Ojala

[Ben]

Ojala - I wish
...just one of many words that have filtered through from Arabic and the days when Spain was run by the Moors. There is an interesting article on this at about.com (http://spanish.about.com/cs/historyofspanish/a/arabicwords.htm), have a look at the list of words on page two (http://spanish.about.com/cs/historyofspanish/a/arabicwords_2.htm).

And remember, ojala can be used on it's own, but with a verb it always takes the subjunctive:

- España va a ganar el mundial
- ¡Ojala!
------------
-¡Ojala que fuera rico!

[richardksa]

Interesting evolution of pronunciation. It's a word I use fifty times a day here in Saudi, "Inishallah", although the second "i" is not sounded.

[ValenciaSon]

Language is so interesting. I often thought the word ojala sounded so distinctly different from others in spanish.

[Brian]

Ojala is such a great, all-purpose expression.

Speaking of the about.com resources, I subscribe to the vocabulary word-a-day (http://spanish.about.com/blword.htm), which is a nice way to add at least a word to my vocabulary.

[cubix]

Language is so interesting. I often thought the word ojala sounded so distinctly different from others in spanish.

Me 2, it's fun to say