esperar
Portuguese, verb/is.peˈɾa(ʁ)/
esperar is spelled E-S-P-E-R-A-R (7 letters) and appears 110 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 889th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Esperar is a Portuguese verb meaning “to wait (for); to await” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “ter esperança; aguardar com desejo e uma certa confiança de que algo vá se realizar”.
What does esperar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to wait (for); to await
Eu espero por sua resposta.
- 2
to wait
Espere o João chegar.
- 3
to hope for (to really want)
Eles esperam pelo fim da guerra.
- 4
to hope
Espero que gostes do presente.
- 5
to hope
Esperávamos comer alguma coisa hoje.
- 6
to expect; to anticipate (to know or think that something will happen)
É melhor do que eu esperava.
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
verb: 1. ter esperança; aguardar com desejo e uma certa confiança de que algo vá se realizar 2. acreditar, desejar, confiar 3. ficar inativo ou em estado de repouso até que algo aconteça 4. estar disponível ou pronto (se diz de coisas)
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of esperar
- espero first-person present singular
- esperei first-person preterite singular
- esperado participle past
- esperares infinitive second-person singular
- esperarmos first-person infinitive plural
- esperardes infinitive plural second-person
- esperarem infinitive plural third-person
- esperando gerund
- esperados masculine participle past
- esperada feminine participle past
- esperadas feminine participle past
- esperas indicative present second-person
- espera indicative present singular
- esperamos first-person indicative plural
- esperais indicative plural present
- esperam indicative plural present
- esperava first-person imperfect indicative
- esperavas imperfect indicative second-person
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce esperar?
- Brazil /is.peˈɾa(ʁ)/
- Brazil [is.peˈɾa(h)]
- Brazil /es.peˈɾa(ʁ)/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to esperar
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is esperar in Portuguese?
esperar appears 110 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).