Lesson 16: Conditionals & Wishes — શરતો અને ઇચ્છાઓ

In Lesson 10 you met જો…તો (jō…tō) for real, possible conditions: *if it rains tomorrow, we will stay home.* This lesson steps sideways into the unreal: conditions about a present that is not true and a past that cannot change — *if I had money (I don't), if you had called (you didn't)* — and into wishes, the grammar of કાશ (kāś, if only!). Gujarati marks these unreal worlds with one signal: the invariable word હોત (hōt, would have been/were) teamed with the verb's -ત (t) form. Learn that signal and you can daydream grammatically.

Two kinds of જો (if)

The -ત form is the verb stem + ત with the subject's usual gender agreement dropped into a pattern of its own: for most verbs it matches the masculine/neuter shape — ખરીદત (kharīdat, would buy), જાત (jāt, would go), કરત (karat, would do), વાંચત (vāṁchat, would read). In practice speakers use this -ત form for all persons in unreal conditions; હોત carries the "would" for everyone.

More unreal sentences

• જો હું પક્ષી હોત, તો હું ઊડત. (jō huṁ pakṣī hōt, tō huṁ ūḍat.) — If I were a bird, I would fly.
• જો તેને ખબર હોત, તો તે આવત. (jō tēnē khabar hōt, tō tē āvat.) — If she had known, she would have come.
• જો અમે વહેલા નીકળ્યા હોત, તો ગાડી મળત. (jō amē vahēlā nīkaḷyā hōt, tō gāḍī maḷat.) — If we had left early, we would have caught the train.
• જો પૈસા હોત, તો અમે મોટું ઘર લઈ શકત. (jō paisā hōt, tō amē mōṭuṁ ghar laī śakat.) — If there had been money, we could have taken a bigger house.

Wishes: કાશ and જોઈએ

કાશ (kāś) — borrowed from Urdu poetry's deepest sigh — opens a wish that reality refuses:

• કાશ, હું ગુજરાતી બોલી શકત! (kāś, huṁ Gujarātī bōlī śakat!) — If only I could speak Gujarati!
• કાશ, વરસાદ પડત! (kāś, varsād paḍt!) — If only it would rain!
• કાશ, પરીક્ષા સહેલી હોત! (kāś, parīkṣā sahēlī hōt!) — If only the exam had been easy!

Wishes for others use the -એ/-આય wish-form of the verb: તું સફળ થાય (tuṁ saphaḷ thāy — may you succeed), ભગવાન કરે કે તે સાજો થાય (bhagvān karē kē tē sājō thāy — God willing, may he recover).

And the everyday workhorse જોઈએ (jōīē) covers *should, must* and *want/need*:

• મારે જવું જોઈએ. (mārē javuṁ jōīē.) — I should go. (literally: to-me to-go is-needed)
• મને પાણી જોઈએ છે. (manē pāṇī jōīē chē.) — I want water. (I need water)
• તમારે મહેનત કરવી જોઈએ. (tamārē mahēnat karavī jōīē.) — You should work hard.

Dialogue: making plans around the weather

• કાલે વરસાદ પડશે તો આપણે શું કરીશું? (kālē varsād paḍśē tō āpaṇē śuṁ karīśuṁ?) — If it rains tomorrow, what will we do?
• વરસાદ પડશે તો અમે ઘરે રહીશું અને ફિલ્મ જોઈશું. (varsād paḍśē tō amē gharē rahīśuṁ anē philm jōīśuṁ.) — If it rains, we will stay home and watch a film.
• અને વરસાદ નહીં પડે તો? (anē varsād nahīṁ paḍē tō?) — And if it doesn't rain?
• તો આપણે બગીચામાં જઈશું. કાશ, કાલે તડકો હોય! (tō āpaṇē bagīchāmāṁ jaīśuṁ. kāś, kālē taḍakō hōy!) — Then we will go to the garden. If only there is sunshine tomorrow!

Questions. 1) What is the rain plan? 2) What is the no-rain plan? 3) What wish ends the dialogue?

Answer key. 1) Stay home and watch a film — ઘરે રહીશું અને ફિલ્મ જોઈશું. 2) Go to the garden — બગીચામાં જઈશું. 3) કાશ, કાલે તડકો હોય! — if only there is sunshine tomorrow. (હોય (hōy) is the wish-form of હોવું.)

Pronunciation focus

• હોત (hōt) — one firm syllable, long ō. It is the flag of unreality; if it blurs into હોતું/હતું the listener may miss that the whole world of the sentence is imaginary.
• કાશ (kāś) is said with a sigh built in — long ā, falling tone. In poetry and film songs it can stretch across a whole breath.
• -ત endings (kharīdat, āvat) are light, almost swallowed: do not give them a full extra vowel ("kharīdata"). The unreal mood whispers.

Common mistakes

• Future in both clauses of an unreal condition. Wrong: *જો મારી પાસે પૈસા હશે તો હું ખરીદીશ, said about money you do not have. Right: જો મારી પાસે પૈસા હોત તો હું ખરીદત — હોત and the -ત form mark the unreal; the future pair is only for genuinely possible conditions.
• Agreeing હોત. Wrong: *તે હોતી/હોતો in the conditional frame. Right: હોત for everyone — જો તે હોત… (jō tē hōt…) — the flag never changes.
• જોઈએ with હું as subject. Wrong: *હું જવું જોઈએ. Right: મારે જવું જોઈએ — જોઈએ constructions put the person in the -રે/-ને form (મારે, તમારે, તેને), never plain હું.
• કાશ with a plain statement. Wrong: *કાશ હું આવ્યો (a bare past). Right: કાશ needs the wish-machinery: કાશ, હું આવી શકત! or કાશ, તે આવ્યો હોત!

