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 Kirk. I want to make suggestion to my friend. It's better to put money in the bank.
I suppose a bank will/would be a good place to put money.
Hello Dwishiren,
If your friend had the money ready and is looking to do something with it (a real situation, if you wish) then 'will' is more likely.
If you are talking hypothetically (your friend doesn't have the money or is really unsure if they want to do anything with it) then 'would' is probably more likely.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Why does it have "would" in this sentence? Why not say "three teams will be ...?" Here's an explanation about the phrase "two-horse race".
(a) Two-horse race
A close or tight battle between two teams for the title (three teams would be a three-horse race, and so on).
Hello Nyenok,
Since this is a definition of a two-horse race, a race with three teams is hypothetical and so we use 'would' to express this idea.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hi Kirk, what is the hypothetical in the use of "would"? Hypothetical? What is it?
Hello Nyenok,
That's what dictionaries are for!
'hypothetical' means that it refers to a situation or person or thing that doesn't exist (in the common sense of the word). In this case, we are talking about a two-horse race. To talk about a three-horse race is something that doesn't apply to this situation; it applies to a situation that doesn't exist in the context we are talking about. That's why it's hypothetical.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Which should I use, will or would in this dialogue?
Mbutt: What does "taking it back" mean? What does "it" mean?
Thomas: You haven't given us the context, Mbutt. That will/ would help us answer this question.
Hi Jembut,
They are both good. Using "will" means that Thomas assumes that Mbutt is going to subsequently give the context (i.e., it is a real action). Using "would" means that Thomas does not assume that, so the action is not yet real. It's just something imagined or hypothetical at this point. In terms of social interaction, using "would" puts less pressure on Mbutt to actually provide an answer, and for that reason it may seem more polite when compared to "will".
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Thank you, Jonathan. You said "Using "will" means that Thomas assumes that Mbutt is going to subsequently give the context (i.e., it is a real action).".
Could you give an example sentence about Thomas assumes that Mbutt is going to subsequently give the context? How is the scanario?
Hi Jembut,
The context is the expectation that Thomas seems to have. Perhaps Thomas knows that Mbutt regularly asks questions of this kind and Thomas therefore assumes that Mbutt is likely to respond. Or perhaps Thomas prefers to request this information in a direct way, rather than a less direct way using "would", or even uses "will" to show his own intention to help by responding further. As outsiders to this conversation, we cannot know Thomas' exact reason for sure.
If I may suggest, have you considered asking Thomas directly about his word choice?
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Today would have been the birthday of our FA Cup winning captain, Jack Nicholas.
I'm wondering why the sentence is not writen "Today is the birthday of our FA Cul winning captain, Jack Nicholas". Why use "would have?"
Hello Gendeng,
I suppose because Nicklaus is retired and not participating in whatever event is being talked about. The speaker is probably thinking of what it would have been like for Nicklaus to be there and so uses 'would have' to show this.
But you are right, you could say 'Today is his birthday' and that is also correct, especially considering that Nicklaus is still alive. But even if he weren't, we could still use 'is'.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
How does "will" function in this sentence? I think this sentence is imagining a situation. Why not say "you would find "up" has many uses" and "you would find the meaning ..."?
You will find 'up' has many, many uses and I'm sure you will find the meaning if you're familiar with this usage
Hello Plokonyo,
This sounds like a prediction to me, but without knowing the context I can't say for sure. It's important to think about the speaker's point of view on what they're saying to understand how the verb forms work.
I'm guessing this is from a comment that I or another member of the team wrote, but I'm afraid I don't remember the context.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
I don't understand the word "less direct". What does it mean? This is realated to the use of "would".
We often use would with verbs such as advise, imagine, recommend, say, suggest, think to make what we say less direct.
I’d advise you to keep working on your grammar.
We'd suggest that you take this route. It's more scenic.
Hello Selet,
Here is a command, which is a direct statement:
Here are some examples of less direct statements. They are not commands, but instead suggestions:
Since we don't give someone a command, but still want them to do something, we say these statements are less direct.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Thanks Kirk. I get i it now. But why do we add the word "would" although the sentences are less direct.
