Unfulfillable wishes in the present
You have seen ojalá paired with the present subjunctive to express hopeful wishes ("I hope...").
To express a wish about the present that is unlikely or impossible to fulfill—like wishing you had a driver's license right after failing the test—pair ojalá with the imperfect subjunctive ("I wish..." or "if only...").
| I wish I had my license today! | ¡Ojalá tuviera mi licencia hoy! |
Wishing the past were different
To express a wish about a past event that cannot be changed, use ojalá followed by the past perfect subjunctive.
Form the past perfect subjunctive with the imperfect subjunctive of the helping verb haber (hubiera, hubieras, hubiera, hubiéramos, hubieran) and a past participle (like mirado, perdido, or the irregular puesto).
| I wish I had put the turn signal on! | ¡Ojalá hubiera puesto la direccional! |
To make the wish negative ("I wish I had not..."), place no immediately before the form of haber.
| I wish the evaluator had not looked in the rearview mirror. | Ojalá el evaluador no hubiera mirado el retrovisor. |
| I wish I had not shifted into reverse so abruptly. | Ojalá no hubiera puesto la reversa tan bruscamente. |
| I wish I had not run over your bicycle! | ¡Ojalá no hubiera atropellado tu bicicleta! |
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