If and wish sentences (past)

Study this example situation: این مثال را بخوانید

Last month Ann was sick. Tom didn’t know this, and he didn’t go to see her. They met again after Ann got better. Tom said:

If I had known that you were sick, I would have gone to see you.

The real situation was that Tom didn’t know Ann was sick. So he says if I had known... When you are talking about the past, you use the past perfect (I had done/I had been/I had known, etc.) after if.

• If I had seen you when you passed me in the street, I would have said hello. (but I didn’t see you)

• I would have gone out if I hadn’t been so tired. (but I was too tired)

• If he had been looking where he was going, he wouldn’t have walked into the wall. (but he wasn’t looking)

Do not use would (have) in the If part of the sentence:

• If I had seen you, I would have said hello (not it I would have seen)

• If I’d seen (= had seen) you, I’d have said (= would have said) hello.

Use the past perfect (I had done) after wish when you say that you regret something

Happened or didn’t happen in the past: بعد از wish   ماضی بعید استفاده کنید برای بیان چیزی که در گذشته اتفاق نیفتاده است و یا اتفاق افتاده و شما برای اینکه اتفاق نیفتاده ناراحت هستید.

• I wish I had known that Ann was sick. I would have gone to see her. (I didn’t know that she was sick.)

• I feel sick. I wish I hadn’t eaten so much. (I ate too much.)

• Do you wish you had studied science instead of languages? (You didn’t study science.)

• The weather was terrible. I wish it had been warmer. (It wasn’t warm.)

 You cannot use would have after wish:

• I wish it had been warmer. (Not would have been)

Might have and could have are possible instead of would have:

• If we’d played better, we might have won. (= perhaps we would have won)

• We could have gone out if the weather hadn’t been so had. (= we would have been able to go out)