Thread: Still having trouble with "make it up to you"

another thread on translating "to make it up to someone" didnt seem to help especially when i looked up the key words, they didnt seem to fit what message im trying to convey with "to make it up to someone" what im trying to translate is to make it up to someone in the sense that someone feels badly for something that had happened and is doing what they feel will make it up to the other person. in my case specifically, my friend was going to visit me but unexpectadly had to cancel the plans. this friend obviously knew i was not happy and dissapointed so my friend is trying to make it up to me by showing more effection as well as trying to give me more of his time.


its like he is "trying to make it up to me for having had to cancel and causing me to feel dissapointed, causing him to feel bad about it" what verb or words would best fit this meaning of "make it up to someone" ??? thanks!!!

Hi crunchies, welcome to the forum.
Here is an old post where we apparently managed to find a few possible spanish translations:
I'll make it up to you.

I my opinion, "compensar" or maybe "redimirse" could be good options.

You're trying to translate it into spanish right?

Thanks and yes im trying to translate into Spanish but not have someone do it for me. Just help me with the verb and i can fill in the rest since it will help me learn. I looked thru the suggested thread but it seems the person was looking for a different type of making it up to someone. In my case i want something along the lines as someone having fqiled to visit due to an unexpected occurrence but that person feels badly and ie trying to make it up to me by showing more affection as well as trying to spend extra time with me. This friend does speak English well but sometimes gets confused about what message im trying to get across. So on the difficult English phrases i wish to say im trying to find the Spanish equivalent.

In my case i want something along the lines as someone having fqiled to visit due to an unexpected occurrence but that person feels badly and ie trying to make it up to me by showing more affection as well as trying to spend extra time with me.

I 'd say:
1/Te compensaré por haber cancelado.
2/Para redimirme, me quedaré más tiempo la próxima.
3/ Te debo una (I owe you one)

You might want to wait for a native spanish speaker to give his opinion

Thanks!!! I will look up the translation of your examples to see which key word fits best for what Im trying to say.

Hi crunchies!!

Have you managed to find an equivalent yet?

For making it up to someone I would use the following verbs: recompensar, retribuir, compensar, corresponder.

Maybe you'd like to give us a bit more of cotext to see how you're phrasing your sentence? There are plenty of ways of conveying the same meaning in Spanish without actually using this expression. As nabylm suggested, "te debo una" is a great choice too.

There are other verbs and more figurative expressions like "retribuir" or "pagar con creces". It depends on the audience.

Thanks, wow this is a little difficult. How does one go about trying to figure out the best way to say something, the best verb.

Nice ones danielr, seem like two good formal options. What would be the litteral translation for "creces"? If you're using it in a speech, watch for the freudian slip ("pagar con heces")

Hi,
I think " te lo compensaré" is ok.