Erwarten

Erwarten is a German verb meaning to expect, to await, or to regard something as likely or due. It can express both cognitive anticipation and a requirement or duty placed on someone or something. The verb is transitive and inseparable, formed with the prefix er- added to warten.

In the present tense the forms are: ich erwarte, du erwartest, er/sie/es erwartet, wir erwarten, ihr erwartet, sie/Sie erwarten. The simple past (Präteritum) is erwartete (ich erwartete, du erwartetest, er erwartete, wir erwarteten, ihr erwartetet, sie erwarteten). The past participle is erwartet and is used with haben to form the perfect: ich habe erwartet. The verb commonly appears in clauses with dass or ob, as in Wir erwarten, dass die Lieferung heute eintrifft, or Wir erwarten, dass er pünktlich kommt.

Erwarten can take a direct object, as in Wir erwarten eine Antwort bis morgen, or a von-phrase to indicate who is supposed to meet the expectation: Wir erwarten von dir Pünktlichkeit. It is closely related to the noun die Erwartung (the expectation) and the adjective erwartete (expected) in compounds like die erwartete Lieferung. Distinguishing it from warten, which simply means to wait, erwarten implies that something is regarded as due or probable rather than a mere passage of time.