I WISH/ IF ONLY I WISH + PAST SIMPLE To talk about things we would like to be different in the present or future, but which are unlikely or impossible. I wish I were taller If only you could swim
I WISH + WOULD +INFINITIVE Complaints about things we want to happen or stop happening because they’re annoying. I wish you wouldn’t speak so loudly I wish she would stop biting her nails *Don’t use it for a wish about yourself: *I wish I would…
I WISH+ PAST PERFECT Regrets about things that happened or didn’t happen in the past, and therefore they can´t be changed. I wish I hadn´t phoned her (because we had an argument and I would have liked to avoid it). If only she had studied harder (then she could have gone to university but she didn´t).