about to

EnglishEdit

(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.

indicating imminence

Arabic: عَلَى وَشْك ‎(ʿalā wašk) (followed by a verbal noun in the definite form)
Chinese:
Mandarin: (for both forms, particle 了 ‎(le) is used after verb) 就要 (zh) ‎(jiùyào), 快要 (zh) ‎(kuàiyào), 剛要, 刚要 ‎(gāngyào)
Cornish: parys dhe
Dutch: op het punt staan (om) te
Finnish: fifth infinitive of the verb (different grammatical structure; see usex in tekemäisillään)
French: sur le point de (fr), aller (fr) (auxiliary verb ‘to be about to’)
Georgian: თითქმის მზად ‎(titkmis mzad)
German: gleich (de) (adverb modifying the verb), wollen (de) (auxiliary verb ‘to be about to’)
Irish: ar tí
Japanese: (after verbs in the basic form) ... ところ (ja) ‎(...tokoro), まさに...しようとしている ‎(masa ni ... shiyō to shite iru)

Khmer: ស្ទើរតែ ‎(steurtê)
Korean: (으)려고 하다 ‎((eu)ryeogo hada), ^{(please verify)} 막...하려고 하다 ‎(Mak...haryeogo hada)
Latin: (expressed by the future participle of the verb)
Maori: whano, hono
Portuguese: no limiar de, prestes a, a ponto de
Russian: собира́ться (ru) ‎(sobirátʹsja)
Scottish Gaelic: an impis
Spanish: a punto de (es)
Vietnamese: sắp sửa (vi) ‎(𢯛𢯢)
Welsh: ar (cy), ar fin
Yiddish: האַלטן בײַם ‎(haltn baym)