Spanish Subjunctive With An Arabic Twist

You say, “May God make me an instant billionnaire,” when your wish calls for some divine intervention. Arabs say, “Oh Allah,” for the same effect and the world being a small place, this Semitic phrase ended up in Spanish as, “¡Ojalá!” It’s not hard to draw parallels between the two expressions given their almost identical pronunciations. Thank them Moors for this useful element of Spanish which is strangely more common in Latin America than in Spain these days. Though it doesn’t have an exact literal equivalent in English, ojalá can be roughly translated as, “May God ensure that...” or even, “I really, really hope that...”

A little more about the subjunctive

Needless to say, ojalá takes a subjunctive clause because it’s just a wish; we have already discussed the subjunctive form of Spanish verbs extensively in the past. Though a tad uncommon in modern English, this mood is much too ubiquitous in Spanish to ignore. In a nutshell, you use the subjunctives every time you imagine, wish, expect, desire, or want something to happen. As an illustration, check out the following English sentence:

I expect you to help me.

In the above sentence, there are two actions being performed by two persons: “I am expecting” and “you are helping me.” There is nothing extraordinary about the two activities except that I am expecting in real while you are helping me only in my wishes, i.e., the second action is not real. Now, as the example sentence illustrates, we expressed an unreal action without invoking the subjunctive because this mood is less prevalent in modern English.

However, the same sentence can be written using the subjunctive as well:

I expect that you help me.

Here, the verb for the second action, “help” is being used in its subjunctive form (though it doesn’t look or feel much different spelling-wise). This is the usage you are more likely to find but in legal and liturgical documents and serious literary works in medieval English. When it comes to Spanish, this is the only appropriate usage for the situation in question:

Espero que me ayudes. (I expect that you help me.)

May God will that I learn Spanish quickly!
Photo credit: Alpha licensed CCC BY-SA 2.0

In the above sentence, note the subjunctive usage, ayudes instead of the otherwise regular (read indicative) form, ayudas. Coming back to our new friend, ojalá, we have already seen how the word has Arabic origins. What must be noted at this stage, however, is that this word is no longer used in modern Spanish with any intention to invoke God’s attention. Today, ojalá has acquired the meaning of expressing simple longing or desire and has little to do with God. Note the syntax here:

Ojalá + <present subjunctive> = “I wish...”

Ojalá + <past subjunctive> = “If only...”

The slight complication assiciated with ojalá notwithstanding, someone in Mexico has worked real hard to help reinforce your learning when it comes to this word. It’s a Norteño band from Monterrey called Grupo Pesado (Heavy Group) whose 2008 album, Sólo Contigo (Only With You) has this single that seems to have been produced solely for the purpose of teaching us the subjunctive!

Grupo Pesado and Ojalá

Grupo Pesado was born in 1993 in Monterrey, Nuevo León when Beto Zapata and Pepe Elizondo decided to promote their love for the traditional music of their homeland, the Norteño. As a result, the traditional sounds of the accordion have always characterized their work. In each of their albums, the quintet includes some innovative elements of Monterrey such as fusion of Norteño with Latin rhythms, accordion, bajo sexto, and drums. These sounds have perfectly combined with their magical voice achieving a result that is modern, fresh, and very Norteño.

With several musical productions and countless gold and platinum records to its credit since 1993, the group has often been placed in the top charts in Mexico, more so in the northern areas, with hits like No Tengas Miedo De Llorar, Quiero, Llegó El Amor, Ayúdame, Te Lo Pido Por Favor, ¿Cómo Le Hago?, and Pídeme. The last two belong to their album, “Mil Historias” and helped establish them as one of the most representative groups of the Norteño genre in pretty much all of America.

Ojalá

This song came out with the group’s 2008 release, Sólo Contigo and is a classic for anyone trying to absorb some Spanish subjunctive effortlessly. The essence of this number is a revengeful wish, more like, “You wronged me so now may God punish you for it!”

It’s a beautiful song that most of us can easily identify with. It’s the anguish of a man dumped by his beloved who tells him that she never really had any feelings for him and that all her love and affection for him was just a prank. Now, the jilted lover is wishing for her to get the punishment appropriate for her evil ways. Here, we am giving out an excerpt from the second half of the song which is where the singer is actually wishing all his curses and hence using the subjunctive liberally.

Ojalá, que la vida te cobre con creces el daño que me haces, (I hope that life pays you back with interest the pain that you have given me,)
Que no encuentres amor, (That don’t find love,)
Y si un día lo encuentras, fracases. (And that if one day you do, you fail.)

Que a quien llames amor, se convierta en tu peor enemigo, (That the one you call your love, turns into your worst enemy,)
Y se burle de ti, (And makes fun of you,)
Como lo haces conmigo. (Like you are doing with me.)

Que las noches se vuelvan eternas llorando en tu cama, (That the nights turn eternal as you cry in your bed,)
Que te abrace una pena, Y que sientas un frio en el alma. (That a pain embraces you, and that you feel a chill in your soul.)

Ojalá que algun día tu camino se llene de espinas, (I hope that some day your path fills with thorns,)
Y sientas lo mucho que duele una herida. (And you feel how much it hurts to be wounded.)

Y al perder de ese amor mi recuerdo se clave en tu mente, (And that in losing that love my memories stick to your mind,)
Y que sientas el mismo rencor que yo siento al perderte. (And that you feel the same bitterness that I feel in losing you.)

Ojalá que alguien te haga sufrir y de tanto dolor, (I hope that someone makes you suffer and with so much pain,)
Ya no quieras vivir, (That you don’t wish to live anymore,)

Que desees la muerte. (That you wish you were dead.)


Listen to this song in endless loop and rest assured you will never forget this little Arabic twist to your Spanish.