Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Eu espero até sábado.

Eu espero até sábado.

I wait until Saturday.

Breakdown of Eu espero até sábado.

Questions & Answers about Eu espero até sábado.

The verb esperar usually means 'to hope', doesn't it?

It means both 'to hope' and 'to wait' (and even 'to expect'). You have to rely on context to know which one is meant. Since waiting until Saturday makes the most sense for this sentence, it translates to 'I wait'.

This lesson is about the past tense. Is espero in the past tense?

No, espero is the present tense ('I wait'). Language lessons often include present tense sentences alongside new past tense verbs so you can practice telling the difference between them in the real world.

How would I change this sentence to say 'I waited' using the past tense?

Because esperar is a regular -ar verb, you drop the -ar ending and add -ei for the eu (I) form. To say 'I waited until Saturday', you would write Eu esperei até sábado.

Why is sábado written with a lowercase 's'?

Unlike in English, days of the week and months are not capitalized in Portuguese unless they are at the very beginning of a sentence. Just don't forget the written accent mark on the first 'a' to show where to stress the word!