Welcome back to my channel Learn Academic English, where I teach intermediate and advanced level
English lessons for English learners who want to take their English to the next level for school
and work in today's short grammar lesson I'm going to teach you how to use the verb
wish the reason I'm talking about this verb today is that wish is a little bit
tricky because you do need to use some special grammar with this verb and often
English learners will confuse the verbs hope and wish but they are quite different
wish indicates something that you wish were different you are imagining a situation
that you wish could be different and if it were different then you would be happy
these are situations that either cannot change or probably will not change these are hypothetical
or unreal situations that cannot change but in your mind you wish that they could be different
in contrast the verb hope expresses something that you want to have happen and maybe it will happen
so for example you can say I hope to make some new friends soon but if you say I wish you would have
to say I wish I could make new friends soon and wish there would indicate that probably it will
not happen hope is more certain that maybe it will happen you hope so but wish has the feeling that
it's probably not going to happen or it cannot happen but you wish it could be different so
don't get those verbs confused and make sure that you know the grammar for the verb wish
the main thing that you need to remember for the grammar for the verb wish is that you're
going to need to use a past tense verb in the second clause and the reason for the past tense
verb is not because we're talking about the past it's because we are talking about a conditional
for example I wish my father lived closer here we're going to use the verb in the past tense
we're not talking about the past we're talking about the present but because this is an unreal
situation we have to use the verb in the past think about the conditional grammar that you
know and you will probably know this type of grammar already second I wish I had more money
so again I'm thinking about a situation that I wish were different it cannot happen or it
probably will not happen but boy I wish it were different I wish I had more money again had here
is in the past tense to show that conditional but we're actually talking about the present
now let's talk about how you can use wish for ability instead of using the verb can
we have to use the past tense form so we're going to use the verb could I wish I could
speak french I cannot speak french but in my mind I wish it were different I wish I could
speak french or I wish I could swim well I'm not a good swimmer but I wish that I could
swim well it's my wish for something different now notice when you use the verb be you have to change
that to were and you may know another similar form if I were you this is the same idea we have to use
the verb were for this conditional for example I wish I were taller now am I going to be taller
no this is never going to change but I wish it were different I wish I were taller sometimes
you may hear people use was but the grammar tells us that we should use were for this conditional or
I wish electric cars weren't expensive so they are expensive there's nothing that I can do to change
that situation but in my mind I wish it were different I wish electric cars weren't expensive
now also take a look here for the second clause if we're talking about the future we're not going
to use will we're going to use would for example I wish covid would go away is kobut going to go away
probably not but I wish it would go away I'm talking about something that I wish were different
in the future so I'm going to use would or I wish the teacher would cancel the test
so in my mind I'm thinking that I wish this situation were different I wish the teacher
would cancel the test maybe tomorrow or next week but it's probably not going to happen
now in this situation could I change this verb to hope I could I could say I hope the teacher
cancels the test notice that the grammar there is different I hope the teacher cancels the test
and if we use hope then it means that we think that maybe it will happen but when we use wish
it gives us the feeling that it's probably not going to happen but I wish it were different
okay we're going to look at two more things before we stop we're going to look at how to
use wish to talk about the past something that you regret or something that you wish were different
in the past and finally I'll show you how to use wish to wish something for someone
next let's see how to use wish to talk about something that you wish were different in the past
we usually think that this is expressing regret because we're thinking about a past situation that
we wish were different and again this is something that cannot change because it happened in the past
it's finished so we can use wish but to talk about the past we're going to use past perfect
in that second clause so think about taking one step back we're talking about the past take one
step back and use the past perfect for example I wish I had studied more in school so I'm thinking
about my past and maybe I didn't study very much and I could say I wish I had studied more
in school or I wish we had taken climate change seriously 20 years ago so we didn't take climate
change seriously but I wish that we're different or I wish you had told me this is a very common
sentence that you can hear for example if I say oh yesterday was my birthday
then uh you can say oh I wish you had told me I didn't know when I saw you yesterday
so again to talk about something that you wish were different in the past you're going to use
past perfect in the second clause and this is often used to express regret okay finally let's
look at one last use of the verb which which is to wish someone something and here we're gonna use
wish plus nouns for example I wish you good luck I wish someone something or I wished her a happy
birthday at the party now here wish is in the past tense because the party happened yesterday or
in the past I wished her a happy birthday or I wish you all the best this is a very common
sentence and this means that I wish something for you I wish you all the best but notice that we're
not going to use wish with to for example I wish you to do well in school we cannot say that we
are going to use wish plus the person plus a noun that's it for today I wish you all the best in
your English learning please take a look at the comments below to see my examples and then tell
me two or three things that you wish for have a great day and I will see you back here soon!