Wishes and hopes

This is a quick guide to express our wishes and hopes. Bare in mind that it is important to know if we are expressing our wishes in present (now), in past (regrets) or future (hopes):

Present:

I wish + past simple
I wish I earned a lot of money.
This structure is used to talk about wishes in general in the present. It works as a second conditional.

I wish I could...
I wish I could speak Arabic.
It is used to talk about a difficult or impossible wish.

(*) We can replace I wish with if only for emphasis.

Past:

I wish + past perfect
I wish you had come to my party.
It not only refers to wishes about the past but also about regrets in the past. It works as a third conditional.

(*) We can replace I wish with if only for emphasis.

Future:

I hope + present simple
I hope she is on time.

I hope + will
I hope Melanie will pass her exam.
This structure does not follow a conditional form.

Dani.