I wish I had done

  • B2 · Upper-intermediate
  • Grammar lesson
  • 60 min
  • wish + past perfect

Regrets about the past with wish and if only + past perfect: I wish I'd moved here years ago. If only I'd listened to my sister! The student hears a man who left an office job for a fishing town, sorts regrets by what really happened, turns facts into wishes, and talks about a big change in a podcast interview.

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I wish I hadhadn't boughtI'd known

What's in the lesson

  1. 1Warm-up
  2. 2In this lesson
  3. 3Listen: from the city to the coastListening comprehension
  4. 4What does it mean?Grammar exercise
  5. 5Find the regretsGrammar exercise
  6. 6wish / if only + past perfectGrammar rule
  7. 7Did it happen?Grammar exercise
  8. 8From fact to wishGrammar exercise
  9. 9Find the mistakeGrammar exercise
  10. 10Questions for your teacherGrammar exercise
  11. 11Say it naturallySpeaking practice
  12. 12The big moveSpeaking practice
  13. 13About youGrammar exercise
  14. 14Wrap-up

Homework

  1. 1Homework: kitchen regretsGrammar exercise
  2. 2Homework: which wish is right?Grammar exercise
  3. 3Homework: build the wishesGrammar exercise
  4. 4Homework: a big decisionDiscussion

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

A few questions about you before we start.

  1. Have you ever moved to a new city or town? How did you feel after the first month?
  2. Is there a decision from your past that you would make differently now?
  3. What did you want to be when you were a child? Do you ever think about that dream?

Grammar rule

wish / if only + past perfect

Example
It didn't happen, and I'm sorryI wish I had joined the choir in college.
It happened, and I'm sorryI wish we hadn't bought such a big car.
if only (stronger)If only she had called first!
Short formI wish I'd waited. · If only we'd known!
Other peopleHe wishes he had studied law. They wish they hadn't moved.

Now or the past?

  • wish + past simple is about now (B1): I wish I knew the answer. (I don't know it.)
  • wish + past perfect is about the past: I wish I had known the answer yesterday. (I didn't know it.)
  • had had is normal: I wish we had had more time in Rome.

Watch out

  • For a past regret, the past perfect, also with yesterday or last year: I wish I visited my aunt last summer → I wish I had visited her.
  • You will hear I wish I would have known in American speech, but in writing and in exams, use had: I wish I had known.
  • Here 'd = had, so a past participle follows: I wish I'd gone, not I wish I'd go.
  • After had, the past participle: had went → had gone; hadn't spoke → hadn't spoken.
  • After wish, the word that is optional: I wish (that) I'd checked. if only is often an exclamation on its own: If only I'd checked!

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