# I hope things were a bit calmer



## Amor54

I have read "I hope things were a bit calmer where you are" It would be in Spanish "Yo espero que las cosas estén más calmadas donde tú estás". Is it so?. Thanks.


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## Artifacs

Me parece buena tu traducción. Mi sugerencia sería incluir el «a bit»:

*Espero que las cosas estén un poco más tranquilas donde estás.*

Un saludo.


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## dalv

Which phrase is the original English or Spanish? 


Amor54 said:


> "I hope things *were *a bit calmer where you are"



"Were" implies it is something/an event that happened in the past, so perhaps:
Espero que las cosas _hayan estado _mas tranquilas donde estás
correct me if I used the verb incorrectly


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## L3g0man

dalv said:


> Which phrase is the original English or Spanish?
> 
> 
> "Were" implies it is something/an event that happened in the past, so perhaps:
> Espero que las cosas _hayan estado _mas tranquilas donde estás
> correct me if I used the verb incorrectly



In this case, the "were" is in the subjunctive mood, not past tense (e.g., "I wish it weren't so").



Amor54 said:


> I have read "I hope things were a bit calmer where you are" It would be in Spanish "Yo espero que las cosas estén más calmadas donde tú estás/donde vives". Is it so?. Thanks.



As Spanish is a pro-drop language, dropping the "yo" from this sentence (and from most sentences where the subject can be inferred) sounds more natural.


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## Magazine

Amor54 said:


> "I hope things were a bit calmer where you are"




Dalv, wouldn't that sound much better with "wish"? 

I wish things were.....

Sounds odd to me with "hope", sounds like a future event.


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## pachanga7

No, wish doesn’t work here. Maybe it will make more sense like this:

I hope (to hear from you that) things were calmer where you are. 

Espero que las cosas estuvieran más calmadas donde tú estás.


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## fenixpollo

I agree with the last four contributions.

I *wish *things *were *a bit calmer where you are. 
I *hope *things *are *a bit calmer where you are. 
I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.  (because of the mix of tenses)

@Amor54, please tell us where you read this. What was the text? Where was the author from? What was the situation?


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## Magazine

fenixpollo said:


> I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.  (because of the mix of tenses)


That's what I thought, thanks, fenix. 

However, pachanga says the exact opposite


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## pachanga7

Forgive me for disagreeing a little bit. 

Actually you can say any of those three phrases, but they don’t mean the same thing. The first implies that things are not calmer over there, which the speaker regrets. The second that the speaker is hopeful that things might be calmer over there in the present.

And the third means that the speaker is hopeful that things were calmer over there, where the listener is still located, at a specific time in the past.

We can hope for things in the past if we don’t know the reality yet. Here’s another example:

I hope you didn’t get any tornados where you are.


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## cairnhead

L3g0man said:


> In this case, the "were" is in the subjunctive mood, not past tense (e.g., "I wish it weren't so").
> 
> I don't think the subjunctive is used with "hope." It is used with "wish" though.  I would agree with Dalv and Fenixpollo.


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## Magazine

cairnhead said:


> I don't think the subjunctive is used with "hope." It is used with "wish" though.  I would agree with Dalv and Fenixpollo.



So you don't agree with pachanga, right? I can't see how the sentence can be right with hope.


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## dalv

pachanga7 said:


> Forgive me for disagreeing a little bit.
> 
> Actually you can say any of those three phrases, but they don’t mean the same thing. The first implies that things are not calmer over there, which the speaker regrets. The second that the speaker is hopeful that things might be calmer over there in the present.
> 
> And the third means that the speaker is hopeful that things were calmer over there, where the listener is still located, at a specific time in the past.
> 
> We can hope for things in the past if we don’t know the reality yet. Here’s another example:
> 
> I hope you didn’t get any tornados where you are.


Yes, it is the third one I was referring to as well. And how would you say it in Spanish? is my attempt correct?


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## gengo

fenixpollo said:


> I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.  (because of the mix of tenses)



Like Pachanga, I disagree with that X (and polite disagreement requires no apology).  Let's say a big storm hit your area last night.  You call your friend who lives some miles away and say this.  Perfectly natural.  You hope (now) that things were (last night) a bit calmer where your friend is than they were where you live.

Amor54, por favor, dinos qué quieres decir en español, y así te podremos dar la traducción adecuada.


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## Magazine

gengo said:


> Amor54, por favor, dinos qué quieres decir en español, y así te podremos dar la traducción adecuada.



 



dalv said:


> Espero que las cosas _hayan estado _mas tranquilas donde estás



 Not possible in Spanish, and I still don't see how it is in English. 

Espero que refers to a future not to a past event here. 

_Espero que las cosas estén más tranquilas ahora._


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## gengo

Magazine said:


> Not possible in Spanish, and I still don't see how it is in English.
> 
> Espero que refers to a future not to a past event here.
> _Espero que las cosas estén más tranquilas ahora._



I guess esperar and hope are different, then, because we can hope for something in any time, as long as it is something unknown to the speaker.

