15 Ways to Say ‘I Miss You’ in Spanish

Have you met a special Spanish-speaking person and you want to tell them that you miss them but don’t know how to do it? 

I know how that feels—it happened to me when I was learning English! I had so many ideas, feelings, and emotions to express but a limited vocabulary stopped me dead in my tracks.

Don’t let this happen to you! 

By learning 15 new ways to express the idea of missing someone in Spanish (aside from just saying “I miss you” all the time), you enhance your ability to express your feelings towards others. 

As an added bonus, I’ve shared some useful grammar structures to improve your understanding and verb conjugations to strengthen your usage. 

Table of Contents:

• The Importance of Saying ‘I Miss You’ in Spanish
• 15 Ways to Say ‘I Miss You’ in Spanish
• Don’t Miss Your Chance to Improve Your Spanish in Real Time

The Importance of Saying ‘I Miss You’ in Spanish

Saying “I miss you in Spanish” is one of those expressions that you need to learn no matter what. It’s like saying “thank you” or “you’re welcome”—you know you’re going to need them sooner or later. 

Saying “I miss you” is basically just another way to express your love or affection for someone. The good thing about this is that, in Spanish, you can say it in many ways and that’s what we’re learning today. 

Why You Should Learn Different Ways to Say the Same Thing

Mastering a language means not only being able to communicate efficiently, but to be able to do it in a variety of ways. As your vocabulary increases, your Spanish skills improve accordingly. 

Knowing different ways to express the same thoughts, ideas, or feelings is a sign of well-developed language skills. Think about how you express yourself in your native language and you’ll realize that you use a wide array of expressions to communicate the same ideas. 

15 Ways to Say ‘I Miss You’ in Spanish

It’s time to learn how to say “I miss you in Spanish,” including explanations, examples, and verb conjugations. 

1. Te echo de menos

Mostly used in Spain, this expression includes two interesting elements: the verb echar, which has many uses and several meanings, and the word menos, which means “less” although in this context that’s not what it’s expressing. 

Ultimately, it’s a unique structure which makes no sense trying to literally translate. It simply means “I miss you.”

Echar Conjugation 

Example Sentences in Spanish

Te echo de menos amigo. 
I miss you friend.

Te echamos de menos. 
We miss you.

2. Te extraño

This is the most common expression to say “I miss you” in Latin America. It’s also a unique construction, as the word extraño means stranger, but the verb extrañar means “to miss.” 

Echar Conjugation 

Example Sentences in Spanish

Los extraño, chicos. 
I miss you guys.

Te extraño como un pájaro extraña volar. 
I miss you like a bird misses flying.

3. Te extraño tanto

Literally meaning “I miss you so much,” this expression is simply a superlative of the previous one. Use it when simply saying te extraño doesn’t seem sufficient. 

Example Sentences in Spanish

Te extraño tanto que no sé si podré esperar a que regreses.
I miss you so much that I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait until you return.

¿Me extrañas tanto como para tomar un avión y venir a verme?
Do you miss me so much that you’ll get on a plane and come see me?

4. Sólo quería decirte que te extraño

This is a romantic expression that means “I just wanted to say I miss you.” Say it to someone who’s really special to you. 

It’s also ideal in situations where a family calls their relative just to say this, as you’ll see in one of the examples. Let’s see the conjugation of the verb querer (to want) in the imperfect tense. 

Querer Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

Hola, sólo quería decirte que te extraño.
Hi, I just wanted to say I miss you. 

Las niñas y yo sólo queríamos decirte que te extrañamos mucho y ya queremos que regreses.
The girls and I just wanted to say that we miss you and that we want you to come back soon. 

5. Cuánto te extraño 

Meaning “how I miss you,” this expression is usually said in a surprised tone, as if you were just discovering how important that person is to you now that they’re gone. 

Example Sentences in Spanish

Es increíble cuánto te extraño. 
It’s amazing how I miss you. 

Sé que apenas te fuiste ayer, pero cuánto te extraño.
I know you only left yesterday, but how I miss you. 

6. Te voy a extrañar

This phrase means “I will miss you.” However, it doesn’t use the future tense but a particular formula known as the near future tense. Sounds complex but it’s not, don’t worry. 

It’s the same formula you use in English when you say “I’m going to,” it includes the verb ir (to go) plus the word a plus a verb in infinitive, which in this case is extrañar. 

Ir Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

Te voy a extrañar cuando te vayas a Francia.
I will miss you when you go to France.

Te vamos a extrañar más de lo que piensas.
We will miss you more than you think. 

7. Yo te extraño más

Another phrase used mostly by people in love. Think about those sappy conversations between boyfriend and girlfriend when one says “I miss you more” and the other one replies, “No, I miss you more,” and you’ll get the idea. 

