Making wishes
Use wishes to tell that you want something or want to do something which does not exist now. It is a desire to change a real situation into an unreal situation, or an impossible one. Just like in unreal conditional sentences, the past form does not indicate past time; it indicates that the situation is not real. The past form can be simple past, past continuous, "could", or "would".
Wishes about the present
I wish I could drive, but I can't.
I have a keyboard, but I wish I had a piano.
I wish I were studying in the UK.
Wishes about the future
I wish you were coming with me to the hockey game tonight.
I wish you would come with me to the hockey game tonight.
I wish you could come with me to the hockey game tonight.
Expressing complaints and regrets
Sometimes, wish sentences using would can express complaints, especially when you want something to change but think that it is unlikely to.
I wish it would stop raining. The wedding is in two hours!
I wish you wouldn't leave the dog in the car.
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