This sentence pertains to a movie I watched:
- I wish I watched it with subtitles.
- I wish I had watched it with subtitles.
What effect does adding had have on the sentence? Are both sentences correct? Is one form preferred over the other?
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in this type of sentence the main verbs are in their preterite forms not to mark past time, but because you are talking about a situation contrary to fact (this is the "modal" use of the preterite). the reason the second one is more clear is because the first is ambiguous between a case where you habitually watch the same movie without subtitles (and regret this habit of yours) and one where you watched a movie once in the past without subtitles (and regret this choice). in the second one the auxiliary have indicates that you are dealing with a single, completed action.– user31341Jan 26, 2014 at 4:04
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1 Answer
The first example is often used in informal speech.
However, I did not actually watch it with subtitles. Therefore a suggestion that I should have calls for a subjunctive construction.
The second is the preferred grammatical construct, the pluperfect subjunctive.
