Wish may seem a simple enough word, but if you really want to master its various uses, you will need to understand the difference between formal and informal English, the difference between the Second and Third Conditionals, the difference between state verbs and dynamic verbs, and the slippery nature of the modal auxiliary would.
First of all wish is a noun. It means a desire, something that we want, but probably - in a world without magic - won't get. In fairy tales and legends, elves, fairies, wizards, genies, the Devil and grateful magic fish have a habit of transforming impossible desires into reality after saying
"I will grant you three wishes,"
or
"I can offer you seven wishes in exchange for your soul,"
or
"Your wish is my command."
When you blow out the candles on your birthday cake you make a wish, and if you're very lucky your wish comes true.
When we close our eyes and say "I wish...", what follows is generally either impossible, improbable, impractical or beyond our control. For this reason we use verb forms that do not belong to the practical, logical world of things that happen, will happen or have happened: we use verb forms from the hypothetical world of conditional structures.
We divide our conditional structures -which describe two actions or events, one dependent on the other - into four types in English: The "Zero Conditional" deals with general truths ("If it doesn't rain, plants die"; "When prices go up, people spend less") and the First Conditional deals with connected events in the future ("If I see Jim I'll tell him the news"; "Pam will phone us after the plane lands"). Many of these aren't really hypothetical forms at all - they describe events that exist, or will exist, in the real world. When we want to describe events that exist primarily in our imagination, we use the Second and Third Conditionals. It is these we refer to when we wish.
A Second Conditional sentence has, as its condition, or hypothesis, something in an imagined present or future that is impossible (If I were an eagle..; If I knew how to speak Chinese...; If I lived in Brazil... ) or unlikely (If aliens abducted me..; If I went to Florida...; If Bob helped me build my shed...). In the Third Conditional we talk about imagined, unreal situations in the past (If JFK had survived...; If I hadn't been so nervous...).
In most cases, these hypothetical verb forms (versions of what other languages classify as the subjunctive) are also used with "I wish..." So, for an imagined present or future situation, we wish using the subjunctive past simple tense (just like the normal past simple except for the verb to be, where we say I/he/she/it were):
"I wish I were an eagle"; "I wish I knew how to speak Chinese"; "I wish I lived in Brazil."
And for an imagined past situation, action, or event, we wish using the past perfect tense:
"I wish JFK had survived"; "I wish I hadn't been so nervous"; "I wish I had drunk less."
What we canNOT say, though, is “I wish aliens abducted me” or “I wish I went to Florida” or “I wish Bob helped me build my shed”. Why not? Because when we wish using the subjunctive past simple we have to refer to a situation that we are imagining, not a single action or event. I know/don't know how to speak Chinese, I am/am not an eagle, and I live/don't live in Brazil are sentences about general situations/abilities. In this kind of sentence we usually find state verbs - verbs that we don't usually see in a continuous tense (be, know, understand, like), rather than dynamic or action verbs (abduct, go, build).
So how do we wish for a single action or event? Well, there are two ways. If the event or action is something possible, but out of our control, we use would + Verb (infinitive):
"I wish it would stop raining!" "I wish the neighbours wouldn't argue so loudly!"
"I wish Jo would call me!" "I wish Bob would help me!" "I wish aliens would abduct me!"
If, on the other hand, I wish for an action or event that seems, for some reason, to be impossible, even if I am the subject, I'll use could instead of would:
"I wish I could go to Florida" "I wish I could concentrate"
"I wish we could tell Geoff what we really think of him."
But what, you may be about to ask, of the much simpler structure: I wish to+Verb (infinitive)? I'm sure, you're thinking to yourself, I've seen "I wish to tell you..." and "Do you wish to stay?"
In these examples, we are no longer speaking of impossible or impractical desires, and wish is simply a synonym of want. You may have learnt this meaning of wish at school or on your travels, but it is quite possible that you will never actually hear anyone saying these words. This meaning of wish exists only in the (ever-shrinking) world of, mostly written, very formal communication. Even in spoken formal situations, would like is generally preferred (although this isn't possible in the negative, so "I don't wish to..." is still moderately useful). If you are placing a notice in the Times you may "wish to announce" the birth of your god-daughter, and if you are writing a furious letter to the management of the hotel where you were poisoned by the kippers, perhaps you'll "wish to complain in the strongest possible terms". To everyone else though you'll simply say "I wish we'd gone somewhere else."
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