on context, but not one single translation. - Gekkosan, Dec 15, 2010

your vocab is amazing Gekko, didn't Freud have something interesting to say about what a lapsus represents? And while I'm here Lazarus - if ganar is to earn, how did tener ganas de come about? - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010

Well, there are different kinds of Lapsus. Freud is typically associated with Lapus Linguae, commonly referred to as "Freudian Slip": In my case it mas a Lapsus Memoriae, or simply a "slip of memory". In other words, I was drawing a blank there. :-p - Gekkosan, Dec 16, 2010

Answer 3

This isn't going to help much but last Saturday I had an invitation from a nice Spanish couple and she ended it off with 'Bueno, entonces esperemos verte el viernes a las...' In my head I had a flash thinking - hmm was that subjunctive...but I didn't really stop to analyze it til now. Should it be?

no change of subject - they hope that 'they' will see you so no need for the subjunctive :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010

Could it possibly be the not knowing if you will come? Or an implied condition...entonces, (si vienes), eperemos...? No lo sé. - webdunce, Dec 15, 2010

Answer 4

How about:

¡Cuento las horas!

Answer 5

Is it true that 'gana' in Catalan means hungry? Might that have anything to do with it?

I hunger to ..... :p

ganas is 'desire', so tener ganas is 'to have desire', and Qué ganas tengo is 'what desire I have!' - no? - pesta, Dec 15, 2010

I know that in the saying tener ganas that is the meaning but I can't seem to find ganas as a word in the dictionary. - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010

Answer 6

Lo estamos esperando con anticipación.

While that is grammatically correct, I can't imagine saying such a thing in the context Kiwi Girl described. My friends would look at me wondering why I speak so weird. - lazarus1907, Dec 15, 2010

Answer 7

I'm just saying... It in quotations it can mean different things.

Answer 8

Thanks Lazarus, so lets say someone said that they will prepare a Spanish test for me next week and I wanted to say 'I'll look forward to it' - what would be the most common way to do that?

Answer 9

You can say We look forward to it if "it" has already been mentioned, so, yes.

e.g.

A: We're having a party tomorrow!

B: I know and I'm looking forward to it!

You actually needed translation here?! How could I have known?!?! - Gocika, Dec 15, 2010

my mistake :( hope I've made it clearer now :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 15, 2010