B2 · Conditions · about 4 minutes
Wishes and regrets
There is no verb for « I wish »: two phrases do the work, and one is Arabic.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need3
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- o jeitothe way; the knack
- simplessimple, easy
- próprioown; itself
Missing a word? Look it up in the dictionary
Understand
Rememberquem me dera wishes, oxalá hopes, gostava que takes the Imperfeito do conjuntivo.
- When
If and would — Here the condition decides the form, not the position on the clock.
- Signal words
- quem me dera
- oxalá
- gostava que
- queria que
- se ao menos
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Portuguese. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) tense marker person ending auxiliary verb negation
| hopefully I will come | oxalá (eu) venha |
| hopefully you will come | oxalá (tu) venhas |
| hopefully he / she will come, you will come | oxalá (ele / ela / você) venha |
| hopefully we will come | oxalá (nós) venhamos |
| hopefully you will come, plural and formal | oxalá (vós) venhais |
| hopefully they will come, you will come (plural) | oxalá (eles / elas / vocês) venham |
| if only I came | oxalá (eu) viesse |
| if only you came | oxalá (tu) viesses |
| if only he / she came, if only you came | oxalá (ele / ela / você) viesse |
| if only we came | oxalá (nós) viéssemos |
| if only you came, plural and formal | oxalá (vós) viésseis |
| if only they came, if only you came (plural) | oxalá (eles / elas / vocês) viessem |
| if only I had known | se ao menos (eu) tivesse sabido |
| if only you had known | se ao menos (tu) tivesses sabido |
| if only he / she had known, if only you had known | se ao menos (ele / ela / você) tivesse sabido |
| if only we had known | se ao menos (nós) tivéssemos sabido |
| if only you had known, plural and formal | se ao menos (vós) tivésseis sabido |
| if only they had known, if only you had known (plural) | se ao menos (eles / elas / vocês) tivessem sabido |
| if only! | quem me dera! |
| I wish he would come | quem me dera que viesse |
| hopefully it will not rain | oxalá não chova |
| if only it would rain | oxalá chovesse |
| I would like you to stay | gostava que ficasses |
| if only I had known | se ao menos tivesse sabido |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
quem me dera plus infinitive or que plus Conjuntivo imperfeito: an unfulfilled wish.
Quem me dera estar de férias!I wish I were on holiday!
oxalá plus presente: hope; plus imperfeito: an unlikely wish.
Oxalá chegues a tempo!I hope you arrive in time!
gostava que and queria que take the Conjuntivo imperfeito.
Gostava que me ouvisses.I would like you to listen to me.
Regret about the past: se ao menos plus mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo.
Se ao menos tivéssemos tido mais tempo!If only we had had more time!
Example sentences
Quem me dera ter o teu jeito!I wish I had your knack!
Oxalá o comboio não esteja atrasado!I hope the train is not late!
Gostava que tudo fosse mais simples.I wish everything were simpler.
1 more example sentences
Se ao menos ma tivesse dito ela própria!If only she had told me herself!
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
After gostava que comes the Conjuntivo imperfeito — viesse — and not the presente venha. Gostava is the polite form in the Imperfeito, and it pulls the Imperfeito after it. Gostava que venha is heard from learners and never from the Portuguese.
Quick check
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Practise
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Your progress
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English has a verb for this and Portuguese does not. « I wish » conjugates, takes a tense and opens a clause: « I wish he were here », « I wish I had known ». Here the job is done by two fixed expressions that do not conjugate at all.
Quem me dera! — literally who would give me — is the wish that will not come true: Quem me dera ter vinte anos! With a Conjuntivo imperfeito behind it, it becomes a whole sentence: Quem me dera que ele viesse.
Oxalá — from the Arabic, God willing — is hope: Oxalá não chova!with the presente do conjuntivo for what is possibleOxalá chovesse!with the imperfeito for what is unlikely The word came into Portuguese from Andalusi Arabic and kept both its shape and its job.
With a verb of wishing the Conjuntivo is needed: Gostava que ele viesse, Queria que tu ficasses. And for regret about the past: gostava de ter plus participle, or se ao menos — if only — with the mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo.
The verbs on this page, in every form: ter · estar · dar · gostar · chegar · ouvir