Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

Hope with regard to something in the past is expressed with the present of esperar

followed by a verb in the perfect subjunctive in the secondary clause.

 16.1.1.7 (p. 62)

Espero que no haya pasado nada.

I hope nothing has happened.

Espero que no se hayan perdido.

I hope they haven’t got lost.

Espero que lo hayas encontrado.

I hope you have found it.

To say what you or others hoped or were hoping other people to do, we use the same

construction as above, with esperar in the imperfect indicative and the verb in the

subordinate clause in the imperfect subjunctive.

 16.1.1.2 (p. 59); 16.1.1.3 (p. 61); 19.2 (p. 95)

Yo esperaba que llegaras más temprano.

I was hoping you would arrive earlier.

Él esperaba que yo no dijera nada.

He hoped/was hoping I wouldn’t say anything.

Ellos esperaban que guardáramos el secreto.

They hoped/were hoping we would keep the secret.

Note in all the examples above that the word que, ‘that’, which links the two clauses,

cannot be omitted as ‘that’ can be in English.


 18.1.3 (p. 85)

62.2.2 Ojalá (que)+ subjunctive

This alternative construction for expressing hope with regard to others or something

outside ourselves, is also very common. In informal, colloquial language, the word que,

‘that’, is usually omitted. Like the previous construction with esperar, this one with

ojalá (see also 62.3 below) can be used to express hope with regard to the present, the

future or the past.

¡Ojalá (que) Juan Pablo esté aquí!

I hope Juan Pablo is here!

¡Ojalá (que) todo salga bien!

Let’s hope everything turns out all right.

¡Ojalá (que) hayan ganado!

I hope they have won.


 18.3.2 (p. 92)

62.3 Expressing hope in reply to a question or as a statement

To say one hopes so or hopes not in answer to someone’s question or as a reaction to a

statement, the following set expressions are used

EXPRESSING HOPE 62.2