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:

function playAudio(url) { new Audio(url).play(); }

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!

Related Articles

Other Articles

Spanish words of the week: fosa or foso?

Today we’re digging into the commonest meanings of another pair of potentially confusable Spanish nouns. These are fosa (feminine) and foso (masculine). The two words have rather similar meanings in that they both refer to pit- or trench-like spaces. However, the feminine… Read More

Spanish words of the week: tramo or trama?

So which potentially confusable Spanish nouns are we disentangling this week? Let’s see where we get to with tramo (masculine) and trama (feminine). Read More

Spanish words of the week: conducta or conducto?

Our weekly appointment with a pair of similar-looking Spanish nouns with different meanings is here again, so let’s see where a comparison of the commonest senses of feminine conducta and masculine conducto leads us. Read More