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The sentences below are describing how a certain event will happen on Friday, and I'm very excited.

I can't wait to Friday comes.

I can't wait for Friday comes.

I can't wait till Friday.

Which one is correct and what is the difference between them?

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    You could say I can't wait to see Friday come, or I can't wait for Friday to come. Or I can't wait till, until, ’til Friday [comes]. They're all pretty much equivalent - precise contexts might possibly make some more suitable than others, but then again they might not.
    – FumbleFingers
    Mar 26, 2017 at 18:58
  • But sometimes people might misunderstand that you really can not wait till Friday. (need to do or finish something before Friday)
    – user51310
    Mar 27, 2017 at 0:09
  • Well, only you know exactly what you mean. If a child says I can't want till my birthday next week, we'd normally understand that to mean the child is in a state of agitated anticipation. It's always possible he's actually demanding to be given his birthday present now, rather than having to wait until next week, but that's just the way people speak in all languages. The distinction between can't and really don't want to is often deliberately blurred to strengthen one's position.
    – FumbleFingers
    Mar 27, 2017 at 13:22

2 Answers 2

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To is traveling, until, till, and til are time. If you check their definition, depending on use, they're not interchangeable. Like to and too.

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With due deference to FumbleFingers, the first sentence is fine if somewhat colloquial.

A) The next appointment to see the dentist is this Friday afternoon.
B) I can't wait to Friday. I need to see the dentist today!

I imagine the use of "to" here is a gradual phonetic shift from the more grammatically correct till which is itself synonymous with until. It would be more "formal" to say:

I can't wait till/until Friday.

Also, as FumbleFingers mentions, this use of "to" is not usually written except as a quote or as reported speech. Otherwise your second sentence is incorrect, and should instead be:

I can't wait for Friday (to come).

meaning that you are really looking forward to Friday.

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  • When I first looked at this one, I simply ignored OP's initial wait to Friday as an effectively meaningless mistake, but I see now it's actually a perfectly credible misapprehension for learners - particularly if much of their exposure to English involves the spoken rather than written form. Unlike the related I should of written this properly, this particular error is rarely reflected in the written form, but when you consider how Wait t'ya hear this! is often enunciated, it's easy to see how "aurally-focused" learners could be misled.
    – FumbleFingers
    Mar 28, 2017 at 13:43
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    ...having said that, I think it might be a good idea to explicitly point out in your answer text itself that this use of to is rarely reflected in the written form. Otherwise you might give the impression that writing it like that is on a par with things like wanna, gonna, hafta. Which imho it's not - they reflect a "reduction" that's consciously recognised as an accurate and non-confusing eye-dialect representation of actual speech, whereas to native speakers OP's written to immediately signals Syntax error! Non-native speaker alert!
    – FumbleFingers
    Mar 28, 2017 at 13:52

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