📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 14 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 3 · La hipótesis y el arrepentimiento
Los deseos imposibles
Module 11 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 14 of 30: Wishes about a past that cannot change: ojalá hubiera nacido en otra época. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
me habría gustado
I would have liked
meh ah-BREE-ah goos-TAH-doh
ojalá
hopefully
oh-hah-LAH
más joven
younger
mahs HOH-behn
el músico
the musician
ehl MOO-see-koh
la oportunidad
the opportunity
lah oh-pohr-too-nee-DAHD
perder una oportunidad
to miss a chance
pehr-DEHR OO-nah oh-pohr-too-nee-DAHD
de ahora en adelante
from now on
deh ah-OH-rah ehn ah-deh-LAHN-teh
ojalá yo hubiera nacido antes
I wish I had been born earlier
oh-hah-LAH yoh oo-BYEH-rah nah-SEE-doh AHN-tehs
nosotros habríamos querido ir
we would have wanted to go
noh-SOH-trohs ah-BREE-ah-mohs keh-REE-doh eer
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Wishes about a past that cannot change: ojalá hubiera nacido en otra época. Me habría gustado conocerte antes. Habría querido ser músico. ¡Si hubiera empezado más joven!
Y también · And also
Ojalá + pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo is the purest form — no main clause needed, because everyone can finish the sentence. Ojalá takes the subjunctive always, with or without que.
Ojo · Watch out
ojalá + pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo stands alone: ¡ojalá hubiera empezado más joven! And de ahora en adelante means from now on — never therefore.
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with me habría gustado.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out nacer, pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo and querer, condicional compuesto in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.