diff --git a/packages/core/test/animation/animation_integration_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/animation/animation_integration_spec.ts
index 551f65315e..fc56c91531 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/animation/animation_integration_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/animation/animation_integration_spec.ts
@@ -328,6 +328,36 @@ const DEFAULT_COMPONENT_ID = '1';
         ]);
       });
 
+      // https://github.com/angular/angular/issues/32794
+      it('should support nested animation triggers', () => {
+        const REUSABLE_ANIMATION = [trigger(
+            'myAnimation',
+            [transition(
+                'void => *', [style({'opacity': '0'}), animate(500, style({'opacity': '1'}))])])];
+
+        @Component({
+          selector: 'if-cmp',
+          template: `
+          <div @myAnimation></div>
+        `,
+          animations: [REUSABLE_ANIMATION],
+        })
+        class Cmp {
+        }
+
+        TestBed.configureTestingModule({declarations: [Cmp]});
+
+        const engine = TestBed.inject(ɵAnimationEngine);
+        const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(Cmp);
+        fixture.detectChanges();
+        engine.flush();
+
+        expect(getLog().length).toEqual(1);
+        expect(getLog().pop() !.keyframes).toEqual([
+          {offset: 0, opacity: '0'}, {offset: 1, opacity: '1'}
+        ]);
+      });
+
       it('should allow a transition to use a function to determine what method to run', () => {
         let valueToMatch = '';
         let capturedElement: any;
diff --git a/packages/platform-browser/animations/src/animation_renderer.ts b/packages/platform-browser/animations/src/animation_renderer.ts
index 59b4f48268..02ae8cf58d 100644
--- a/packages/platform-browser/animations/src/animation_renderer.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-browser/animations/src/animation_renderer.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ import {Injectable, NgZone, Renderer2, RendererFactory2, RendererStyleFlags2, Re
 const ANIMATION_PREFIX = '@';
 const DISABLE_ANIMATIONS_FLAG = '@.disabled';
 
+// Define a recursive type to allow for nested arrays of `AnimationTriggerMetadata`. Note that an
+// interface declaration is used as TypeScript prior to 3.7 does not support recursive type
+// references, see https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/pull/33050 for details.
+type NestedAnimationTriggerMetadata = AnimationTriggerMetadata | RecursiveAnimationTriggerMetadata;
+interface RecursiveAnimationTriggerMetadata extends Array<NestedAnimationTriggerMetadata> {}
+
 @Injectable()
 export class AnimationRendererFactory implements RendererFactory2 {
   private _currentId: number = 0;
@@ -55,10 +61,17 @@ export class AnimationRendererFactory implements RendererFactory2 {
     this._currentId++;
 
     this.engine.register(namespaceId, hostElement);
-    const animationTriggers = type.data['animation'] as AnimationTriggerMetadata[];
-    animationTriggers.forEach(
-        trigger => this.engine.registerTrigger(
-            componentId, namespaceId, hostElement, trigger.name, trigger));
+
+    const registerTrigger = (trigger: NestedAnimationTriggerMetadata) => {
+      if (Array.isArray(trigger)) {
+        trigger.forEach(registerTrigger);
+      } else {
+        this.engine.registerTrigger(componentId, namespaceId, hostElement, trigger.name, trigger);
+      }
+    };
+    const animationTriggers = type.data['animation'] as NestedAnimationTriggerMetadata[];
+    animationTriggers.forEach(registerTrigger);
+
     return new AnimationRenderer(this, namespaceId, delegate, this.engine);
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/platform-browser/animations/test/animation_renderer_spec.ts b/packages/platform-browser/animations/test/animation_renderer_spec.ts
index 7455b4e00f..8d3e87c82b 100644
--- a/packages/platform-browser/animations/test/animation_renderer_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-browser/animations/test/animation_renderer_spec.ts
@@ -79,6 +79,16 @@ import {el} from '../../testing/src/browser_util';
       expect(engine.captures['setProperty'].pop()).toEqual([element, 'prop', 'value']);
     });
 
+    // https://github.com/angular/angular/issues/32794
+    it('should support nested animation triggers', () => {
+      makeRenderer([[trigger('myAnimation', [])]]);
+
+      const {triggers} = TestBed.inject(AnimationEngine) as MockAnimationEngine;
+
+      expect(triggers.length).toEqual(1);
+      expect(triggers[0].name).toEqual('myAnimation');
+    });
+
     describe('listen', () => {
       it('should hook into the engine\'s listen call if the property begins with `@`', () => {
         const renderer = makeRenderer();
@@ -320,8 +330,10 @@ class MockAnimationEngine extends InjectableAnimationEngine {
     data.push(args);
   }
 
-  registerTrigger(componentId: string, namespaceId: string, trigger: AnimationTriggerMetadata) {
-    this.triggers.push(trigger);
+  registerTrigger(
+      componentId: string, namespaceId: string, hostElement: any, name: string,
+      metadata: AnimationTriggerMetadata): void {
+    this.triggers.push(metadata);
   }
 
   onInsert(namespaceId: string, element: any): void { this._capture('onInsert', [element]); }