Hope vs Wish

While looking at the title, I suddenly remembered Geppetto from Disney's Pinocchio when he made a wish at the wishing star, which turned into the Blue Fairy. He started his wish by chanting this poem.

"Star light, star bright.

First star I see tonight.

I wish I may, I wish I might.

Have this wish I wish tonight."

In grammar, there are differences in how hope and wish are used as verb. Here are the patterns:

1. wish + simple past tense = used when you imagine a different situation compared to the present reality

Example: I wish I could play kalimba well. = In the present reality, I'm still a beginner at playing the musical instrument, so the most I could do is to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star without looking at a music sheet/kalimba tab.

2. wish + past perfect tense [had + past participle] = used when you imagine a different situation compared to the past reality, usually when talking about regrets.

Example: I wish I had studied Comparative Linguistics. = In the past reality, I took Painting as my major and I also took units in Education.

Compared to:

should have + past participle = used for talking about uncompleted actions/obligations in the past and for talking about regrets

Example: I should have checked the file first before overwriting it. = In the past reality, I copy-pasted my artwork from my flash drive, but the flash drive contained the older version.

3rd Conditional: If + past perfect tense [had + past participle], would have + past participle = the action is finished and you're now imagining a different result if you had chosen the other option.

Example: If I had been a polyglot, I would have taken online translation jobs.

polyglot = /ˈpɑːliɡlɑːt/ = [noun] (formal) = a person who knows, uses or writes in more than one language

Source: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries

3. wish + would = used when talking about something that annoys/bothers you and how you'd like the other to behave in the future.

Example: I wish my dog wouldn't try to bite us whenever we try to remove ticks from him. = He finds it irritating when we use tweezers on him, so he starts to bare his teeth at us even though we give him treats.

4. wish to + verb = want to + verb = can be used for the past, present and future tenses

Examples were based on the manhwa and novel The Abandoned Empress:

Past: Allendis wished to be by his lady's side, however, siding with the enemy faction cost him that right.

Present: Aristia wishes to break her engagement with the crown prince.

Future: Given a second life, Tia will wish change her fate.

5. hope + simple present / simple future = when we wish for something to happen in the future and there is a high chance for it to happen

Examples:

Present: I hope I can watch that movie when it becomes available online.

Future: I hope I will finish all of my tasks on my next day off.

Note: Though hope already implies a future meaning, it is possible to use the simple future tense to provide emphasis. The pattern hope + simple present is more commonly used.

6. hope + simple present = when we wish for something to happen in the present time and there is a high chance for it to happen

Example: I hope I can finish reading this novel tonight. = There really is a high chance for me to finish reading a book in one day.

7. hope + simple past = it may be uncommon to use this pattern, but this is used when talking about a situation in the past and we don't know the outcome

Example: The thunderstorm yesterday was unexpectedly strong. I hope everyone was okay.

As a recap, both hope and wish can be together with the past, present and future tenses. However, the two are used differently, so please review the patterns carefully.

Thank you for taking the time to read my grammar notes and I hope the information with be useful for you.