I wish I may/help

I wish I may/help
Message from nutmeg1906 posted on 13-11-2012 at 14:50:48 (D | E | F)
Hello!

I need your help, please.
A famous nursery rhyme says: "Star light, star bright / First star I see tonight, / I wish I may, I wish I might / Have the wish I wish tonight."
I could not find in grammar books the construction "wish + (that) + simple present" (e.g. "I wish it is sunny tomorrow"). I read that in these cases (expressing that you want something to happen in the future), we should use the verb "hope".
So, if the expression "I wish I might" follows the well-known rule "wish + simple past" (we want a situation in the present or future to be different), I don't know how to explain the expression "I wish I may".
Can you help me, please? Thank you!

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Edited by lucile83 on 14-11-2012 18:46

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Re: I wish I may/help from gerondif, posted on 13-11-2012 at 19:56:41 (D | E)
Hello,
"I wish" is followed by a subjunctive that is written just like a simple past expect for to be:
I wish I were rich. I wish I had a car. I wish he came.

It normally works that way:

1) You wish something to happen in the future and it is still possible:
I wish he would come to my party tomorrow night.

2) You wish something to happen now and you don't know if will happen or not:
I wish he came ! The party has begun !!

3) You regret something that didn't happen:
I wish he had come to the party last night.

Now let's look at "may"
it is a modal that has a future meaning although conjugated in what seems to be a present tense:
If we take the probability aspect:

It may rain, I may arrive late.
It might rain, I might arrive late. (It is even less likely, less probable)

If you take it with the meaning of permission, it is the equivalent of could.

Can I come in ?
Could I come in ?
May I come in ?
Might I come in ? (is less common)
I wonder if I might have a word with you !

When you say "May I come in ?" you ask for permission to come in but you don't come in, you wait to be allowed to, it will only happen later, this is why I think you can find:
"I wish I may see him" which means:
"I wish I could see him"
"I wish I were allowed to see him" , but you are right, it wouldn't work with another regular verb like : "I wish I eat something" which is wrong. You would have to say: "I wish I could eat something " "I wish I ate something now"
and at a pinch "I wish I may eat something now"

"I hope I will eat something soon" is of course easier to grasp.

I know I am cutting it rather thin but this is how I "feel" it!

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Re: I wish I may/help from nutmeg1906, posted on 14-11-2012 at 16:11:40 (D | E)
Thank you!

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