Study materials
These two sentences look like a story about the past. In fact neither of them is about the past at all.
I wish I spoke French.
I wish I had more time.
The past form here works not as a tense but as a distance. It shows that reality is not what you would like, and English marks that with a step back.
A step back marks dissatisfaction
After wish the form steps back into the past, and that step marks not time but distance: reality is not what you would like.
| What it is about | Form after wish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| the present | Past Simple | I wish I spoke French. |
| the past | Past Perfect | I wish I hadn't said that. |
I wish I spoke French.
I wish I hadn't said that.
Notice that Ukrainian flips the sentence: an English positive becomes a Ukrainian negative and the other way round. A word-for-word translation always misleads here.
Was or were
With the verb be this structure traditionally takes were for every person. The form was does turn up in conversation, but were sounds more correct and more neutral.
I wish I were taller.
I wish it weren't so far.
If only: the same, only stronger
The phrase if only works exactly like wish, with the same forms. The difference is purely emotional: it sounds more dramatic.
If only I had more time.
If only she had told me earlier.
An if only sentence often stands alone, with no second half. It is an exclamation, not a condition.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is taking a present form after wish.
I wish I speak French. → I wish I spoke French.
The second is translating a Ukrainian negative word for word.
I wish I didn't know French. → I wish I knew French.
The third is taking a simple past form for a past regret.
I wish I didn't say that yesterday. → I wish I hadn't said that yesterday.
All three are caught by two questions. Is this about now or about then? And how would this very sentence sound without wish?
Try it right now
Name two things in English that you are not happy with right now, using I wish.
Then add one sentence about yesterday. Check that a Past Perfect has appeared in it.