What is the difference between “I wish I had” and “I wish I would have”? (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between would have and would had? ›

“I would have done it” is correct; “I would had done it” is incorrect. Now, let's mix it up: “I would have had it done” is the correct phrasing; “I would had done it” isn't correct phrasing in this situation. Basically, for this lesson- if you will- you aren't going to use “would had” at all.

“I wish I had” is actually a sort of subjunctive — don't let the past-tense form “I had” fool you. Generally, it means the speaker wishes he had something in the moment s/he's speaking (i.e., in the present time). “I wish I had had,” using a pluperfect, indicates a wish for something in the past.

The first example, "Mary had to", shows the simple past. If we were telling the story in the present tense, this sentence would be "Mary has to deal with the issue herself". The second example has the conditional, "Mary would have to". Here it represents the backshifted future.

As a main verb, use have/has for the present tense and had for the past tense, as shown in these examples: I have a muffin and a cup of coffee. Yesterday I had a piece of toast and a cup of tea.

We also use would have in conditionals to talk about something that did not happen in the past: If it had been a little warmer, we would have gone for a swim. He would have been very angry if he had seen you.

“I'd” ( = I would) is followed by an infinitive (without “to"). “I'd” ( = I had) is followed by a past participle .

The same mistake occurs with the verb “wish.” You can't use the conditional perfect when wishing something had happened; you again need the past perfect. Correct: I wish I had known. Incorrect: I wish I would have known. Correct: I wish you had told me.

"We had" is the correct phrase to use in past tense, while "weve had" is in present perfect tense. "We had" is used to talk about a past event or experience that is completely finished and no longer happening in the present. For example: "We had dinner at a restaurant last night."

When we want to make a past tense statement, we change "have" to "had." This is true if the subject is "she, he, it," anything. We use "had" for past tense ownership statements. "So, I had a red marker."

“Have to' is used for the present and future tense, while “Had to” is used for the past tense. The action which has been just completed at the moment or is in continuous form uses the verb 'have to,” whereas the actions that have been completed in the past use the verb “had to”.

When to use if I had had? ›

The syntax of the past perfect tense is had + past participle. Therefore, the verb used in the past participle is 'have'. Had had is the past perfect form of 'have'. It is used to talk about any action that happened in the past prior to another event occurring in the past.

Use “I had” when writing. Also, there is a difference in tense between these two sentences. “I've had” is perfect tense. “I had” is past tense.

It depends on the context. If you want to talk about a work you completed at a particular time in the past, you can say “I had completed my assignment when my teacher asked about it yesterday.” If you to talk about a work you just completed, you can say, “I have completed my assignment.” Hope this helps!

1 Answer. “Have you” is in the present perfect which is about an event in the past relative to the present moment. For instance, these people you are seeing now: “Have you seen them before?” “Had you” is in the past perfect tense which is about an event in the past relative to another event in the past.

You will have had the work done by a competent carpenter, no doubt.” This is in the future perfect tense, which uses the future tense of have (will have) plus the past participle of the main verb, have (had). Note: the main verb is to have.

1. Had is the past tense and past participle of have1. Had is sometimes used instead of `if' to begin a clause which refers to a situation that might have happened but did not.

"Should have" is correct, "should had" is definitely not. Should is a modal verb and thus only modifies the present tense form of a verb like "to have." If you need to use a modal like should in the past tense, you would say "should have had" (or "should've had" or very informally, "shoulda had").