I can't understand what's the difference between these sentences and which one is more correctly if (for example) during conversation with my friend I tell him about my wishing to make acquaintance with some person:
-
I wish I knew that guy
-
I wish I had known that guy
Best Answer
The first case means
(1) Right now you wish, contrary to fact, that you knew him (subjunctive)
or
(2) You generally wish that in the past you knew him, presumably before some other events that you are about to explain happened.
The second case has a sense of finality about the time period being discussed. You wish you had known him a particular point in the past but either it's no longer possible to know him or some other event has transpired such that knowing him now is no longer relevant. For example
or