Conditionals, I wish, It's time, I'd rather

Unreal Past

The past tense is sometimes used in English to refer to an 'unreal' situation. So, although the tense is the past, we are usually talking about the present, e.g. in a Type 2 conditional sentence:

If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world.

Although won is in the past tense, we are talking about a hypothetical situation that might exist now or at any time, but we are not referring to the past. We call this use the unreal past.

Other situations where this occurs are:

• after other words and expressions like 'if' (supposing, if only, what if);
• after the verb 'to wish';
• after the expression 'I'd rather..'

Expressions like 'if'

The following expressions can be used to introduce hypothetical situations:
- supposing, if only, what if. They are followed by a past tense to indicate that the condition they introduce is unreal:

• Supposing I won the lottery... (= but we know this is unlikely)
• What if we moved to another country? (= that would be quite unexpected)
• If only I had more time. (= but I haven't).

These expressions can also introduce hypothetical situations in the past and then they are followed by the past perfect.

Examples:

• If only I hadn't  cheated in the exam (= I did and it was a mistake because the invigilator caught me and I failed)
• What if I had told you before? (I didn't, but I can imagine what would have happened)

The verb to wish

The verb to wish is followed by an 'unreal' past tense when we want to talk about situations in the present that we are not happy about but cannot change:

• I wish I had more time (=but I haven't)
• She wishes she was more practical (= but she's not)
• We wish we could come to your party (= but we can't)

When we want to talk about situations in the past that we are not happy about or actions that we regret, we use the verb to wish followed by the past perfect:

• I wish I hadn't said that (= but I did)
• He wishes he hadn't bought the car (= but he did buy it)
• I wish I had taken that job in New York (= but I didn't, so I'm stuck in Bristol)

NOTE: When we want to talk about situations we are not happy about and where we want someone else to change them, we use to wish followed by would + infinitive.

• I wish you wouldn't squeeze the toothpaste from the middle! (= I want you to change your habits)

I'd rather and it's time...

These two expressions are also followed by an unreal past. The verb is in the past tense, but the situation is in the present.

When we want to talk about a course of action we would prefer someone else to take, we use I'd rather + past tense:

• I'd rather you went.
• He'd rather you called the police.
• I'd rather you didn't hunt elephants.

NOTE: the stress can be important in these sentences, to show what our preference is:

• I'd rather you went = not me,
• I'd rather you went = don't stay
• He'd rather you called the police = he doesn't want to
• He'd rather you called the police = not the ambulance service

Similarly, when we want to say that now is a suitable moment to do something, either for ourselves or for someone else, we use it's time + past tense:

• It's (high) time I went.
• Don't you think it's time you had a haircut?