There are countless reasons why you want to say "I miss you"; maybe you are addressing someone you love, showing them that you can't stand being away from them. Whatever the reason, there are a few ways to express this concept in Spanish, as well as other phrases that are more suitable in certain situations.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Tell Someone You Miss You
Step 1. Say "te echo de menos"
It's a pretty common way to say "I miss you" in Spanish; however, it is not a literal translation of the terms in Italian; in fact, translated word for word, this phrase means "I throw you less".
- While it literally doesn't make much sense, the fundamental concept expresses the lack of something in life due to the absence of a person.
- The sentence should be pronounced: "te ecio de menos".
- It is used more often in Spain than in other Spanish-speaking countries.
- The sentence does not change even if you want to express the concept in the past tense ("I missed you").
Step 2. Use the phrase "te extraño" if you are in Latin America
It is a more direct translation of the concept of "missing"; the verb extrañar means "to lose", while te corresponds to the pronoun "you". Literally, the term translates to "I lose you".
- The sentence should be pronounced: "te estragno".
- If you want to express the concept in the past tense ("I missed you"), you have to say "te extrañé".
- This verb is more versatile and you can also use it when referring to other creatures or things. For example, you can use it to say "I miss my dog" - "extraño a mi perro".
Step 3. Use "me haces falta"
It is another way to express the concept "I miss you" in Spanish. While not an appropriate direct translation, the expression represents the concept that the person you are talking to is responsible for an absence or need in your life.
- The sentence is composed of "me", a pronoun with complement function of the first person singular ("yo" in Spanish) which corresponds to "mi", the verb "haces", which means "you do" or "you cause" and the name "falta", which means "lack or absence"; literally, it can be translated as: "you cause me lack".
- Pronounce it like: "me ases falta".
- If you want to express the concept in the past tense, the sentence is: "me hiciste falta" ("I missed you" - "me isiste falta").
Step 4. Choose the correct pronoun
To say "I miss you" in Spanish, you have to use the pronoun to identify the person you miss; if you are addressing the person directly, you should use the pronoun "you".
- The phrase "me haces falta" is an exception, because in this case you are using the first person singular me ("to me"), instead of indicating the person you are talking to.
- The Spanish language has both formal and informal ways of saying you. If you are speaking to someone you are not familiar with, you must use a formal expression.
- Usually, you don't say "I miss you" to a person you don't have close relationships with; for this reason, the term te is used more often in informal Spanish phrases. This word is the object pronoun for the second person singular tú, precisely "you" in Italian; since it is addressed to people with whom you are familiar, the phrase should only be spoken among friends and family.
- If you want to express this feeling towards people you are not very familiar with, you have to replace the term you with lo (if you are referring to a man) or la (to talk to a woman). They are the formal pronouns equivalent to usted, which in Italian translates as "Lei" (form of courtesy).
- If you want to express the lack of several people (for example you are talking to a couple and you want to say that you miss both), you must use the second person plural pronoun to say "you", which in Spanish is os.
Method 2 of 3: Conjugate Spanish Verbs
Step 1. Learn the verb echar
The term echo in the sentence te echo de menos is the first person singular conjugation of the verb echar, which has several meanings. In some contexts, it may mean "kick out", "kick out", "kick out" or even "place".
- When you use the verb echar to express the concept of "lack", you conjugate it to the first person singular, indicative mood and present tense.
- If you want to say "you (he) miss you", you have to use the third person singular of the verb, ie echa. Therefore, the full expression becomes "te echa de menos". If you want to express the sentence in the third person plural instead, say "te echan de menos" ("you miss them").
- To say "we miss you", use the plural form in the first person: "te echamos de menos".
Step 2. Use the verb extrañar
When you say "te extraño", you are using the verb extrañar, which means "to miss" (or to lose). How to conjugate the verb depends on the person you are addressing and the tense you are referring to (whether present, past or future).
