How to wish in English. The verb WISH is followed by the past tense. Listen to this song and then read the explanations and watch the rest of the videos in this lesson.

The verb WISH is followed by the past tense.

- I wish you were here

present situation
I wish I was rich (but I am not)
I wish it rained (but it doesn't)
He wishes he could go there (but he can't go)
I wish I had a bigger house (but I haven't)

past situation
I wish I had been there (but I wasn't)
He wishes he could have gone (but he didn't)

future situation   (but would is the past form of will)
I wish it would rained (but will it rain?)
I wish I would be able to go (but will I be able to go?)
I wish he would come (but will he come?) 

TO BE
Just the same as it happened with the conditional sentences type 2, the verb to be here is different:
past I was, you were, he was, we were
past after wish I were, you were, he were, we were

- I wish you were here
- I wish I were there

But in modern English we can also use the normal past forms and say I wish I was there