“I wish you'd told me sooner.”

Your department is working on a long-term project that is supposed to be completed two days from now. One of your employees comes to your office to tell you that there is a problem, and he thinks the project will be delayed an extra 3 or 4 days. Angrily, you say this because you think that someone should have warned you of the delay before this point.

I wish you'd told me sooner.

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I wish (something) had (happened)

This phrase is used as a polite way to complain to someone about the way that something happened in the past.

"I wish" is a way to talk about the things that you want but aren't possible or likely. When you use "I wish" to talk about things that have already happened, you are saying the way that you would like to change the past:

I wish Aiden had asked me before buying it.

I wish you'd called me first.

A similar way to criticize someone's actions or decisions is "Why didn't you ___?":

Why didn't you tell me sooner?

"I wish you'd ___" is more polite-sounding, but at the same time more disappointed and critical-sounding than "Why didn't you ___?"

tell (someone)

The word "tell" is always connected to two pieces of information: who you're telling something to, and what you're telling that person:

I wish you'd told me that you were leaving sooner.

In this example, "me" is object (who) and "that you were leaving" is the information (what).

Sometimes you can leave out the second part if the listener already knos what you're talking about:

Why didn't you tell me?

(do something) soon

"Soon" and "early" are similar, but they measure time from different points.

"Soon" measures the time after something. That can be after now:

I'm leaving soon.

Or it can be after a point in the past, like the point when the employee noticed that there would be a problem:

Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?

"Early" measures the time before something, like before now or before the time when something is going to start:

Let's go. I want to get there early.