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If I want to say:

I hope you will read this.

I can say something like:

これは読むといいです。

I was trying to use the same kind of construction to say either:

I hope you have read this.
or,
I hope you read this. (past)

As far as I know you can't write 読んだと... and changing いい to よかった doesn't seem right. So how do I hope that something has happened rather than that something will/can happen? How about:

これは読んだらいいです

Does that work? Are there better ways?

3 Answers 3

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How about using ~てくれるとうれしいです or ~てくれるといいのですが as in the common phrases 気に入ってくれるとうれしいです / 気に入ってくれるといいのですが "I hope you'll like it", or maybe ~てほしいです or ~てくれればと思っています?

I hope you will read this.

  • {読んでくれると/読んでくれれば/読んでくれたら}うれしいです。
    (politely: 読んでくださると/読んでくだされば/読んでいただければ~~ etc.)
  • {読んでくれたらと/読んでくれればと}思っています。
    (politely: 読んでくださればと/読んでいただければと/読んでいただけたらと~~ etc.)
  • 読んでほしいです。/ 読んでほしいと思っています。
    (politely: 読んでいただきたいです。/読んでいただきたいと思っています。)

I hope you have read this. / you read this. (past)

  • 読んでいて{くれれば/くれると/くれたら}{うれしいです。/いいのですが。}
    (politely: 読んでいてくださったら/読んでいてくだされば~~ etc.)
  • 読んでくれて{いれば/いると/いたら}{うれしいです。/いいのですが。}
    (politely: 読んでくださっていれば/読んでくださっていたら~~ etc.)
  • 読んでくれていればと思っています。
    (politely:{読んでいてくださったらと/読んでくださっていればと}思っています。)

Edit:

"I hope I have read this correctly."

I would probably say...

  • 正しく読めていれば(orいたら/いると)いいのですが。← polite
  • 正しく読めてたら(orれば/ると)いいんだけど。← casual

「正しく読めていればうれしいです。」 would also be okay, but 「potential + ていればいいのですが」 sounds a bit more natural/common (and maybe a bit more humble?) to me.

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  • 「読んでいただいて~」「読んでくださって~」は、さらに丁寧に「お読みいただいて~」「お読みくださって~」と言うこともできます。
    – chocolate
    Sep 26, 2016 at 0:33
  • Perhaps I should have given more context. What I wanted to say was "I hope I have read this correctly". It won't make me happy if I have, but it will make me sad if I have not. Is うれしい still appropriate for this context? Sep 26, 2016 at 17:51
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    @user3856370 Well in that case... うれしいです would also be okay, but ~読めていればいいのですが sounds a bit more natural/common (and humble?) than ~うれしいです to me (I'm not sure but probably because the subject who does 読む is not "you" but "I"), though it might depend on the situation.
    – chocolate
    Sep 27, 2016 at 0:26
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"Hope" is 希望 but you wouldn't use it to say "I hope you will read this".

I recommend that you simply say "I want you to read this". The nice way to do this in Japanese would be to say that if they read it you would be happy: Formal: これを読んでくれたら嬉しいです。 Familiar: これを読んでくれたら嬉しい。

However, as general advice from one human to another, if someone said to me "I hope you will read this" in any language, I would think to myself "Ahhh, 面倒臭い," meaning that I would be annoyed. Have you ever received a book as a present from someone and then they expect you to read the whole book? It's annoying. I would be annoyed if someone even asked me to get up and get them a chocolate milk, but I would be a whole other level of annoyed if they were demanding that I read an entire book that I didn't want to read. I have no idea if you're talking about a book or what, but maybe saying "I recommend this" is better. That would be これはオススメです。(If talking to a friend, say "これがオススメだよ") I think they would be a lot happier to hear that.

"これは読むといいです" sounds stiff and weird to be honest. It's not wrong. It just doesn't sound normal or natural.

Everything that Faily Feely wrote sounds quite awkward. He or she also does not understand that "いいな" has a special meaning in Japanese that conveys jealously, so it should not be used the way he or she is using it.

これは読んだらいいです also just sounds awkward and weird. Not grammatically wrong, just awkward-sounding.

Chocolate's suggestions are good (and sometimes the same as mine), but seemed a little difficult to read so I decided I'd write my own answer for you. Hope you enjoyed. Good luck!

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I don't think "~といいです" means "I hope." Its natural translation is as follows:

これは読むといいです。

This is something that one should read. / You should read this.

これを読んだらいいです has the same meaning.

When you want to say "I hope ..." you can say:

I hope you will read this.

あなたがこれを読むといいな。 / これを読んでくれたらいいな。 (colloquial)

あなたがこれを読むことを願います。 / これを読んでいただけることを願います。 (formal)

And to bring them to the past tense, use (既に)~ている or (既に)~終わっている:

I hope you have read this.

あなたがこれを(既に)読んでいたらいいな。 / あなたがこれを読み終わっていたらいいな。

あなたがこれを既に読んでいることを願います。 / あなたがこれを読み終わっていることを願います。

As a side note, you can make your construction past tense by the same way:

This is something that should already be read.

これは既に読んでいたらいいです

これは既に読んでいるのがいいです (more natural)

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