Example Sentences in Spanish

– Te extraño. 
– Yo te extraño más.

– I miss you. 
– I miss you more. 

8. Me haces falta

This interesting expression literally means “I’m lacking you,” as the verb faltar means “to lack” or “to miss.” 

It’s important not to confuse it with me faltas, which means that someone is missing, not that you’re missing someone. Gain a better understanding of how to use the verb faltar.   

Example Sentences in Spanish

No puedo con todo yo solo, me haces falta. 
I can’t deal with everything myself, I miss you. 

Nos haces falta aquí. 
We need you here. 

9. Desearía que estuvieras aquí

What better way to tell someone that you miss them than with Pink Floyd’s classic words “(I) wish you were here”? That’s exactly what desearía que estuvieras aquí means, and it’s one of the most heartfelt ways of saying “I miss you” to a friend, significant other, or family member. 

This structure uses two verbs: desear (to wish) conjugated in the conditional tense and estar (to be) conjugated in one of the imperfect tense forms of subjunctive. Let’s see the conjugation set of both verbs in these tenses. 

Desear Conjugation

Estar Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

Desearía que estuviera aquí en México y no allá España.
I wish you were here in Mexico and not over there in Spain.

¿No desearías que estuviéramos ahí contigo?
Don’t you wish we were there with you?

10. Ojalá nunca te hubieras ido

Another expression that uses the subjunctive, in this case in the past perfect tense, to express the idea of missing someone. This tense is used for hypothetical past situations, and although ojalá can be translated as “hopefully,” the whole expression is better translated as “I wish you hadn’t gone.”

This phrase uses the verb haber conjugated in one of the imperfect forms of subjunctive. Let’s see this conjugation set. 

Haber Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

Ojalá nunca te hubieras ido lejos de mí.
I wish you hadn’t gone away from me.  

Ojalá nunca se hubieran ido mis hermanos.
I wish my brothers hadn’t gone.

11. No puedo estar sin ti

A romantic (or dramatic) way of saying “I miss you.” It translates as “I can’t be without you,” and uses poder (can) + estar (to be). 

Poder Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

No puedo estar otro día más sin ti. 
I can’t be another day without you. 

¿Cuándo vuelves a casa? No podemos estar sin ti. 
When do you come back home? We can’t be without you. 

12. He estado pensando en ti

Another expression in pop culture, in this case courtesy of Londonbeat: “I’ve been thinking about you.” It’s quite an interesting grammatical construction as it involves three verbs: haber (to have), estar (to be), and pensar (to think). 

However, estar is always conjugated as past participle and pensar as a gerund, so we’ll only check out the haber conjugation set in the present tense. 

Haber Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

Estos últimos días he estado pensando en ti. 
These last few days I’ve been thinking about you.

Hemos estado pensando en ustedes, ¿cuándo vienen a visitarnos?
We’ve been thinking about you, when do you visit us?

13. Me acordé de ti

Meaning “I remembered you,” it’s just another way of saying that you miss someone and you’ve been thinking about them. This expression uses the verb acordar in the simple past tense, preceded by a reflexive pronoun. 

Acordar Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

La semana pasada me acordé de ti.
Last week I remembered you. 

Justo ayer nos acordamos de ustedes. 
Just yesterday we thought about you. 

14. Quiero verte

This expression doesn’t say “I miss you” passively; it becomes active and takes action. It means “I want to see you” and is a direct phrase. It uses two verbs, querer (to want) in the present tense and ver (to see) in infinitive form plus a pronoun (direct object).

Querer Conjugation

Ver Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

Quiero verte ahora mismo.
I want to see you right now.

Queremos verlos de nuevo.
We want to see you again. 

15. Te necesito

Finally, one straightforward expression that means “I need you.” It uses the verb necesitar (to need) preceded by a pronoun used as a direct object that changes depending on who needs who.

Necesitar Conjugation

Example Sentences in Spanish

Te necesito en mi vida. 
I need you in my life.

Los necesitamos aquí con nosotros. 
We need you here with us.

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Improve Your Spanish in Real-Time

Now you know how to say “I miss you” in Spanish in many ways using a wide variety of grammar structures and verbs. To respond when someone says “I miss you,” simply add a también (too) of the most common phrases such as in: yo también te echo de menos or también te extraño (I miss you, too).

Remember that using a variety of expressions to communicate the same idea is a sign of a native speaker or an advanced learner of the language. By learning these expressions, you’ll be able to communicate fluently with more of the 53 million people in the United States who speak Spanish. 

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Luis F. Dominguez

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Luis F. Domínguez is a freelance writer and independent journalist interested in travel, languages, art, books, history, philosophy, politics and sports. He has written for Fodor’s, Yahoo!, Sports Illustrated, Telemundo, and Villa Experience, among other brands of print and digital media in Europe and North America.

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