Missing someone in your life?
While the best antidote for that is to see them, the next best thing you can do is to express your feelings to them.
If you’re longing for someone who is a native Spanish speaker or in a Spanish-speaking country, the most meaningful way to express your feelings is in Spanish!
In this post, you’ll learn eight ways to say “I miss you” in Spanish that work in Spain and Latin America, plus how to respond like a native speaker.
Contents
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
How To Say “I Miss You” in Spanish
1. Te extraño
This is the most common way to say “I miss you” in Latin American Spanish.
The extended version of this phrase is te extraño a ti (literally, “I miss you to you”). A ti is an object pronoun. It’s not necessary to include it in the phrase since it’s just used to emphasize who you miss.
If you’re talking about missing other people, here’s how it would look:
Regresa a mi lado. ¡Te extraño tanto! (Return to my side. I miss you so much!)
¿Qué tal está tu hermano? ¡Lo extraño! (How is your brother? I miss him!)
2. Me haces falta
This way of saying “I miss you” in Spanish isn’t as common, but it can be used the same way as Te extraño.
It roughly translates to “I am lacking you.”
As Latin culture is traditionally very romantic, Me haces falta is also at the forefront of many heartfelt ballads, like this Jennifer Lopez song.
Si te recuerdo, me haces falta. (If I remember you, I miss you.)
Me haces falta ahora que no estás. (I miss you now that you’re not here.)
The first example sentence is a combination of the two chorus lyrics from the above Jennifer Lopez song!
3. Te echo de menos
This is the most common way to say “I miss you” in Spain.
The extended version is te echo de menos a ti (I miss you to you). As mentioned above, a ti is the object pronoun and is not necessary to include in the phrase.
Here’s how you’d refer to other people:
¿Cuándo regresas, mi amor? Te echo de menos. (When are you coming back, my love? I miss you.)
¿Cómo van los niños en la escuela? Los echo de menos a todos. (How are the kids doing in school? I miss them all.)
4. Me haces mucha falta
This is a more emphasized version of the phrase Me haces falta. It means almost the same thing—the addition of mucha turns it into “I’m missing you a lot” (literally, “I’m lacking you a lot”).
Debes visitarme, me haces mucha falta. (You should visit me, I really miss you.)
No me dejes otra vez, me has hecho mucha falta. (Don’t leave me again, I’ve missed you a lot.)
5. Te voy a extrañar
This phrase literally means “I’m going to miss you.”
Instead of saying this phrase when you currently miss someone, use it when you’re parting ways with someone to let them know you enjoy being with them and will miss them after they (or you) leave.
For example:
Ojalá no tuviera que irme, te voy a extrañar mucho. (I wish I didn’t have to go, I’m going to miss you so much.)
Si me dejas, te voy a extrañar. (If you leave me, I will miss you.)
6. No sabes cuánto te extraño
Meaning “You don’t know how much I miss you,” this is the perfect phrase to use when you want to tell your loved one that you deeply miss them at the moment.
Since this one is a bit more intense, I’d only use it with people you truly love and care about.
Think of it as saying “You have no idea how much I miss you” in English.
Me extrañas? (Do you miss me?)
Por supuesto… No sabes cuánto te extraño. (Of course… you don’t know how much I miss you.)
7. No quiero estar sin ti
This phrase means “I don’t want to be without you.”
You can also replace the verb estar with other verbs—like vivir (to live)—to add more emphasis or dramatic effects. For example, No quiero vivir sin ti means “I don’t want to live without you.”
Tengo que irme, mi amor. (I have to go, my love.)
¡No te vayas! No quiero estar sin ti. (Don’t go! I don’t want to be without you.)
8. Ojalá estuvieras aquí
Ojalá estuvieras aquí means “(I) wish you were here,” making it a nice substitution or variation for the previous phrase.
This phrase is excellent for when you want to be a little more creative than the basic Te extraño, and is perfect for being more specific about how you feel.
Te extraño. (I miss you.)
Yo igual. Ojalá estuvieras aquí conmigo. (Same. I wish you were here with me.)
How To Respond to “I Miss You” in Spanish
You can respond to Te extraño a few different ways depending on the region.
Here are some of the most common:
To really master this exchange, of course, you’ll need to practice!
Next time your grandma in Guatemala tells you she misses you, you can respond in Spanish to let her know the feeling is mutual. Or, reach out to your foreign-exchange friend who is back home in Spain to tell them they’re missed!
Haven’t found the perfect Spanish language partner yet? No worries. You can also review how to say and respond to “I miss you” in Spanish with videos on YouTube, or language learning programs like FluentU.
FluentU offers authentic Spanish-language videos on the website and app so you can see, hear and practice Spanish phrases as much as you like. The interactive subtitles will let you see a word or phrase in additional contexts as well so you can better understand the nuances of its use.
Plus, the iOS and Android apps make it easy to practice whenever you’ve got some down time. The more you practice, the more confident you’ll feel saying “I miss you” in Spanish—among other things.
Now don’t waste another minute. Tell the people you miss that you miss them!
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