- If you want to say that your interlocutor misses another person, you must pronounce "te extraña", which means "he (or he) misses you". Keep in mind that the pronoun te does not change. In fact, the person with whom you are talking remains the object complement of the sentence, while the conjugation of the verb makes you understand who is the subject who feels the lack. It can be difficult to understand, because in Italian the concept is expressed in an intransitive way (one person is missing to someone else), while in Spanish it is in the transitive form.
- Perhaps the person you are talking to is missing from you and a third party; in this case, you have to say te extrañamos, which means "we miss you".
- If you mean "miss you" in Spanish, use the third person plural for the verb: "te extrañan".
Step 3. Try the hacer verb form
When you use the phrase "me haces falta" to mean "I miss you" in Spanish, you have to conjugate the verb hacer, which means "to do, do or cause". When you conjugate it, you have to think about "you do" or "you cause".
- In this case, the conjugation of the verb must agree with the person who is missing, who is actually "absent", and not with that person to whom is missing. For this reason, if you want to say "we miss you" using this sentence, the verb remains the same ("haces"), but it is the pronoun that changes "nos haces falta".
- Keep in mind that this is the only form that is constructed in the same way as Italian (unlike the others that follow more the concept similar to the English one) and the verb is conjugated in the second person of the present indicative. If you say "te hago falta", following the logic described with the previous expressions (hago is the first person singular in the present indicative of the verb hacer), you are actually saying "you miss me". The French also use the same way of saying: "tu me manques", which literally means "you miss me".
Method 3 of 3: Learn Related Phrases
Step 1. Ask "¿cuándo vuelves?
to know when the person will return. It is a question that often follows the declaration expressing the lack. After declaring that you will feel the absence of a person, it is quite natural to want to know when he will return.
- Cuándo is very similar to Italian and means "when";
- Vuelves is the second person singular of the verb volver and means "to return". This is the informal way of expressing yourself, towards a person with whom you are familiar and you can therefore use the second person singular.
- If, on the other hand, you are speaking informally to a person you are not familiar with, you must use the verbal form of courtesy vuelve.
- Cuándo vuelves is pronounced exactly as it is read.
Step 2. Pronounce "¡Regresa ya
"If you've already told someone you miss them, you probably want them to come back; instead of asking when you can see them again, you can just tell them to come back." ¡Regresa ya! "Simply means" see you back "or" come back as soon as possible "or "come back, please".
- Regresa is the conjugation of "regresar", which means "to return". In this sentence, the imperative is used in the second person singular "tú"; in this context the imperative form is used to express almost a command;
- Ya is an adverb that indicates "already", "force", up ", as a reinforcement of an encouragement or exhortation.
- The whole sentence is pronounced the same way, "ya" just says "ia".
Step 3. Exclaim "¡no puedo estar sin ti
"In a particularly romantic context, when you miss a person, you can feel like you can't live without her; this phrase means" I can't be without you ".
- Puedo is the first person singular conjugation of the verb "poder", which means "to be able" or even "to be able to". The term no put before the verb indicates the negative form, so "I can't";
- Estar means very similar to the Italian verb "stare", "essere"; since it follows an already conjugated verb, it remains in the infinitive form "estar";
- Sin means "without";
- Ti is the object pronoun for the informal "you".
- This sentence is also pronounced exactly as it is read.
Step 4. Let someone know that you would like them to be with you
When you miss someone, your desire is for them to be near you instead of far away. This is a feeling particularly experienced in couple relationships and you can say "desearia que estuvieras aqui conmigo", which means "I wish you were here with me".
- Desearia is the conditional of the verb desear which means "to want";
- Que is the conjunction or pronoun to indicate "that";
- Estuvieras is the subjunctive in the second person singular of the verb estar which means "to be";
- Aquí is the adverb which means "here". The term has a component of time and place, so you can interpret it as "here and now";
- Conmigo is the Spanish pronoun which means "with me".
- The phrase is pronounced: "desearia che estuvieras achì conmigo".
