Breakdown of Ojalá que ella dirija la empresa este año.
ella
she / her (after a preposition)
el año
the year
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
la empresa
the company
Questions & Answers about Ojalá que ella dirija la empresa este año.
Why is dirija spelled with a "j" when the infinitive is dirigir?
The verb dirigir ends in -gir, which has a soft sound (like the English "h"). To form the present subjunctive, we add opposite endings, which for -ir verbs start with "a". If we wrote diriga, the "g" would make a hard sound (like in "go"). To keep the original soft sound before an "a" or an "o", Spanish spelling rules force the "g" to change to a "j".
Do you always have to put que after ojalá?
No, the que is completely optional. You can say ojalá que ella dirija or just ojalá ella dirija. Both are perfectly natural, mean exactly the same thing, and both always trigger the subjunctive mood.
Does dirigir mean "to manage" or "to direct"?
"This year" sounds like it could be the future. Why is the verb in the present subjunctive?
In Spanish, the present subjunctive covers both present and future hopes. There is a future subjunctive tense, but it is practically obsolete in everyday modern Spanish. So, whether you hope she manages the company right now or later this year, you just use the present subjunctive (dirija).