avoir hâte de
To look forward to in French is avoir hâte de. Wiktionary also lists attendre avec impatience and espérer.
Meaning: anticipate, expect, or wait for (verb)
Ways to say it
| French | IPA |
|---|---|
| avoir hâte de | |
| attendre avec impatience | |
| espérer | /ɛs.pe.ʁe/ |
The expression avoir hâte de is the most common way to express being excited about a future event in everyday spoken French. You can use the structure J'ai hâte de + infinitive to convey anticipation. For a more informal way to express heightened excitement, you can say J'ai trop hâte de + infinitive.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase avoir hâte de literally translates to 'to have haste to'.
Which one should you use?
While avoir hâte de expresses a personal, emotional sense of eagerness, attendre avec impatience is more descriptive of the state of waiting impatiently.
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase avoir hâte de must be followed by an infinitive verb or a noun.
Did you know?
Examples in context
- J'ai hâte de découvrir Paris pendant mes vacances.I look forward to exploring Paris during my vacation.
- Je suis impatiente de commencer mon nouveau travail.I am looking forward to starting my new job.
- J'attends avec impatience le concert de mon artiste préféré.I am looking forward to my favorite artist's concert.
- J'ai trop hâte de te revoir !I can't wait to see you again!
- J'ai hâte de te voir.I look forward to seeing you.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “look forward to” translations and entries espérer, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries attendre, avec, avoir, de, espérer, hâte, impatience, CC BY-SA 4.0.