Exam Experience

Reading task. Read and answer in English.

કબીર કહે છે: "જો મારી પાસે વધારે સમય હોત, તો હું રોજ ગુજરાતી વાંચત." (Kabīr kahē chē: "jō mārī pāsē vadhārē samay hōt, tō huṁ rōj Gujarātī vāṁchat.") — Kabir says: "If I had more time, I would read Gujarati every day." "કાશ, મારે પરીક્ષા ન હોત!" (kāś, mārē parīkṣā na hōt!) — "If only I didn't have an exam!" પણ તે જાણે છે કે તેને મહેનત કરવી જોઈએ. (paṇ tē jāṇē chē kē tēnē mahēnat karavī jōīē.) — But he knows that he should work hard.

1) What would Kabir do with more time? 2) What does he wish away? 3) What does he know he should do?

Answer key. 1) Read Gujarati every day — રોજ ગુજરાતી વાંચત (rōj Gujarātī vāṁchat, unreal -ત form). 2) His exam — પરીક્ષા (parīkṣā). 3) Work hard — મહેનત કરવી જોઈએ (mahēnat karavī jōīē).

Multiple choice. Choose the correct answer.

1) Which sentence is an unreal condition? A) જો વરસાદ પડશે તો અમે નહીં જઈએ B) જો પૈસા હોત તો હું ખરીદત C) જો તું આવીશ તો મળીશું D) જો ગાડી આવશે તો જઈશું 2) કાશ (kāś) expresses… A) a command B) a question C) a wish D) a promise 3) "I should go" is… A) હું જાઉં જોઈએ B) મારે જવું જોઈએ C) મને જશે D) હું જઈશ

Answer key with explanations. 1) B — હોત + ખરીદત (-ત form) mark the unreal; the others pair future with future for real possibilities. 2) C — કાશ = "if only". 3) B — જોઈએ needs the -રે form મારે plus the infinitive જવું.

Writing task. Write four sentences: one real condition about tomorrow, one unreal condition about your life, one કાશ wish, and one જોઈએ sentence of advice to a friend.

Model answer. જો કાલે તડકો હશે, તો અમે બગીચામાં જઈશું. (jō kālē taḍakō haśē, tō amē bagīchāmāṁ jaīśuṁ.) — If there is sunshine tomorrow, we will go to the garden. જો મારી પાસે કાર હોત, તો હું રોજ ગામ જાત. (jō mārī pāsē kār hōt, tō huṁ rōj gām jāt.) — If I had a car, I would go to the village every day. કાશ, હું પક્ષી હોત! (kāś, huṁ pakṣī hōt!) — If only I were a bird! તારે રોજ વાંચવું જોઈએ. (tārē rōj vāṁchavuṁ jōīē.) — You should read every day.

Marking notes. One mark per sentence. The unreal sentence is the discriminator: full credit requires હોત and a -ત verb form; a future-tense substitute earns half. જોઈએ sentences need the -રે/-ને person form, not a bare pronoun.

Going deeper: unless, provided that, and softer wishes

Real life hedges its conditions. Three more frames:

• જો મને સમય મળત, તો હું તને રોજ મળત. (jō manē samay maḷat, tō huṁ tanē rōj maḷat.) — If I got time, I would meet you every day.
• જો તેણે કહ્યું હોત, તો હું ચોક્કસ મદદ કરત. (jō tēṇē kahyuṁ hōt, tō huṁ chōkkas madad karat.) — If he had asked, I would definitely have helped.
• કાશ, આ દિવસ ફરી આવત! (kāś, ā divas pharī āvat!) — If only this day would come again!

And benedictions — wishes Gujarati pours over departing guests and exam candidates: ભગવાન કરે કે તું પાસ થાય (bhagvān karē kē tuṁ pās thāy — God grant that you pass), તારું ભલું થાય (tāruṁ bhaluṁ thāy — may good befall you), સફળતા મળે (saphaḷatā maḷē — may you find success). The -એ/-આય wish-forms inside them are the subjunctive doing its kindest work.

Final drill: sort the worlds

Four sentences — say of each whether its world is real or unreal, and point at the evidence:

• જો ગાડી સમયસર આવશે તો અમે પહોંચીશું. (jō gāḍī samaysar āvśē tō amē pahōṁchīśuṁ.) — Real: future in both clauses; the train may well come.
• જો મારી પાસે સમય હોત તો હું આવત. (jō mārī pāsē samay hōt tō huṁ āvat.) — Unreal: હોત and આવત confess that the time does not exist.
• કાશ, વરસાદ અટકત! (kāś, varsād aṭakat!) — A wish against the present sky: the rain, clearly, is not stopping.
• મારે હવે જવું જોઈએ. (mārē havē javuṁ jōīē.) — Not a condition at all — જોઈએ duty, the sober cousin of wishing.

If you sorted all four by their flags (હોત, -ત, કાશ, જોઈએ) rather than their English translations, you have learned to *see* Gujarati mood — the real goal of this lesson.