Ex.
I hope your father didn't suffer before he died.
I hope you didn't wash your car this morning; it's going to rain later.
What a lovely gift!  I hope you didn't spend too much on it.

You can't use esperar in any of those?  (e.g., Espero que tu padre no haya sufrido antes de morir.)


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## Amor54

fenixpollo said:


> I agree with the last four contributions.
> 
> I *wish *things *were *a bit calmer where you are.
> I *hope *things *are *a bit calmer where you are.
> I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.  (because of the mix of tenses)
> 
> @Amor54, please tell us where you read this. What was the text? Where was the author from? What was the situation?


What I read said:
Hello everyone!
We had a big storm in the UK this weekend. I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.
I'd have to take a photo of the web page to send you. It's in an email I recieved from them.
Thanks


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## Magazine

You are using hope /espero with an event in the past. 

perfect in Spanish , too. 

Espero que tu padre no haya sufrido...
Espero que no hayas lavado el coche...

Lo que no veo es que un I hope...can refer to a future event in the given context.



> "I hope things were a bit calmer where you are"



 I hope things* are* calmer over there. 

 I wish things* were* calmer over there.


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## gengo

Amor54 said:


> We had a big storm in the UK this weekend. I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.



Espero que las cosas estuvieran un poco más calmadas donde tú estás.

It is referring to a storm that happened in the past.


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## gengo

Magazine said:


> Lo que no veo es que un I hope...can refer to a future event in the given context.



Now that we have the context from the OP, we can see that it is a past event that is being referred to.  Hence the "were."  It isn't subjunctive here, just simple past tense.


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## pachanga7

Amor54 said:


> We had a big storm in the UK this weekend. I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.


As usual, context rocks! And as gengo says, the storm was in the past while the hoping is in the present. Perfectly correct.

However I will continue my trend of disagreeing and say that I don’t think it would ever be the subjunctive in this kind of sentence. I cannot think of any examples using hope with the subjunctive tense.

I hope he has
I hope they have
I hope you had [always indicating the past tense]
I hope she is
I hope she was
I hope she were 

No subjunctive with hope.


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## cairnhead

Magazine said:


> So you don't agree with pachanga, right? I can't see how the sentence can be right with hope.


Looking at the third sentence again, "I hope things were a bit calmer where you are," I think it's okay, but "were" is the past tense, not the subjunctive. Perhaps the mixing of tenses makes it a bit awkward. I'm not sure about that. The person could have said "I hope things were a bit calmer with you" to avoid that.


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## pachanga7

cairnhead said:


> Looking at the third sentence again, ...Perhaps the mixing of tenses makes it a bit awkward. I'm not sure about that. The person could have said "I hope things were a bit calmer with you" to avoid that.


The context makes it entirely clear, don’t you think? And if you say “calmer with you” it lends itself to misinterpreting whether we’re talking about weather or feelings.


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## cairnhead

pachanga7 said:


> The context makes it entirely clear, don’t you think? And if you say “calmer with you” it lends itself to misinterpreting whether we’re talking about weather or feelings.


Yes


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## fenixpollo

Amor54 said:


> We had a big storm in the UK this weekend. I hope things were a bit calmer where you are.


Now that we have the context, I retract my earlier statement about mixing verb tenses. The grammar sounds perfectly fine to me.

My attempt is similar to gengo's above: Espero que las cosas estuvieran más tranquilas por donde estás.


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## Magazine

fenixpollo said:


> Espero que las cosas estuvieran más tranquilas por donde estás.


No tiene sentido espero en este caso, lo correcto y habitual sería: 

*Ojalá *las cosas fueran más tranquilas en tu zona.


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## gengo

Magazine said:


> No tiene sentido espero en este caso, lo correcto y habitual sería:
> 
> *Ojalá *las cosas fueran más tranquilas en tu zona.



I believe you, but I don't understand the reason.  You said that the following are correct:

Espero que tu padre no haya sufrido...
Espero que no hayas lavado el coche... 

I don't see how those differ from the OP's case.  What is it about that case that precludes the use of esperar?


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## Rocko!

Artifacs said:


> *Espero que las cosas estén un poco más tranquilas donde estás.*


De tu lado del charco, a mi lado del charco, veo que lo diríamos exactamente igual. Tal vez por aquí pondríamos la mayoría de las veces la preposición en "en donde", pero también se escucha mucho la versión sin preposición.


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## dalv

Magazine said:


> No tiene sentido espero en este caso, lo correcto y habitual sería:
> 
> *Ojalá *las cosas fueran más tranquilas en tu zona.


Magazine, se usaria "fueran o esten como sugirio Rocko" si estamos hablando de una tormenta que fue la semana pasada?
What I understand by the original is basically: I hope the storm didn't hit as hard in your area
And I know you don't like the word "hope"  but it is the correct term, so why can't we use what I suggested at first? "Espero/Ojalá las cosas _hayan estado _mas tranquilas en tu zona"
Creo que coincide con tu ejemplo que menciona Gengo, right? Creo que ya estoy mas confundida


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## Magazine

dalv said:


> so why can't we use what I suggested at first? "Espero/Ojalá las cosas _hayan estado _mas tranquilas en tu zona"



 No funciona por el tiempo del verbo. 

