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Expressing Wishes and Regrets For Present and Future - I Wish/If Only/It'S High Time/As If

The document discusses various expressions in English used to express wishes or regrets about the present or future. These include "I wish...", "If only...", "It's high time...", and "...as if...". After these expressions, simple past tense is used to talk about wishes/regrets for the present or future. Examples are provided like "I wish I had more free time" and "If only you stopped making that noise". The document also discusses using past continuous tense if the wish refers to a moment of speaking. Additionally, it explains that "were" is used instead of "was" with "if" expressions to indicate lower probability or impossibility of the situation.

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Ivica Milic
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351 views2 pages

Expressing Wishes and Regrets For Present and Future - I Wish/If Only/It'S High Time/As If

The document discusses various expressions in English used to express wishes or regrets about the present or future. These include "I wish...", "If only...", "It's high time...", and "...as if...". After these expressions, simple past tense is used to talk about wishes/regrets for the present or future. Examples are provided like "I wish I had more free time" and "If only you stopped making that noise". The document also discusses using past continuous tense if the wish refers to a moment of speaking. Additionally, it explains that "were" is used instead of "was" with "if" expressions to indicate lower probability or impossibility of the situation.

Uploaded by

Ivica Milic
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EXPRESSING WISHES AND REGRETS FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE – I WISH/IF ONLY/IT’S HIGH TIME/AS IF…

There are some expressions in English we use in order to express our wishes or regrets about something.

When we wish something, we usually regret not having that, it goes together.

The use of tenses is not the same as in our language; that’s why we have to focus on the rules.

Here are some of those expressions:

- I wish… Voleo/Volela bih..


- If only… Kada bi samo…
- It’s high time… Krajnje je vreme
- … as if… Kao da…
- I’d(would) rather… Radije bih…

After those expressions, we use Simple Past to express a wish/regret for the present or future, or would
for the future. (U našem jeziku se koristi obično sadašnje vreme.)

EXAMPLES

- I wish I had more free time. Volela bih da imam više slobodnog vremena. (As you see, the tenses in
Serbian and English are different.) Potreba za slobodnim vremenom je naše želja (wish), ali ujedno I
žaljenje (regret) zbog nedostatka vremena.
- If only you stopped making that noise. Kada bi samo prestao da praviš tu buku.
- It’s high time you started learning more. Krajnje je vreme da počneš više da učiš.
- She behaves as if she was the most important person at the meeting. Ponaša se kao da je najvažnija
osoba na tom sastanku.
- I’d rather you fixed the problem. Radije bih da ti rešiš taj problem.

Some sentences in negative form

- I wish they didn’t talk (weren’t talking) so loudly – Volela bih da ne pričaju toliko glasno.

Možemo koristiti i Past Continuous ako se potreba za tom željom odnosi u momentu govora.

-I wish my daughter didn’t sleep so much. Govorimo uopšteno – Volela bih da moja čerka ne spava toliko.

-I wish my my daughter wasn’t sleeping now, so she can see this. Želja u momentu govora – Volela bih da
moja ćerka ne spava…

-If only they weren’t so busy. Kada samo ne bi bili toliko zauzeti.

- If only it wouldn’t rain tomorrow. Kada samo sutra ne bi padala kiša.

- I’d rather my son didn’t go out so often. Radije bih da moj sin ne izlazi tako često.
PAY ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING

- What would you do if you were me?

-If I were you, I would… Da sam na tvom mestu, ja bih… Možemo menjati lica.

-If she were me, she wouldn’t learn that much. Da je ona na mom mestu,ne bi toliko učila.

-If they were him, they would go abroad. Da su oni na njegovom mestu, otišli bi u inostranstvo.

As you see, we didn’t say – If I was, kako bi gramatički trebalo, već - were.

Razlika je u sledećem:

Were se koristi za sva lica, kada je verovatnoća da se nešto desi veoma mala ili ne postoji, a was ako je
moguće da se nešt desi. Pošto mi ne možemo biti neko drugi, onda se uvek korisi were.

-If my grandfather were here to see me now! Da je(Kada bi) moj deda sada tu da me vidi. (with were, it means
that this grandfather is not alive any more)

Homework – Find the following song on You tube and listen to it 

I WISH YOU WERE HERE – A song by Pink Floyd

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