Level: beginner
We use will:
- to express beliefs about the present or future
- to talk about what people want to do or are willing to do
- to make promises, offers and requests.
would is the past tense form of will. Because it is a past tense, it is used:
- to talk about the past
- to talk about hypotheses (when we imagine something)
- for politeness.
Beliefs
We use will to express beliefs about the present or future:
John will be in his office. (present)
We'll be late. (future)
We will have to take the train. (future)
We use would as the past of will, to describe past beliefs about the future:
I thought we would be late, so we would have to take the train.
Willingness
We use will:
- to talk about what people want to do or are willing to do:
We'll see you tomorrow.
Perhaps Dad will lend me the car.
- to talk about typical behaviour, things that we often do (because we are willing to do them):
We always spend our holidays at our favourite hotel at the seaside. We'll get up early every morning and have a quick breakfast then we'll go across the road to the beach.
We use would as the past tense of will:
- to talk about what people wanted to do or were willing to do in the past:
We had a terrible night. The baby wouldn't go to sleep.
Dad wouldn't lend me the car, so we had to take the train.
- to talk about typical behaviour, things that we often did (because we were willing to do them) in the past:
When they were children they used to spend their holidays at their grandmother's at the seaside. They'd get up early every morning and have a quick breakfast. Then they'd run across the road to the beach.
Promises, offers and requests
We use I will or We will to make promises and offers:
I'll give you a lift home after the party.
We'll come and see you next week.
We use Will you … ? or Would you … ? to make requests:
Will you carry this for me, please?
Would you please be quiet?
- will and would 1
- will and would 2
- will and would 3
Level: intermediate
Hypotheses and conditionals
We use will in conditionals to say what we think will happen in the present or future:
I'll give her a call if I can find her number.
You won't get in unless you have a ticket.
We use would to make hypotheses:
- when we imagine a situation:
It would be very expensive to stay in a hotel.
I would give you a lift, but my wife has the car today.
- in conditionals:
I would give her a call if I could find her number.
If I had the money, I'd buy a new car.
You would lose weight if you took more exercise.
If he got a new job, he would probably make more money.
What if he lost his job? What would happen then?
We also use conditionals to give advice :
Dan will help you if you ask him.
Past tenses are more polite:
Dan would help you if you asked him.
- will and would: hypotheses and conditionals
See also: Verbs in time clauses and conditionals
Level: beginner
Expressions with would
We use:
- would you…, would you mind (not) -ing for requests:
Would you carry this for me, please?
Would you mind carrying this?
Would you mind not telling him until tomorrow?
- would you like ..., would you like to ... for offers and invitations:
Would you like another drink?
Would you like to come round tomorrow?
- I would like …, I'd like … (you)(to) ... to say what we want or what we want to do:
I'd like that one, please.
I'd like to go home now.
- I'd rather… (= I would rather) to say what we prefer:
I'd rather have the new one, not the old one.
I don't want another drink. I'd rather go home.
- I would think, I would imagine, I'd guess to give an opinion when we are not sure or when we want to be polite:
It's very difficult, I would imagine.
I would think that's the right answer.
- Expressions with would 1
- Expressions with would 2
Hi LitteBlueGreat,
Actually, it's not a conditional meaning. There's no condition (if clause) stated or implied, and would doesn't have the hypothetical meaning that it has in conditional sentences (see "Hypotheses and conditionals" section above).
So, what's the meaning of would here? It shows typical behaviour in the past (see the "Willingness" section above). The sentence means that a man usually or typically shivered when soap stung his eye, and the speaker shivered in the same way.
It's quite a complicated sentence! Does it make sense?
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello rosario70,
I'm afraid I don't understand your question. If you're asking a question about a specific sentence, could you please put the question inside quotation marks (") or inverted commas (')?
Thanks in advance.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi rosario70,
Thanks, now I understand your question. I'm afraid I can't explain the sentence you ask about ('If not having your support I couldn't have got that achievement') because it is not correct. If it's something you heard, it could be that the speaker changed their mind as they were speaking and so it came out like this.
Your version of the sentence is grammatically correct. If you're interested, what I'd probably write is 'I couldn't have achieved that without your support'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello rosario70,
It's not standard English (whether in the US or elsewhere) to use would have after if, so the first example you provide is not one I would draw conclusions from in terms of grammar. Remember that language is often used in non-standard ways. People makes mistakes or may have a particular dialect which is non-standard outside of their region or community.
Your second sentence is also non-standard. Since the killing was in the past you would need to use If he had not used... for the condition here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Harry de ZHANG,
Interesting question!
What you suggested makes sense: you will lose weight if you take more exercise / you're bound to lose some weight if you work hard. These are both first conditionals, meaning that the speaker thinks the situation is a realistic possibility.
But the sentence in the 'Hypotheses' section above has a different meaning. It means we think the whole situation is unlikely to happen, including the cause (working hard). Will this person actually take more exercise and work hard? The verb forms (You would lose weight if you took more exercise) show that the speaker doubts that this person will work hard in the first place. It's not just commenting on what the result of working hard may be.
So, both versions of the sentence are correct and meaningful. Which one a speaker uses depends on how likely they think the whole situation is. Does that make sense?
