In school we learned that the past tense of "to be" for "he" is "was". But now I stumbled upon the following phrase on the internet:
He wishes he were born rich.
Why is "were" instead of "was" used here? What is the exact rule?
Asked
Active
Viewed 34 times
0
-
2Does this answer your question? Why is it "If I were you" and not "If I was you"? Also more specifically, "I wish I was" vs. "I wish I were", but all the answers to that one are in comments, so I can't cite it as the primary duplicate. – FumbleFingers Jan 03 '22 at 16:45
-
@FumbleFingers yes, thank you! :) – manifestor Jan 03 '22 at 16:46
-
Ah - so you didn't need that second link anyway! :) – FumbleFingers Jan 03 '22 at 16:47
-
This "were" is not a tense form, but a mood form, sometimes called 'irrealis', indicating that it conveys varying degrees of remoteness from factuality. The irrealis mood form "were" is unique to be, and limited to the 1st and 3rd person singular. It's an untidy relic of an earlier system, and some speakers usually, if not always, use preterite "was" instead. – BillJ Jan 03 '22 at 17:06