I wish

Question

"I wish I had told you." "I wish you would tell me."
Can you help me with the difference?

My attempt --
Ojalla que te he dicho. Espero que me dirías.

Are there other ways to say "I wish", and you don't mean "I hope", because you don't really have any hope?

How about when the "wish" is really "I regret that..."

thanks
Barbara

Answer 1

Desearia haberte dicho
desearia que me hubieras dicho
wish = deseo

Answer 2

1 Ojala que te hubiese / hubiera dicho?
2 Ojala que me dijeras. Quisiera que me dijeras.

How about when the 'wish? is really 'I regret that''---|--YES

wish = desear, querer, quisiera, anhelo, ansia

Answer 3

desearía

ojalá

some of us English speakers would appreciate the accent marks. I can't recognize the words without looking at them twice when you omit them.

Do natives commonly omit them? I know that English writers just get lazy and leave out the apostrophes from our contractions. Do you omit the accents on constructions that are easily recognizable without them? (I'm asking you if Spanish writers are as sloppy and lazy as English writers).

And Barbara (speaking of lazy English writing)

notice how in English we omit the relative pronoun "that" required in Spanish.

I wish I...rather than I wish that I....

Answer 4

Natives with a decent education usually make an effort to write properly when they do it on paper and in formal contexts. However, they people can't be bothered using commas, accents,... because they say that in Internet "it doesn't matter, it is not a serious thing". I personally find it annoying, and illogical, because Internet is becoming the most used written medium in science, culture, newspapers,....

Answer 5

When I make a mistake it is simply because of my ignorance, or because I simply made a mistake...my ignorance is usually more accountable for my mistakes.

In the case of "Ojalá", for some odd reason Word doesn't accept the accent'in this case I've just inserted it.

Answer 6

Natives with a decent education usually make an effort to write properly when they do it on paper and in formal contexts. However, they people can't be bothered using commas, accents,... because they say that in Internet "it doesn't matter, it is not a serious thing".

In an ideal world everyone would write English like Jane Austen and Spanish like García Márquez, but in reality most of us are writing those brief messages under the threat of being caught by our bosses.

To write the sentence above, I made the effort to look up Jane Austen's name (wasn't sure if it was Austen or Austin) and to check whether Márquez was accented, but that is not because I have a "decent education" (does a degree in Engineering count'), it's just because I'm bored and my boss is far. I can't reasonably expect most people to do the same.

Answer 7

Right on! Aurino I sympathize, relate and agree with everything you're saying, I visit this site while at work and I look forward to this interaction'cause? all of you are so much fun! I'm a Spanish native speaker and I have a bachelor's degree but sometimes we just don't have the time to write formal or close to perfect'.

Como dice el dicho: 'Te escribí esta carta amplia, porque no medio tiempo de escribirte una cortita?

'I wrote you this long letter because I didn't have time to write you a short one'

Answer 8

I personally agree with Lazerus on this one. If people are actually trying to learn a language then they should be focusing on the four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Unless we impose a minimum standard of punctuation, spelling and grammatical structure on this forum, students will not learn how to read or write correctly.

Answer 9

I think it a matter of common courtesy. Talking with your mouth full is considered impolite not only because the partially masticated contents may be deemed unsightly but because it interferes with speaking clearly and implies that you are devoting rather less than your full attention to your listener(s). Similarly the hastily written, badly spelled, ungrammatical communication suggests that the topic/recipient was not worth the effort to do the job properly.

I would, however, concede more latitude if we were talking about a dying message that you wrote (with your own blood) as you lay exsanguinating on the floor.

Answer 10

Quisiera que nadie hubiera muerto desangrando en el suelo.