Are you struggling (te cuesta) to express your wishes (deseos) in English for all those Christmas cards you are going to send by email for all your English speaking friends this Christmas? Do you want to make it an extra special Christmas for them? Well, don’t panic, because Home English has come to the rescue (ha venido a rescatarte). In our first December post, we have everything you need to know about expressing wishes, so that you can express your desires when you write your Christmas cards. We have also included a brief (breve) history of the first Christmas card.
I Hope
a. Present Tense after I hope
It is common to use the present tense with a future meaning after I hope. The most typical construction when you use hope is: I hope + subject pronoun + verb. Here are some examples:
I hope + present verb tense
I hope you have a great time in Reykjavik.
I hope she has better luck in 2006.
I hope we can see Björk perform live on New Year’s Day.
I hope I see all my cousins on Christmas Day.
I hope all Iceland’s Father Christmases bring some wonderful presents before Christmas.
2. May
May is also used to express hopes and wishes. It is followed by an infinitive without ‘to’, and this expression is usually found in formal contexts. Pay attention to the following examples:
May + rest of the sentence subject + infinitive without ‘to’
May you enjoy many years of happiness in Iceland.
May the coming days bring you lots of love and peace.
May the New Year be a wonderful one for you and your family.
3. I Wish
Another popular way to express your desires is through the expression I wish. The word order is: wish + object pronoun + second object. We can see this in the examples below:
wish + object pronoun + object
I wish you a Merry Christmas.
We all wish you a quick recovery.
Wishing you all the best in your new job.
The First Christmas Card
The idea for Christmas cards originated in London in 1843, when Sir Henry Cole (founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum) decided to commission (encargar) John Horsley to paint a card showing a family enjoying a Christmas feast, with two scenes on the sides showing the feeding (comida) and clothing of the poor. Sir Henry thought that printing (imprimir) Christmas cards was a good solution to giving a seasonal (estacional) message to all the people he knew. Around 1,000 of these cards were printed with the message “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You”.
Finally you can watch a very educative video on how to make a decorative Christmas Card
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