Would Rather

WOULD RATHER / SOONER It is used to: Describe preferences politely: I’d sooner you gave me money. (m’estimaria més que em donessis...) Give / refuse permission politely: I’d sooner you didn’t smoke in here. (m’estimaria més que no fumessis...) To make suggestions politely: I’d sooner we went out tonight. (m’estimaria més que sortíssim...) (Els temps verbals equivalen al imperfet de subjuntiu català) Even though we are talking about the present or future we use the past simple in these situations. However, if the speaker is the same as the subject of the preference we use an infinitive instead: I’d rather spend the money on music (m’estimaria més gastar-me...) Aquí el temps verbal equival a un infinitiu català. In the sentences: She went on holiday with her friend, though we’d rather she had come with us. (ens haguessim estimat més...) She found out from Jerry, but I’d sooner have told her myself. (m’hagués estimat més dir-li-ho jo / haver-li-ho dit jo) We are talking about past actions. When we talk about the past and the speaker and the subject of the preference are not the same the past perfect is used. Otherwise we use the infinitive (as in Catalan). *********** We use “I wish... would” when we want something to happen or when we want somebody to do something . The speaker is not happy with the present situation. We use this expression for ACTIONS not for SITUATIONS. I wish Sara would come but I wish Sara were /was here. I wish somebody would buy me a car but I wish I had a car.