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
Hello Jembut,
It's possible to define a word using facts from the real world (breaking the speed limit is driving faster than the law allows) or by imagining a situation (breaking the speed limit would be driving 110 km/h in a place where the law allows only 90 km/h). Your first example is a hypothetical situation of this type.
In your second example 'would' is used to add a degree of politeness. You could use 'will' insread, but the sentence would be more direct then.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Jembut,
Would here has a hypothetical meaning - I am talking about a sentence which you did not say.
I don't think I would use 'is' here but that's not to say that it is not possible. Using 'is' would suggest that you see the sentence as a real sentence which exists (in your 'mental box' of sentences, say) but which you have chosen not to deploy. It's really a question of how the speaker wishes to present the language.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
I'm sure "would" in your sentence is hypothetical.
Using 'is' would suggest that you see the sentence as a real sentence which exists...
But I think it's not wrong to say without "would": "using 'is' suggest that you see the sentence as real sentence whicb exists".
But the choise is difficult as to whether I should "is" or "would".
Hello Selet,
I think it's better to say that 'would' indicates a hypothetical situation in this case. In other words, if you were in a hunting context, a brace of birds would be two birds that someone had hunted.
'hypothetical' means something like 'imaginary'. 'might' refers to a possibility, which in a way is also imaginary, but in English we make a distinction between an imagined (hypothetical) situation and possibility.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Dwishiren,
I'm just replying for Kirk :)
It's a bit tricky to see the meaning of these modal verbs in isolated sentences like the ones you mentioned. As you probably know, modal verbs have several different meanings, and some uses are more common than others. Even if would and might can both mean possibility, I think might is more typically used for this meaning.
Going back to Selet's original example, I agree with Kirk that would indicates a hypothetical situation. Notice a slight difference between these phrases.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Jembut,
If I understand the context correctly, I'd say it's talking about hypothetical situation. In other words, the speaker is imagining an informal situation and is imagining what it would be like.
Hope this helps. If I've misunderstood, please explain in more detail.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello amit_ck,
All three of those forms are possible here; each suggests that the speaker is thinking about the situation in a slightly different way. 'wouldn't', for example, being more hypothetical, could suggest the speaker sees it as unlikely, but in many cases it could also simply be a more polite way of making the request. (One way in which we express politeness in English is to speak about a hypothetical situation, which is considered to be less of an imposition.)
The other two forms, being more immediate, are generally less polite, though not necessarily rude.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Crokong,
Would is used because the speaker is not talking about a particular penalty in reality but rather an imagined perfect penalty.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Crokong,
Yes, it is imagined. You are not describing a real penalty but rather an imagined perfect penalty.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Plokonyo,
It's difficult to talk about sentences without knowing what situation they're supposed to be used in and particularly when they're just made up, but I'll try to make a few points that I think will help you. Please know, however, that we just don't have the time to do this very often for our users.
A. This sounds a little unnatural to me. If the idea is they reached the oasis by walking, I'd say 'They reached the oasis by walking across the desert' or perhaps 'They walked through the desert all day to reach the oasis'. It depends on how the sentence fits in with the rest of the narrative.
B. Yes, 'having been walking' is a grammatical form, but is quite unusual and doesn't really work here. You could say 'Having walked across the desert all day, they reached the oasis'. You can read more about this structure on our participle clauses page.
If in B you were asking about the word 'would', here it's used to express a hypothetical situation, i.e. 'If I said this, it would be OK'.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Gendeng,
Would is often used to express preferences or choices in phrases like I'd like (I would like), I'd say, I'd choose, I'd want, I'd prefer etc.
Grammatically speaking, you could argue that the if-clause should have a past form (If we wanted...) but I think the best way to look at would here is in the context of expressing an opinion or preference.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Dwishiren,
No, actually it doesn't mean 'possibly' here. It shows that this is an imagined situation - the speaker is not talking about any particular description of a game that has taken place.
Another explanation is that the speaker is giving advice to the reader, and using 'would' to give the advice has the effect of making it seem less direct and more polite.
I hope that helps!
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Dwishiren,
Would here is used to suggest a hypothetical alternative. You can imagine an implied if-clause: if you wanted to use a different word.
You could use a simple present form instead: Alternatives to kiss are...
This describes the matter from a vocabulary point of view. It is a description of the language rather than a description of what a person might want to do. In this context, of course, the difference is minimal.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Jembut,
Would implies a hypothetical or imaginary situation here. If someone had produced a booming strike then you could say 'that booming strike was a really hard shot'. If you're speaking hypothetically then would is used.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Crokong,
It's not really about probability. Would is used for uncertain or tentative propositions and because of this it sounds more polite in requests and proposals than will.
