English Translation
I don’t wait for anybody.
Could this also be “Yo no espero nadie”? Doesn’t esperar normally not need a preposition after it?
I don’t wait for anybody.
Could this also be “Yo no espero nadie”? Doesn’t esperar normally not need a preposition after it?
I found this interesting explanation on the WordReference forum:
It might help you to think in terms of transitive and intransitive. Transitive “esperar a” means “waiting for someone” (espera a Juan; espera a su mamá), where that “a” is our personal a (used with people). “Wait for” (as in She waits for John) is actually intransitive in English, so don’t let that fool you. Intransitive “esperar por” can have various meanings, depending on the use of the preposition “for.” You can tell it’s an intransitive construction because you can replace “por” for another preposition or prepositional phrase and retain the same meaning:" esperó por media hora (= esperó durante media hora/he waited for half an hour); espera por un retraso del vuelo (= espera debido al retraso del vuelo/espera a causa del retraso del vuelo/the delay of the flight is the cause of his waiting); espera por Juan (= espera en lugar de Juan/he waits instead of John). It follows then that espera a Juan is transitive and means “he waits for John” while espera por Juan is intransitive and means “he waits instead of John.”
Not sure here: instead of nadie?
I would rather side with RAE:
" tampoco es apropiado el uso de por cuando se habla de esperar a alguien o de esperar a que ocurra algo, pues en estos casos la preposición adecuada es a, de modo que en «Los taxistas piden que se pueda estacionar mientras se espera por los clientes» habría sido mejor decir «se espera a los clientes».
Sí es correcto, sin embargo, esperar por cuando la preposición tiene los valores propios de causa, duración, finalidad, etc., como en «esperó por su indecisión todo el día» (‘debido a’) o «esperó por veinte días» (‘durante’)."
It’s the “personal a”. You can leave it out in some cases, but not when the object is nadie.
Neither do I.
Could you say “Me neither” for “Yo tampoco”?
I’m afraid my question is assigned to the wrong topic due to a bug. I apologize for that.