Using "wish" to express regret in the present and in the past

I wish I have been there for the baby kicking for the first time?

Could I change the sentence to

I wish I was there for the baby kicking for the first time?

What are the differences between the two sentences?


Both sentences given are slightly incorrect, I’m afraid. I think the form you want is probably

I wish I had been there for…

(In speech or informal writing, this would often be contracted: “I wish I’d been there for…”) Also good, as Robusto said, is

I wish I could have been there for…

although this only works if your absence was unintentional — if you knew when to expect it and just chose not to go, this version doesn’t apply.

The versions

I wish I were there for…

I wish I was there for…

are appropriate for an event happening right now, not for something that happened in the past. You might have a phone conversation: “The baby is kicking right now!” “Oh! I wish I were there for it!”

The form

*I wish I have been there for…

isn’t correct for anything (although it’s a fairly common error among non-native speakers, and people wouldn’t have difficulty understanding it).


If you weren't there, you should say

I wish I could have been there the first time the baby kicked.

or

I wish I had been there the first time the baby kicked.

You're asking about the tenses, but notice that I changed the latter half of the sentence as well. To say "for the baby kicking for the first time" sounds kind of awkward.