To me, this means that something positive or neutral is being awaited. attendre ou = to expect / to wait for or While the other implies an anticipation, expectation or possible dread as in waiting for lab tests to come back when you are ill and you expect the worst. s'attendre à = to expect (to happen) Note that s'attendre à is often (but not always!) used for negative expectations (i.e., I expect bad consequences). 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'): Je peux comprendre certainement votre confusion. Bonne chance !