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I have this confusion when I am trying to construct a sentence concerning the usage of the verb wish. I've tried to look up dictionaries, but I'm still perplexed because it has a lot of options. Anyway, which ones of these sentences are OK and natural? If none of these is correct, please, could you suggest the correct construction? Thanks in advance.

  1. I wish happiness on me.
  2. I wish for happiness to me.
  3. I wish me happiness.
  4. I wish myself happiness.

If you ask me why I think these sentences don't sound natural to me, it's about the usage between 'me' or 'myself' and again, the proposition that makes me doubt about the naturality of the sentence. I'm not able to choose which is which.

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    "I wish myself happiness" sounds natural, though I've never heard it said. The others don't. You could say, "I wish for happiness" or "I wish I were/was happy" or "I wish I could/might be happy" but we tend to wish other people happiness, not ourselves,
    – Old Brixtonian
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 14:38
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    We say "I wish I had..." or "I wish I could..." when referring to something specific, but general wishes for happiness and the like are, as Brixtonian says, normally directed to other people - you hope for such things for yourself.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 15:44

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Though I've never heard it said, "I wish myself happiness" sounds natural. The others don't.

You could say, "I wish for happiness" or "I wish I were/was happy" or "I wish I could/might be happy" but we tend to wish other people happiness, not ourselves. As Kate Bunting points out, we hope for such things for ourselves.

Before their exams we wish our friends good luck. Before our own exams we say, "Wish me luck!" and our friends reply, "Good luck!"

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