How to use 'wish' - English In A Minute

118,897 views ・ 2018-06-11

BBC Learning English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi, everyone.
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Tom here, from BBC Learning English in London.
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And today,
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I'm going to tell you what to say after the word wish.
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When we're talking about wishes,
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we're talking about situations that are imaginary
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or unreal.
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To show this, after saying 'I wish',
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we use the past to talk about the wish,
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which is in the present.
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So, I could say:
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I wish I had a cup of tea.
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Ah, thank you!
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Now, if we want to make a wish about the past,
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we need to use the 'past past'
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- or the past perfect.
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For example:
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I wish I had chosen
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a more formal shirt
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before I filmed this video today.
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