From root: hintay
Conjugations
Past (Completed)
hinintay
hi-nin-TAY
waited for
Present (Incomplete)
hinihintay
hi-ni-hin-TAY
waiting for
Future (Contemplated)
hihintayin
hi-hin-ta-YIN
will wait for
Usage Note
Hintayin is used when the focus of the sentence is the specific person or thing being waited for, rather than the act of waiting itself. It is extremely common in daily conversations for making requests or giving instructions to wait for someone or something.
Examples
" Hintayin mo ako sa labas. "
Natural Translation
Wait for me outside.
Literal Translation
Wait-for you me at outside.
" Kailangan nating hintayin ang kaibigan ko. "
Natural Translation
We need to wait for my friend.
Literal Translation
Need we wait-for the friend my.
" Kailangan nating hintayin ang ulan na tumigil bago tayo umalis papunta sa palengke. "
Natural Translation
We need to wait for the rain to stop before we leave for the market.
Literal Translation
Need we wait-for the rain that stop before we leave going to market.
Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.
How Tagalog words workWord family
hintay has 6 related forms built from the same root.
Related Words
Explore Tagalog by topic
Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.

May vs Mayroon vs Meron: Have & There Is
May vs mayroon in Tagalog finally made simple: one rule decides which to use, plus how meron and wala fit the same have and there-is family.

Seasons in the Philippines: A Tagalog Guide
The Philippines has two seasons, not four. Learn tag-araw, tag-ulan, and taglamig, the generative tag- prefix, and the weather vocabulary to match.

Spaced Repetition for Tagalog: How Flashcards Make Words Stick
Cramming Tagalog vocabulary fails. See how spaced repetition — the science behind smart flashcards — makes words stick for the long term.

Days of the Week and Months in Tagalog
The days of the week and months in Tagalog are Spanish loanwords. Learn all 7 days and 12 months with pronunciation, plus how to say dates and 'every Monday.'