Past Perfect Subjuncitve

Question

So, My friend told me that

Hubiera deseado aprender inglés cuando era más jóven = i wish i had learned english when i was younger

And that

hubiera deseado es = i wish

However, that

me hubieras invitado  = you should have invited me.

It got me a bit confused about how/when to use the past perfect subjunctive and it's meaning, cause every time it seems to mean something else.

Any help would be appreciated.

Bienvenido. I'm sorry to say that this is not a question that can be answered without writing a minor book. - annierats, Jan 8, 2014

Answer 1

This is a very big question.

When I fully understand this I will put ' advanced ' on my atavar. Could be a few years yet..

Depending on the sentence the meaning is quite variable: Hubiera deseado que había aprendido español cuando era jovencita. = I would have wished to have learnt Spanish when I was a young girl. Used about hypothetical situation, this did not happen. The construction seems unlikely, in both languages, actually. Help, please!

Como deseo que hubiera aprendido español cuando era joven= How I wish that I had learnt Spanish when I was young.

Me deberías haber invitado . I don't think this needs the subjunctive, the conditional of 'deber' is enough, I think.

If you just want to say' I wish', it's ' deseo'. Deseo que will be followed by the subjunctive in whatever tense is appropriate to what you want to say.

Answer 2

Ojalá hubiera aprendido español cuando era más joven.

Trying to side-step complex grammar, maybe this'll help.

yes, I totally agree. - annierats, Jan 8, 2014