'If only it were true" in German
How do you express conterfactual wishes in German? What mood should I use?Thanks. So the structure is the same as in conditional sentences. I am usually very suspicious when German grammar structures are close to English ones so to be on the safe side it's better to double check. Now, can I use imperative to express the same wish? Like in 'May it be true!' (although it sounds awkward in English)?

The context of this this question is as follows. On April 1, DW published a text with new simler grammar rules for German, which was a joke. I wanted to comment in German expressing the wish that these rules be true.'If only it were true' - in GermanOk, I messed up the thread :( Sorry. Just that here I got confused where one puts comments and how does one change the topic.

Question

'If only it were true" in German
How do you express conterfactual wishes in German? What mood should I use?Thanks. So the structure is the same as in conditional sentences. I am usually very suspicious when German grammar structures are close to English ones so to be on the safe side it's better to double check. Now, can I use imperative to express the same wish? Like in 'May it be true!' (although it sounds awkward in English)?

The context of this this question is as follows. On April 1, DW published a text with new simler grammar rules for German, which was a joke. I wanted to comment in German expressing the wish that these rules be true.'If only it were true' - in GermanOk, I messed up the thread :( Sorry. Just that here I got confused where one puts comments and how does one change the topic.

Answer

"Wenn es nur wahr wäre" is pretty much a sad sentence, you can either use sadness or humor, sometimes this term is used in a funny way, for example:

"Stell dir vor du gewinnst im Lotto!" - "Wenn das mal wahr wäre"
"Imagine you'd win the lottery!" - "if only it were true"

it's kind of a way brushing it off.

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Great, thanks. That's what I wanted to know.

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"May it be true" is translated "Möge es wahr sein" which also sounds very weird in german.. better use would be "please let it be true" - "Bitte lass es wahr sein", you can use that one, but "may it be true" sounds weird both in english and german

Answer

Thanks. So the structure is the same as in conditional sentences. I am usually very suspicious when German grammar structures are close to English ones so to be on the safe side it's better to double check. Now, can I use imperative to express the same wish? Like in 'May it be true!' (although it sounds awkward in English)?

The context of this this question is as follows. On April 1, DW published a text with new simler grammar rules for German, which was a joke. I wanted to comment in German expressing the wish that these rules be true.