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### 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...").

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### 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*). 

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To make the wish negative ("I wish I had not..."), place **no** immediately before the form of *haber*.

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Unfulfillable wishes (ojalá)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

expression

interjection

noun

numeral

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and 'to be' (el, la, soy)

Masculine and feminine pairs (el hermano, la hermana)

Basic sentences and negation (no)

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Formal and informal you (tú vs. usted)

Plural pronouns and the verb to be (somos, son)

Making nouns plural (-s, -es)

Plural articles (los, las, unos, unas)

Noun gender exceptions

Adjective agreement

Invariable adjectives

State and location (estar)

Ser vs. estar

There is / there are (hay)

Hay vs. estar

To have (tener)

Possession (de)

Possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su)

Regular -ar verbs

Yes/No questions

What and who (qué, quién)

Regular -er verbs

Regular -ir verbs

Asking where (dónde, adónde)

How, when, and why (cómo, cuándo, por qué)

How much and how many (cuánto)

Days of the week

Going to a place (ir a)

Preposition contractions (al, del)

In and by (en)

With me and with you (conmigo, contigo)

Prepositional pronouns (mí, ti)

Conjunctions (y, o, pero)

Giving reasons (porque)

Stem-changing verbs (e to ie)

Stem-changing verbs (o to ue)

Stem-changing verbs (e to i)

Irregular yo forms (hago, salgo)

To know (saber vs. conocer)

Weather expressions (hace, está)

Desires and plans (querer)

Ability and requests (poder)

Obligations (tener que)

Expressing likes (me gusta)

Plural likes (me gustan)

Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)

Very vs. a lot (muy, mucho)

Numbers 0 to 15 (cero, uno, dos…)

Numbers 16 to 31 (dieciséis, veinte…)

Numbers 30 to 1000 (treinta, cien, mil)

Months of the year (enero, febrero, marzo)

Seasons and dates (el dos de mayo)

Telling time (es la..., son las...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero, segundo, tercero)

Reflexive pronouns and verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

The present continuous (estar + -ando, -iendo)

Near demonstrative adjectives (este, esta, estos, estas)

Medium demonstrative adjectives (ese, esa, esos, esas)

Comparatives of inequality (más / menos ... que)

Comparatives of equality (tan ... como)

Indefinite and negative pronouns (algo, nada, alguien, nadie)

Affirmative commands

Far demonstratives (aquel, aquella)

Possessive pronouns (el mío, el tuyo)

Shortened indefinite adjectives (algún, ningún)

Adverbs of quantity (demasiado, bastante)

Adverbs of frequency (a menudo, a veces)

Adverb formation (-mente)

Exclamations (¡Qué...!)

Irregular comparatives (mejor, peor, mayor, menor)

Relative superlatives (el más... de)

Adjective intensification (-ísimo)

Indirect object pronouns

Pronoun placement with infinitives

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

The 'se lo' rule (se lo, se la)

Impersonal statements (se)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Personal obligation (deber)

Starting actions (empezar a)

Finishing and quitting actions (terminar de, dejar de)

Repeating actions (volver a)

Continuing actions (seguir + gerundio)

Question	Answer
the evaluator	el evaluador
the driver's license	la licencia
The evaluator says I still don't have my license.	El evaluador dice que sigo sin tener la licencia.
I wish I had my license today!	¡Ojalá tuviera mi licencia hoy!
the rearview mirror	el retrovisor
I wish the evaluator had not looked in the rearview mirror.	Ojalá el evaluador no hubiera mirado el retrovisor.
In your place, I would look in the rearview mirror.	Yo en tu lugar, miraría el retrovisor.
the turn signal	la direccional
I wish I had put the turn signal on!	¡Ojalá hubiera puesto la direccional!
I failed the exam because I forgot the turn signal.	Reprobé el examen porque olvidé la direccional.
the concentration	la concentración
You don't know how important concentration is.	No sabes lo importante que es la concentración.
I wish I had not lost my concentration!	¡Ojalá no hubiera perdido la concentración!
the reverse gear	la reversa
abruptly	bruscamente
I wish I had not shifted into reverse so abruptly.	Ojalá no hubiera puesto la reversa tan bruscamente.
the cone	el cono
You should practice reversing with a cone.	Deberías practicar la reversa con un cono.
to graze	rozar
The car grazed the wall.	El carro rozó la pared.
I wish I had not grazed the cone!	¡Ojalá no hubiera rozado el cono!
to run over	atropellar
I wish I had not run over your bicycle!	¡Ojalá no hubiera atropellado tu bicicleta!
I still haven't run over anyone in the street.	Sigo sin atropellar a nadie en la calle.
I wish I had not braked so abruptly.	Ojalá no hubiera frenado tan bruscamente.