This is the English transciption of the video above. Below we have a more detailed blog entry.
Transcription:
Today we are going to explain how to express wishes and desires in Spanish, using the subjunctive.
To express a wish you can use «¡Ojalá!», always with the subjunctive. The expression comes from law šá lláh in Arabic (if Allah wishes).
Look at these examples:
¡Ojalá no llueva el fin de semana!
¡Ojalá consiga un trabajo pronto!
But you can also use it to express wishes about the past, usisng el pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo.
¡Ojalá no haya habido ningún herido en el accidente!
We can also express a wish for the present that is impossible, or very unlikely to come about, using el imperfecto de subjuntivo.
¡Ojalá me tocara la lotería!
On the other hand, for an action that did not take place in the past, we use el pretérito pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo:
¡Ojalá no hubiera bebido tanto anoche! Tengo una resaca horrible.
Another way to express wishes in daily situations, referring to the future, is to use «Que» + subjuntivo, which is understood to mean «Deseo que» o «Espero que». I’m sure you’ve heard some of these examples:
¡Que pases un buen día!
¡Que te diviertas!
¡Que tengas suerte!
We can also use verbs like desear, querer, esperar, etc., using the subjunctive when we have two different subjects and the infinitive when there is only one subject. Look at these examples:
Subjuntivo: Quiero que la gente recicle más.
Infinitivo: Quiero reciclar más.
Finally, with these verbs we can use el subjuntivo en presente, pretérito perfecto, pretérito imperfecto or pluscuamperfecto. Here are some examples:
Tengo ganas de que llegue el verano.
Espero que hayas terminado de trabajar.
Antes siempre tenía ganas de que mis padres me visitaran.
Deseé que hubieras venido a mi fiesta de cumpleaños.
OK, that’s all for today. In our blog you’ll find more uses of the subjunctive.
Our complete mini-lessons come with an annotated transcription, more detailed grammar notes where we explain examples of the subjunctive that came up in the video, and some interactive excercises. For example, we explain another example of the subjuctive in this mini-lesson.
