Regrets

Similar to wishes about current events, when we regret something, we wish that something happened in a different way. For this reason, wishes about past situations are very similar to the third conditional. What’s past is past, you can’t change it, no matter how hard you try!

There are two ways to wish about past situations. You can introduce the wish, with the word wish or with the expression if only. First, let’s take a look at the third conditional.

In the second conditional, we use the structure. if + past perfect, would + present perfect. For example:

If I had asked Mary to marry me, she wouldn’t have left me.

When we regret something, we can just use the if half of the conditional…

With wish: I wish I had asked Mary to marry me.

With if only: If only I had asked Mary to marry me.

In other words: I didn’t ask Marry to marry me and now I regret it. The regret is the opposite of reality, you can’t change the past.


Here are some more examples: 
If only she had listened to my advice.
We wish we hadn't bought that house.
If only you had started learning English earlier!