For example:
The first sentence is very direct and sounds more like an instruction than a suggestion. The second sentence is more tentative and hence sounds much more like a polite recommendation or suggestion.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi melvinthio,
Sentence 1 sounds like it is describing a promise or a commitment that you have already made. Sentence 2 seems more like a hypothetical situation, i.e., you have not actually promised or committed to help him, but you would do that if he helps you. Sentence 2 conveys more uncertainty than sentence 1 about whether this whole situation will actually happen or not, because it uses would.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi melvinthio,
I’ll list the three sentences here again:
About your question [1], sentence 2 doesn’t mean that the speaker is unsure what he/she will do later. (That is the meaning of might, e.g. If he helps me, I might return the favour). If the speaker says I would return the favour, he/she is definitely willing to do that, given that the condition (if he helps me) is fulfilled.
About question [2], it is unclear whether sentence 2 is describing:
It's unclear because sentence 2 has the if-clause of a first conditional, and the main clause of a second conditional. You are right to note that the if-clauses are the same in sentences 1 and 2. However, it is important to note that to understand each sentence, we need to interpret what the two clauses mean in relation to each other, not separately. That’s because the actions in the two clauses are logically connected (a condition and a result). This is why I wrote that sentence 2 is more uncertain than sentence 1. It’s not only about the would clause, because the would clause depends on the if-clause. If the if-clause describes a real future but the main clause describes an unreal future, the sentence overall is ambiguous about whether the condition-result belong to a real or unreal future, and the listener will have to use other information (e.g. the context in which it is said) to interpret whether this is a real or unreal offer to return the favour.
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi melvinthio,
Is it grammatically right? This is a simple question with a complicated answer :)
The answer depends on your view about what grammar is, and what it is for. Some people think of grammar as a set of rules which people must follow. In this point of view, the sentence is incorrect, since:
On the other hand, some people see grammar as a way to describe (not prescribe) how people actually use language in real life, including new and creative ways that may not be traditionally regarded as correct. In this point of view, it can be considered correct, because:
Another thing to consider is the situation. One way to judge correctness is the appropriateness in the situation. In a discussion about a legal contract or in a language exam, for instance, when there is an expectation that a person should speak very clearly and precisely, I wouldn’t recommend saying that sentence, since the meaning is ambiguous. But in ordinary conversation, I think it would be fine.
What do you think?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi melvinthio,
I’m assuming you mean the most common meaning of ever: at any time. Actually, I wouldn't use ever in these sentences, except perhaps [1].
In [1], ever is redundant because any of the books already gives the idea of 'at any time'. So, I would delete it, but it's OK to keep ever if you want to specially emphasise the 'at any time' idea.
[2] refers to a particular discussion, so ever doesn’t fit the meaning. The discussion happened at some particular time (not at any time), even if the time is not stated here or I may not know or remember when it happened.
In [3] and [4] too, ever doesn't fit the meaning. If you are sure he has phoned her or you think we have met before, these events must have happened at some time (not at any time).
I hope that helps! If you have any more questions about ever, please post them on our Present perfect or Perfect aspect pages. We can continue the conversation there :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mussorie,
I'm afraid it's impossible to say how possible or probable it is without being the person who says this and knowing the situation he or she is in. It could, for example, be that two people with a limited budget are discussing whether to go visit an expensive city; in this case, they're talking about a possibility which could be something they're really considering, or it could be just a dream -- that is, very unlikely. Only the context and the speaker's perception determine this.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mussorie,
I'm not sure what you mean by 'present tense aspect', but we can certainly use would to describe both unlikely and entirely imaginary situations:
If you have a different context in mind then we'll be happy to comment, of course.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Mussorie,
Please provide a concrete example of what you have in mind (an example sentence). I think it will be much clearer if we are looking at something concrete rather than speaking in abstract terms.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rsb,
I think what they usually say is I'd [would] like to thank..., which is a common way to express an intention,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rsb,
I agree with what Peter said about what people often say when they accept awards. I wouldn't say that 'would' is used to express a present time. In general, 'I would read' is speaking about an imaginary time, not a real moment in time. I suppose you could call it an imaginary present time in some cases, but it's impossible to say without more context and I wouldn't generally recommend thinking of it that way.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rsb,
It sounds to me as if you understand this.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team