Souhaits et Regrets: 'si seulement', 'que + subj'

Wishes and regrets are some of the most emotionally charged things a language has to express, and French has dedicated grammatical machinery for each shade — from the gentle hope of j'espère que to the wistful regret of si seulement j'avais su. The choice between them is not arbitrary. It depends on three factors: whether the wish is for the present or the past, whether the subject of the wish matches the subject of the wished-for action, and how strongly you mean it. This page maps the whole landscape.

The core distinction: hope versus wish

French distinguishes sharply between hope (something you actually expect or believe possible) and wish (something you imagine or yearn for, often counterfactual). They take different verb forms:

• Espérer que introduces a hope. It takes the indicative because you treat the outcome as a real possibility.
• Souhaiter que, vouloir que, aimer que, désirer que introduce wishes. They take the subjunctive because the outcome lives in your imagination, not in established fact.

Notice the verb forms in the embedded clause: viendra (futur indicative) after espérer, vienne (subjonctif présent) after souhaiter and aimer. The choice marks how you treat the outcome — as a real prospect or as a desired possibility.

Wishing for someone else's action: aimer / vouloir + que + subjonctif

When you want another person to do something — and so the subject of want differs from the subject of the action — use vouloir que, aimer (mieux) que, souhaiter que, or préférer que with the subjunctive.

The conditional form j'aimerais que / je voudrais que is gentler than the indicative je veux que — it softens a demand into a wish. Je veux que tu viennes is direct (and can sound bossy). J'aimerais que tu viennes is polite. Je voudrais que tu viennes is in between.

Same subject? Use the infinitive

When the subject of want matches the subject of the action, you do not use que + subjunctive. Instead, you use the bare infinitive:

This same-subject rule applies across most subjunctive-triggering verbs of emotion, will, and judgment. The principle: French uses the subjunctive to track another mind's potential action; if the action is your own, no subordinate clause is needed.

Si seulement: wishing with the imparfait or plus-que-parfait

Si seulement (if only) is one of French's most expressive constructions for wishful thinking. It uses no subjunctive — it uses the same tenses as Type 2 and Type 3 conditionals. Two patterns to learn:

Si seulement + imparfait → present wish

The imparfait signals that the wish is for the present — he is not here, but I wish he were. This parallels Type 2 conditional logic: imparfait for unreality.

Si seulement + plus-que-parfait → past regret

Plus-que-parfait shifts the wish into the past. The thing you wish for did not happen, and now it cannot — pure regret.

Pourvu que: hopeful wishing

Pourvu que + subjonctif is the French equivalent of English let's hope that, may it be that, fingers crossed that. It expresses a hopeful wish about an outcome you are anxious or uncertain about.

It carries a stronger emotional charge than j'espère que — pourvu que implies you are nervous about the outcome.

Independent que + subjonctif: ceremonial wishes

A bare que + subjonctif clause, with no main verb, expresses a wish in a formal or ceremonial register. This is the French equivalent of English may he / long live.

This construction is set-phrase territory in modern speech — you'll hear qu'il repose en paix at funerals, que la fête commence at celebrations, vive la République in political speeches. Don't try to coin new ones in casual conversation; it sounds archaic outside formal contexts.

Vivement que and dommage que

Two more high-frequency expressions, both taking the subjunctive:

Vivement que = can't wait for. It expresses eager anticipation.

Dommage que = too bad that. It expresses regret, often light and conversational.

Note the subjunctive in the second example: aies pu is the subjonctif passé (anteriority — the not-coming was already past at the moment of speaking).

Past wishes and regrets: aurais aimé / aurais voulu / aurais dû

To express a wish or regret about the past — something you wished had happened — French uses the conditionnel passé of aimer, vouloir, devoir, pouvoir. This is the engine of past-oriented regret in French.

These constructions are detailed in Le Regret et le Contre-factuel. Here the key point: aurais dû (should have) and aurais pu (could have) take a bare infinitive, while aurais aimé and aurais voulu can take either an infinitive (same subject) or que + subjunctive (different subject).

Regretter: explicit regret

The verb regretter lets you say "I regret X" directly. It has two patterns based on whether the subject of regretting matches the subject of the regretted action.

Same subject: regretter de + infinitif

Note that regret about a past action takes the past infinitive: d'avoir parlé, d'être venu. The auxiliary is avoir or être depending on the verb's normal compound-tense auxiliary.

Different subject: regretter que + subjonctif

The subjunctive is required because regretter expresses an emotional reaction — and emotional reactions to someone else's action trigger the subjunctive in the embedded clause.

How French differs from English

English collapses several distinctions that French keeps separate:

• English I wish. French splits this into si seulement (if only — the most direct equivalent), j'aimerais que (I'd like), je voudrais que (I want), j'aurais aimé que (I wish ... had), and je souhaite que (I wish, formal). Each carries a different shade.
• English I hope. French uses j'espère que with the indicative — surprising for English speakers used to I hope that he comes (no special form, but in French the subjunctive feels like it should apply).
• English I should have / could have. French uses the conditionnel passé of devoir and pouvoir — single inflected forms, not modal-plus-perfect constructions: j'aurais dû, j'aurais pu. These are short and punchy in French.
• The same-subject infinitive rule is much stricter in French than in English. French j'aimerais venir (with same subject) versus j'aimerais que tu viennes (with different subject) — the form changes. English I'd like to come / I'd like you to come uses to + infinitive for both.

Common Mistakes

Key takeaways

• Espérer que takes the indicative; almost every other verb of wanting/wishing takes the subjunctive.
• Same subject? Use the bare infinitive (je veux partir). Different subject? Use que + subjunctive (je veux que tu partes).
• Si seulement + imparfait = present wish; si seulement + plus-que-parfait = past regret.
• Past regret uses the conditionnel passé: j'aurais dû, aurais pu, aurais voulu, aurais aimé.
• Pourvu que, vivement que, dommage que all take the subjunctive — they express emotional reactions.