You're right, question 9 in the exercise wasn't right. I'll edit the exercise now. Thanks a lot :)
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
That's great, Harry :)
Best wishes,
Jonathan
Hi pathi,
Yes, using If I win ... (first conditional) shows that you see this as a realistic possibility. But if you are not sure about buying a car, I would use might here. Might shows uncertainty.
If you say ... I would buy a car, it means that you are sure about doing this (if the condition, i.e. winning the lottery, is fulfilled).
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Gendeng,
It's hard to say without knowing the context in which the sentence appears. It could be a suggestion about the future or a statement of regret about something which is not possible, for example.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Stonehead1,
Would has many uses, but if we are talking about its use to describe hypothetical situations then I think seeing it as having a less than 50% likelihood in the speaker's view is accurate, and this is the same in the UK and the US, and everywhere else in the English-speaking world as far as I am aware.
There are some things to bear in mind, however.
First, remember that this is a subjective assessment. In other words, it is how the speaker sees the action, not how likely it really is. If I am a mad optimist then I may think my chances of winning a lottery are very high, even if they are extremely low in reality.
Second, remember that it is not the action that is unlikely per se, but the condition which causes it. For example:
In the first sentence, the forgiving is certain if the condition is met. However, the condition (that she says sorry) is unlikely in the speaker's eyes.
In the second sentence, the condition is implied: if you asked me. It is this condition which is unlikely: I would tell you not to take the job, if you asked me (but I know you won't ask me).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello StoneHead1,
No, the reply is not being discussed or delayed. We are a small team here and it sometimes takes us some time to reply. Please be patient - we will get around to replying but there are other comments ahead in the queue. Posting reminders to us only delays the process.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again StoneHead1,
1) I don't think you can put percentages on words in this way. More likely than not vs less likely than not is the distinction; anything more specific than this really subjective and a question of style and rhetoric, and can be expressed though lexical choice, intonation, facial expression etc.
2) In my earlier answer I began by saying 'Would has many uses...'. Expression hypothetical meaning is one use, but there are others, as outlined on this page. The Collins definition/explanation/summary is an example of a different use. Of course, there is often an underlying concept which ties the various uses together, but languages develop organically so that the way a word is used may be quite far from its original conceptual root.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Stonehead1,
Your comment was read and considered. It was not published in the comments section because it was not a language-related comment, but rather a message to the team who run the site.
As I said, we are a small team here at LearnEnglish providing a service free of charge for many users around the world. It sometimes takes a few days to answer questions and we ask only for patience from our users.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Crokong,
I'm afraid I'm not sure I understand all of your questions. I'll answer what I can, but please ask again if I've missed something.
In A, 'could' is correct and 'can' is not. This is because you are clearly talking about an imaginary or hypothetical situation ('If I had ...' shows this), and in such a situation, you need to use 'would' or 'could' in the other clause.
As I stated earlier, 'can' is not correct when speaking about an unreal situation.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Crokong,
I'm sorry, but I don't understand your question. Could you please first write out the complete the sentence you are asking about, then tell me which word or phrase you are asking about, and then ask the question about it.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Gendeng,
I'm not sure where these sentences are from, but if they are things you heard native speakers say, they're probably just mistakes -- when we speak, we often change our thinking as we speak and so we sometimes use non-standard forms. You can even find non-standard forms such as these in writing, but I wouldn't take them as models.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Dwishiren,
My explanation describes a hypothetical situation, similar to the conditional form you mention: If you used this, it would mean...
It's quite common for the if-clause to be omitted like this:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Dwishiren,
Yes, that's correct. Well done.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Dwishiren,
You could use will to give advice like this. I chose would because I imagine we're describing a hypothetical situation. If you asked me about what you should say during a meeting tomorrow then I would use will because we would be talking about a real situation and not just speaking hypothetically.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Hayder991,
Real in this context means something that we consider possible, likely or plausible.
Unreal means the opposite.
Sometimes the choice is clear:
I'm not a dog and so this is clearly an unreal situation!
I know at some point I'll finish, so it's just a question of time.
Sometimes the choice is a question of perspective:
I'm an optimist. I think there's a chance of this.
I don't see this as a realistic possibility.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Hayder991,
In situations 1, 2, 3 and 5, 'would' is used to speak about a hypothetical or unreal situation. In other words, they are situations that the speaker is imagining. Situation 4 is similar and note how 'would' is used to make an indirect (and therefore polite) request here.
In the future, could you please tell us what you think about each of these, and then we can confirm them for you? Think of it as an opportunity for you to try to make sense of the sentences using the explanations on the page.
Thanks in advance for your understanding.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Akihiko520,
You can use the simple present in your first two sentences, but there is a change in meaning. If you say It is wrong... and The slightest sound breaks... then you are talking about generally true situations; if you use would then you are speculating about a possible (but unlikely) concrete situation.
In the third sentence, will is grammatically possible but, again, the meaning changes. Would describes an imaginary, unlikely or hypothetical situation; will describes a real, likely or plausible situation.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi again Akihiko520,
Yes, one possible context is that the speaker thinks the person is unlikely to get the job for whatever reason.
For the second sentence, it's enough that the speaker thinks that there is little chance of any sound, but that it would break his concentration in the unlikely event of any sound occurring.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello cms10,
Would expresses a request. It means the speaker wants to be carried and wants the other person to do it.
Could expresses ability. It means the speaker wants to know if the other person is capable of carrying him or her. Of course, requests can be oblique rather than direct, so a question with could may also be a request, depending on the context.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team