Yesterday I tried to help a native Chinese speaker use these words better: in Chinese, there is one common word which means both hope and wish, so she has trouble picking which one to use.
She originally said, while shopping, something like I hope these items are on sale.
I explained that she could say I wish these items were on sale
, I was hoping...
, or I had hoped...
But I couldn't really figure out the logic of why we use hope in the latter 2 cases but wish in the first case. Is there any logic here or should I just explain that it's an idiomatic thing she has to learn?
I don't need help with the alternate meanings of these words: those are easier to teach.