attendre vs s'attendre

Question

The question was: What can this mean? "Simon m'attend a la gare"?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following were given as correct:

1). Simon is waiting for me at the station. (I agree)

2). Simon is expecting me at the station. (I don't understand)

With the exception of "expecting a baby" I thought "expecting" was expressed via s'attendre (ie. reflexive)

Surely there would have to be a reflexive pronoun in the sentence for 2). to be true?

Accepted Answer

There is not much difference in meaning between "waiting for me" or "expecting me", so they would be expressed the same way in French.
Your question is addressed specifically in the lesson as follows:
ATTENTION:You cannot use s'attendre + a person to say to expect someone.You will instead use the simple attendre or a longer sentence (e.g., to expect to see someone):
Nous ne nous attendions pas à te voir.

Answer

I am also a bit confused by this difference, but I think it is because the English ' Simon is expecting me at the station' is not a common usage. I think there is in English quite a difference between the two sentences, if not in  the French.We would generally 'expect' in this sense someone to do something. 'Simon is expecting me to come to the station' seems a more likely English phrase and doesn't necessarily imply that Simon is there at the station, though he might be. 'Simon is waiting for me at the station' tells me he is there, I think.