Expressing a Wish or a Regret — English Bac SMB

ضمن برنامج بكالوريا SMB

English carries a coefficient of 2 in the Bac Sciences Maths B (SMB) stream, level with Philosophy. Mathematics dominates the stream (coefficient 9), followed by Physics-Chemistry and Engineering Sciences (coefficient 7 each), so English can look marginal — but it and Philosophy form the narrow margin where rankings and honours are actually decided. Reading, language and guided writing are all assessed.

في الامتحان

Three parts: Reading Comprehension, Language, and Writing (a guided text of about 180 words). SMB candidates, trained to be rigorous and systematic, do well on the Language section if they treat each grammar point as a rule with a fixed structure; the risk is a dry essay that ignores vocabulary range and register, which the Writing section also scores.

أهداف التعلم

Apply this grammar point accurately in the Language section and in the guided writing of the Bac SMB English exam (coefficient 2)
Express a wish about the present with wish + past simple
Express a regret about the past with wish + past perfect
Express a wish for someone else to change their behaviour with wish + would
Use if only for a stronger wish or regret, with the same tense rules as wish

المفاهيم الأساسية

Wish about the present: wish + past simple

wish + past simple describes something you would like to be different NOW: “I wish I knew the answer.” (I don't know it). Use were for all subjects: “I wish I were taller.”

Regret about the past: wish + past perfect

wish + past perfect describes a regret about something that did or did not happen: “I wish I had studied harder.” (I didn't). “I wish I hadn't said that.” (I did say it).

Wish + would and if only

wish + would expresses a wish for someone else to change an annoying habit: “I wish you would stop interrupting me.” if only works exactly like wish but is more emphatic: “If only I had listened!”

الأخطاء الشائعة

Using a present tense after wish for a present wish: “I wish I know” is wrong — use “I wish I knew”.

Using wish + would about yourself: you cannot wish yourself would do something — for your own future intention use a different structure (“I hope I will…”).

Confusing wish + past simple (present wish) with wish + past perfect (past regret): “I wish I studied” (now) vs “I wish I had studied” (then).

مثال محلول

نص السؤال

A student says after the exam: “I did not revise the passive voice.” Turn this into a regret using wish, and into an emphatic version using if only.

التصحيح

Identify the time. The exam is over: this is a regret about the past → wish + past perfect.

Build the wish. “I wish I had revised the passive voice.”

Emphatic version with if only. “If only I had revised the passive voice!”

افهم الدرس، ثم تدرب.

ينشئ Orka تمارين وامتحانات تجريبية مصححة تغطي برنامج اللغة الإنجليزية في بكالوريا SMB، مع تتبع تقدمك درساً بعد درس (وفق حدود عرضك).

تابع مجاناً مع Orka

3 تمارين للتدرب

التمرين 1

Easy

Complete: “I wish I ___ how to swim.” (know / knew / had known) — a present wish

عرض التصحيح

knew — wish + past simple for a wish about the present.

التمرين 2

Medium

Rewrite as a past regret: “I ate too much at dinner.”

عرض التصحيح

“I wish I hadn't eaten so much at dinner.” — wish + past perfect (negative) for a regret about a past action.

التمرين 3

Hard

Correct: “I wish you will stop making noise, and I wish I studied medicine last year.”

عرض التصحيح

Two errors: for someone else's habit use wish + would (“I wish you would stop making noise”); for a past regret use wish + past perfect (“I wish I had studied medicine last year”).

تعمق أكثر في هذا الدرس

أكثر من 50 تمريناً تفاعلياً في هذا الدرس

تمارين يولدها الذكاء الاصطناعي ويصححها خطوة بخطوة حسب مستواك.

تسجيل الدخول مطلوب

اختبار ذكي متكيف

أسئلة تتكيف تلقائياً مع إجاباتك الصحيحة وأخطائك.

تسجيل الدخول مطلوب

تصحيح امتحانات سابقة مرتبطة بالدرس

مواضيع من الامتحانات الوطنية والجهوية السابقة.

تسجيل الدخول مطلوب

خطة مراجعة شخصية

ترتب أولوية هذا الدرس حسب تقدمك الحقيقي في الشعبة.

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بطاقات مراجعة الدرس

الصيغ والتعريفات الأساسية لمراجعة سريعة.

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مدرس ذكي بالدارجة

اطرح أسئلتك حول الدرس واحصل على شرح فوري.

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الأسئلة الشائعة

Why is were used with I after wish?

wish takes the same unreal past as the second conditional, where were replaces was for all subjects in careful style: “I wish I were…”, like “If I were…”.

What is the difference between wish and hope?

hope is about something still possible in the future (“I hope you pass”); wish is about something contrary to the present or past reality (“I wish I had passed”).

Is if only interchangeable with wish?

Yes, with the same tense rules, but if only is more emphatic and often stands as an exclamation on its own: “If only I had known!”

A maths-stream student often dislikes English — how do they raise the mark?

Treat it as structure. Every writing task = introduction + argument + counter-argument + conclusion; every grammar point = one rule + one correct example + one typical mistake. Memorise that framework, apply it to the 31 chapters with two example sentences each, and 12/20 is reachable without eating into the heavy maths programme.

Is this grammar point actually tested on the Bac SMB English paper?

Yes — in the Language section as gap-fill, sentence-joining or error-correction, and indirectly in Writing, where the same structures decide whether a sentence is marked as accurate. One rule, two examples and one typical mistake per point is enough to cover both.