about to

English

Phrase

about to

1. (idiomatic, only with bare infinitive) Indicates something that will happen very soon; indicates that something is imminent.

   He's standing at the edge, and I think he's about to jump.

Translations

indicating imminence

• Arabic: على وشك (ar) (ʿálā wašk) (followed by a verbal noun in the definite form)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (for both forms, 了 le particle is used after verb) 就要 (cmn) (jiùyào), 快要 (cmn) (kuàiyào), 剛要 (cmn), 刚要 (cmn) (gāngyào)

• Dutch: op het punt staan om (te)
• Finnish: aikoa (fi), olla + fifth infinitive of main verb (different grammatical structure)
• French: sur le point de (fr), aller (fr)
• Georgian: თითქმის მზად (ka) (t’it’k’mis mzad)
• German: gleich (de), wollen (de)

• Japanese: (after verbs in the basic form) ... ところ (ja) (...tokoro), まさに...しようとしている (ja) (masa ni ... shiyō to shite iru)
• Korean: ...(으)려고 하다 (ko) (...-(eu)ryeogo hada), 막...하려고 하다 (ko) (mak ... haryeogo hada)
• Latin: (used an verb in periprhastica) futurus sum (la) (i am about to be), (used an verb in perprhastic) futurus sum (la) (i am about to be)
• Portuguese: no limiar de (pt), prestes a (pt), a ponto de (pt)
• Russian: собираться (ru) (sobirát’sja)
• Scottish Gaelic: an impis (gd)
• Spanish: a punto de (es)