U.39: If I knew … I wish I knew. P. 78
If Conditionals
Presented by: Muhammad Qadir
English Department
College of Education
U.39: If I knew … I wish I knew. P. 78
This unit talks about second conditional and it covers wish:
Second Conditional: If + simple past, (S + would + base [bare infinitive])

Sarah wants to phone Paul, but she can’t do this because she doesn’t know his number. She says:

If I knew his number, I would phone him.
This tells us that she doesn’t know his number. She is imagining the situation. The real situation is that she doesn’t know his number.

U.39: If I knew … I wish I knew. P. 78
Second conditional: 
If + simple past, S + would + bare infinitive

So when we imagine a situation which is imaginary and hypothetic, we use if + past (if I knew / if you were / if we didn’t etc.) but the meaning is present, not past:

There are many things I would like to do if I had enough time. (but I don’t have time)

U.39: If I knew … I wish I knew. P. 78
We use the past in the same way after wish (I wish I knew / I wish you were etc. ). We use wish to say that we regret something that something is not as would like to be:

I wish I knew Paul’s phone number. 
(= I don’t know it and I regret this)

It rains a lot here. I wish it didn’t rain so much.

I wish I didn’t have to work tomorrow, but unfortunately I do.

U.39: If I knew … I wish I knew. P. 78
After if and wish, you can use were instead of was (if I were / I wish it were etc.)

If I was / I wish it was are also possible:

If I were you, I wouldn’t buy that coat. Or If I was you, I wouldn’t buy that coat.

I wish she were here. Or I wish she was here.

U.39: If I knew … I wish I knew. P. 78
We don’t normally use would in the if-part of the sentence or after wish:

If I were rich I would travel a lot. ( not if I would be rich)

U.39: If I knew … I wish I knew. P. 78
Could sometimes means ‘would be able to’ and sometimes ‘ was/were able to’:

She could get a better job if she could speak better English.
(She could get = she would be able to get)
I wish I could help you. 
(I wish I could = I wish I was able)