Wish, if only and the unreal past

English regularly borrows past tense forms to mark unreality rather than past time — the same mechanism that powers the second conditional. After wish, if only, would rather and it's time, a past simple verb describes a present situation the speaker wants to be different, and a past perfect verb describes a past situation they cannot change.

Once you see these expressions as one family sharing one rule — step the tense back to show the situation is not real — the individual patterns stop feeling like separate pieces of grammar to memorise.

• I wish today were a holiday.('were' about now — unreal, not past)
• If only I understood this contract.(present confusion, past-tense form)

To express dissatisfaction with a present situation, use wish + past simple. The situation is true now, and the wish imagines its opposite. As with the second conditional, the verb 'be' prefers 'were' for all persons in careful English.

Modal wishes follow the same step-back: 'can' becomes 'could'. This is the pattern behind some of the most natural sentences in IELTS Speaking Part 1, where questions about your home, city and routine invite exactly this kind of gentle regret.

• I wish I spoke Arabic — half my clients are in Dubai.(present inability, past-simple form)
• She wishes she didn't have to commute two hours a day.(the commute is her real routine)
• I wish I can drive.(→ I wish I could drive — 'can' steps back to 'could')

When the regret targets something that already happened — or never happened — step back one further tense to the past perfect. This parallels the third conditional exactly: 'I wish I had studied abroad' carries the same unreal-past machinery as 'If I had studied abroad…'.

The classic error here is importing 'would have' from the conditional's result clause: 'I wish I would have gone' is always wrong. After wish, the past perfect stands alone.

• I wish I had started saving in my twenties.(past regret → past perfect)
• If only we hadn't sold grandma's house.(negative past regret)
• I wish I would have gone to the concert.(→ I wish I had gone — no 'would have' after wish)

Wish + subject + would + base verb expresses irritation at a repeated behaviour or situation you want to change but cannot control — other people's habits, the weather, unreliable machines. It carries a complaining tone, which makes it vivid in speech but too informal for most academic writing.

One restriction matters: you cannot use 'wish + would' about yourself, because you are not outside your own control. Wishes about your own situation revert to the past simple: 'I wish I were more organised', never 'I wish I would be more organised'.

• I wish the bus would come on time for once.(irritation at a repeated situation)
• I wish it would stop raining so we could start the barbecue.(the weather is outside your control)
• I wish I would be more organised.(→ I wish I were more organised — 'wish + would' never points at yourself)

'Would rather' splits into two patterns. For your own action, use the base verb: 'I'd rather walk.' The unreal past appears only when a second subject enters — a preference about what someone else does: 'I'd rather you didn't tell anyone yet.' The past form refers to the present or future, exactly as after wish.

'It's time' works the same way. With an infinitive it is neutral ('It's time to leave'); with a subject it takes the unreal past and adds impatience: 'It's time we left.' The emphatic 'It's high time' almost always carries this critical, overdue flavour — a useful, formal-sounding structure for IELTS essays.

• I'd rather we met at the station than at the airport.(preference about 'we' → past simple)
• I'd rather stay in tonight.(own preference → base verb, no past form)
• It's time you booked your IELTS test instead of just talking about it.(overdue action → past simple)
• It's time we go home.(→ It's time we went home)