Spanish word of the week: ojalá

This week’s Spanish word of the week is ojalá.

Ojalá is an exclamation that means  I hope, I wish or if only. You can listen to the pronunciation of ojalá in the audio clip below:

This is one of the many Spanish words which originate from Arabic (O Allah!). Originally it might have been used in fervent prayer, but now it means little more than I hope, I wish or the slightly more emotional if only.

Don’t forget the upside down exclamation mark at the beginning and be careful to use a verb in the correct tense of subjunctive after ¡ojalá!

¡Ojalá venga Sara hoy! I hope Sara comes today!

(venga: present subjunctive of venir)

¡Ojalá pudiera! If only I could!

(pudiera: past subjunctive of poder)

¡Ojalá no hubiera dicho eso! I wish I hadn’t said that!

(hubiera dicho: pluperfect subjunctive of decir)

Come back next week for another insight into Spanish vocabulary!