Quote:
Originally Posted by beachboy  ... The problem arises when it comes to present (verb in the past)
If I had a car, I'd drive every day (but I don't have a car, so I can't drive every day).
If I bought a car, I'd drive every day (but I can't buy a car, so I can't drive every day).
I just don't know how to explain that, while I say I wish I had a car, referring to the first sentence, I say I wish I could buy (and not bought) in the second one. |
"I wish" is used to describe, as David said, a situation, a state that we wish existed but doesn't.
A single action that we wish happened can't be described by the "I wish" collocation. "I wish I lived in Portugal"; "I wish I owned a car"; both work because they both describe states.
Since "I wish + simple past" denote states, routine or habitual things, the meaning that you want can't be conveyed in English by using "I wish I bought a car". It isn't that it's wrong, it's that that area of meaning is reserved to that collocation.
"I wish I bought cars" is a possible collocation but it reflects a state, a condition where the speaker expresses a desire to be a dealer of cars.
Re: if x wish 
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