Wish III - regrets

Well, we've already looked at "I wish" and "wish" plus the past to talk about wishes for the present or future. Today we're going to talk about regrets. You regret something (or regret doing/having done s'thing, or regret not doing/having done s'thing) when you look back at the past and think to yourself, "Why, oh why did I (not) do that?!", "What on earth was I thinking?"

For example, when I was in high school, I had the opportunity to go to a Talking Heads concert. At the time I liked them, but wasn't super crazy about them. They later released a concert film called Stop Making Sense, which I absolutely adored. I then realized [BrEng realised] that I'd missed a really great show. I have always regretted not going to that concert. I wish I'd gone to that concert!

WISH + PAST PERFECT*
=
something you regret doing or not doing in the past

My other regrets:

• I wish my father had taught me Spanish as a child, things would have been much easier when I moved to Spain.
• I wish I'd studied more at school.
• I wish I had visited my sick friend in the hospital more.
• I wish I hadn't let my cat scratch up all the furniture. Now I'll have to get it re-upholstered.

I sincerely hope you don't have any regrets, but if you do, feel free to share them in a comment.

* Both past perfect simple and continuous are possible.

Wish, Part II (present/future)

A long long time ago, we started to look at talking about wishes, with a look at "I wish!" and "I hope so!".

Today let's look at a bit of grammar for talking about situations you're not happy with. The little girl is blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. What could her wishes be?

Imagine this girl, Priscilla, really wants to take piano lessons, but she can't because her family doesn't have a piano. She could say, "I wish I HAD a piano." It is understood that Priscilla doesn't have a piano, and we use the past simple to express the contrast between her wish (an imaginary situation) and reality, NOT to talk about the past. We're still talking about the present here. So...

WISH + PAST SIMPLE*
=
something you'd like to be different about the present (or sometimes the future when talking about plans or obligations)

She could also say:
- I wish I had a baby brother. (She's an only child.)
- I wish I were old enough to drive. (She's only 8.)
- I wish I had a big dollhouse like Molly's. (Her friend Molly has one, but she doesn't.)
- I wish my bike was/were** pink. (It's white.)
- I wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow. (Unfortunately, she does.)
- I wish knew French, so I could speak to my friend Etienne in his own language. (We can only speak to each other in English.)
- I wish my mother wasn't going on a two-week business trip. (She is, and Priscilla will miss her a lot when she's gone.)


* You can also use the past continuous, if appropriate.
** Both are correct with the first and third person singular (I & he, she, it). "Was" is more informal and more common in BrEng, and "were" is more formal and more common in AmEng.