Wish and If Only

I wish = if only

Use wish and if only to express things which you would like to be different in the present or the past.

The present

In order to talk about things you would like to be different in the present use if only/wish followed by past simple, past continuous, could, or to be able to

If only/wish + past simple:

If only we had more money

I/we wish we had more money

If only/wish + past continuous

If only it was raining more

I wish it was raining more

If only/wish+ could/to be able to

If only we could help them

I wish we were able to help them

The past

In order to talk about things you would like to be different in the past use if only/wish followed by past perfect

If only/wish + past perfect:

If only we had locked the door

I wish she hadn't stolen our passports

Complaining about someone else's behaviour

Use wish followed by would when you want something to happen or when you want somebody to do something. The pronoun before and after wish must be different:

I wish you would stop criticizing me

They wish she would bring them their order finally