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If we were to say subjunctive mood in present tense construction, we would say "I wish you were dead". If I want to say it in past tense construction, what will it be? "I wished you were dead" or "I wished you had been dead"?

Also, is it possible to say in future construction? Ex- tomorrow in the party you will wish you knew dancing. Is this a a subjunctive mood construction?

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Google Books searches...

They wished they were never born
I wish I were never born
You will wish you were never born

But my advice is not to waste time on the English subjunctive. Native Anglophones have mostly abandoned it...

chart

They wished they had never been born
I wish I had never been born
You will wish you had never been born

...easy peasy, simple pimple!

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  • Thanks! Can you please share the link for the examples stated above? Also, is this a subjunctive? "You will wish you would die". I heard this line in a show. Was wondering if this falls under subjunctive.
    – Akshit Raj
    Commented Aug 2 at 6:21
  • Share "a link" for what examples? Each of the first "true subjunctive" examples (Past, Present, and Future) links to at least dozens of examples in Google Books. But as my chart clearly shows, comparatively they're not used very often. For Present non-negated contexts, I wish I was dead is now far more common than I wish I were dead, even if some purists still object. You can search Google Books yourself for the negating had never been born construction - that will return hundreds if not thousands of published examples.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 2 at 10:39
  • Are the examples at the bottom (using "had been") also examples of subjunctive mood? Or are they how natives speak now as subjunctive is no longer mainstream? Also, could you please explain the meaning of the very last sentence?
    – Akshit Raj
    Commented Aug 4 at 4:56
  • Well, technically speaking, I wish I had never been born is "past perfect subjunctive", for what use a label is. My point was that hardly anyone still uses the "traditional" subjunctive I wish I were never born. Despite my chart showing that I wish I was never born is more common than the traditional version, pedants disapprove of it. But ...had never been born was always fine, and like ...were never born, it works just the same in Past, Present, and Future contexts. So you don't really need ...were never born at all. It's easy!
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 4 at 9:59

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