Here you are saying: I hope things had been more quiet in your area. 

and what you want to say: I hope things are more quiet in your area now. 

That's why I don't understand the use of hope here.


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## Rocko!

dalv said:


> "Espero/Ojalá las cosas _hayan estado _mas tranquilas en tu zona"
> Creo que coincide con tu ejemplo que menciona Gengo, right? Creo que ya estoy mas confundida


En realidad es "fueran": ...que las cosas _*fueran *_un poco más tranquilas, pero el problema es que en español no usamos el _ser _sino el _estar _para este tipo de frases, además de que el hope está en tiempo presente en inglés, mientras que en español tendría que estar en condicional _desearía_ _que_ las cosas _fueran_...
"Tranquilas" es adjetivo, entonces cambiamos a "estén" o "estuvieran": _Desearía que las cosas estuvieran un poco más tranquilas_ _en donde estás_.
Pero al pasar el condicional al presente para igualar el inglés, queda : _Deseo que las cosas estuvieran un poco más tranquilas en donde estás_.
Ya por último, cambiamos _deseo _por _espero_, que obliga pasar de _estuvieran _a _estén_:
_Espero que las cosas estén un poco más tranquilas en donde estás._
Y en el español de México casi siempre con el "ya":
_*Espero *que las cosas ya *estén *un poco más tranquilas en donde estás: _Una frase que requiere del subjuntivo porque hace referencia a una realidad cuya existencia es deseable y solo existe en la mente de la persona que habla, y tendría que confirmarse luego al verificar la realidad externa, sí es verdad o es mentira que las cosas *están *(que sí están) un poco más tranquilas, o que no lo están.


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## dalv

Magazine said:


> No funciona por el tiempo del verbo.
> 
> Here you are saying: I hope things had been more quiet in your area.
> No, in your example it means I already spoke to you and you told me things were bad and I'm replying: I wish things had been more quiet in your area
> 
> and what you want to say: I hope things are more quiet in your area now.
> No, I want to say I hope things (last week's storm) were not too bad in your area.
> Suponiendo lo siguiente: Le estoy escibiendo un email a alguien porque la semana pasada hubo una tormenta muy fuerte en mi zona y cuando digo "I hope" quiero decir que espero que cuando me contestes el email (en el futuro) me digas que en tu zona las cosas (los effectos de la tormenta) no hayan estado tan mal
> 
> That's why I don't understand the use of hope here.
> I hope   this explains a little more the use of hope
> Maybe Gengo can help us out in case I messed something up here


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## gengo

Magazine said:


> and what you want to say: I hope things are more quiet in your area now.
> 
> That's why I don't understand the use of hope here.



Dalv has laid it out clearly, so I'll just add my agreement with that.

To reiterate, the English means "I hope (now) that things (the weather) were (last week) calmer where you live than they were where I live."

Just for fun, I plugged that sentence into Google:
Espero que las cosas fueran más tranquilas donde vives que donde yo vivo.

I agree with the machine here, but of course I defer to you as a native speaker.


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## Rocko!

gengo said:


> Dalv has laid it out clearly, so I'll just add my agreement with that.
> 
> To reiterate, the English means "I hope (now) that things (the weather) were (last week) calmer where you live than they were where I live."
> 
> Just for fun, I plugged that sentence into Google:
> Espero que las cosas fueran más tranquilas donde vives que donde yo vivo.
> 
> I agree with the machine here, but of course I defer to you as a native speaker.


Ok. Are Vs. were.
Entonces Artifacts y yo nos equivocamos.
Es como habías dicho, Gengo: _Espero que las cosas hayan estado más tranquilas en donde tú estás._
Sin el "un poco" suena mejor ahora.


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## Artifacs

Rocko! said:


> Ok. Are Vs. were.
> Entonces Artifacts y yo nos equivocamos.
> Es como habías dicho, Gengo: _Espero que las cosas hayan estado más tranquilas en donde tú estás._
> 
> Sin el "un poco" suena mejor ahora.


I see now my mistake, too. (The system does not allow me to edit my first post.  )
I totally agree with @gengo about "were" being here the past tense and not subjuntive mode.

There are many ways to say it in Spanish, «Ojalá / Espero / Quiera Dios...» and «estuvieran / hayan estado / fueran / sucedieran...».

Very interesting dissertation, by the way. I'm learning a lot.


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## elprofe

No me gusta el uso de "ojalá" aquí... Y menos, seguido de "fuera", ya que se usaria en otro conecto, al menos por mi parte.

Diria: 
• Espero que la(s) cosa(s) haya(n) sido un poco mas calmadas por tu zona / por donde estás tú
• Espero que no haya habido tanto jaleo por donde vives tú


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