I suggest you study the material in at least three separate sessions. (Less direct)
Your example sentences are less direct although there is no the word "would", while my English grammar book says with verbs suggest, recommend, advice, etc. indicate whay we say "less direct". What is the difference?
I suggest you study the material in at least three separate sessions.
I would suggest you study the material in at least three separate sessions
Hello Selet,
I'm glad that makes sense.
You are right in thinking that 'would' is only one of many ways of being less direct. In 'If I were you, I would study the material in at least three separate sessions', we use 'would' because the sentence is speaking about an imaginary or hypothetical situation, i.e. the situation when I am in your place instead of you. This imaginary situation is less direct because we are not referring to a real (direct) situation and making a command; we are imagining a situation and suggesting there is a similarity between it and the real situation someone is in.
In the other sentences I wrote, the verb forms in the dependent clauses depend on the primary verbs. For example, when we use 'suggest', the verbs that come after it (in the dependent clause) can only go in a few different forms. In this case, I used subject + base form (e.g. 'I suggest you (subject) study (base form)'). It's also possible to say 'suggest' and an '-ing' form: 'I suggest studying'.
The verbs after 'advise' can also go in the '-ing' form ('I advise studying'), but if a subject is mentioned, the verb goes in the 'to'-infinitive form ('I advise you to study').
Verbs like 'suggest' and 'advise' can be put in groups based on the grammatical structures that follow them. You can find some of these on the following pages:
I hope this helps you make sense of it.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hello. I see Peter M use "would" when asnweing a question from someone else on the page about "conditional". In the sentence "A more natural phrasing would be...", how does "would" work?
Hello again User_1,
PeterM: I see. In that case the answer is no. Generally, 'hope' implies a possible rather than a hypothetical situation so we would use 'will':
If the weather makes things change, I hope you'll remember...
I think the first part is rather awkward, incidentally. A more natural phrasing would be something like 'If the weather changes/improves)...' or 'If your plans change because of the weather
Hello whitekrystal,
'Would' is very common when giving advice as we put ourselves in the other person's position and imagine how we *would* react if we were them. You can imagine an if-clause like 'If we needed to say this...'
There are other ways to give advice, of course, but this is a very common one.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thanks sir. "Would" when used to give advice, it sounds polite, doesn't it? Can "will" also be used for advice?
I will appreciate it if you can help me move all these stuff.
Hello whitekrystal,
Yes, as Peter explained, it is possible to use 'would' in a conditional structure to give advice in a polite way. Another common way of giving advice is with 'should'.
'will' is not generally appropriate for giving advice. It can be part of a wish (e.g. 'I hope you'll pass your exam'), but in that case it is part of an expression with 'I hope', which gives a flavour to what follows it.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hi everyone. Could you explain what's the meaning of "would" ik this sentence?
Good afternoon and welcome to Sports Mole's live commentary of the Premier League encounter between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United. The clash is crucial at both ends of the table, with Wolves currently sitting in the bottom three, while victory for United would move Sir Alex Ferguson's side four points clear of Manchester City at the summit.
Hello whitekrystal,
It's speaking about a hypothetical situation that depends on a condition. If Man United wins the match (this is the condition), they will move up in position, more specifically four points ahead of Manchester City (this is the situation depending on the condition). It's possible to use both 'will' and 'would' in this case. The difference is that 'would' makes it more hypothetical, somehow more abstract. But the meaning is essentially the same.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Thanks, Kirk. So in this case, "will" is better because the situation is real, isn't it? Before the match no one knows who will definitely win. However "would" is also possible in that sentence because we're talking about a hypothetical situation. This makes me puzzled because when imagining a situation, I usually use "would".
Hello whitekrystal,
Yes, it sounds to me as if you understand this. I wouldn't say 'will' is better, but it's certainly possible to use 'will' in this case, and I probably would have used 'will' if it were me speaking.
With conditional sentences, the way the speaker views the situation is crucial. For example, in talking about a lottery, where I have only an extremely small chance of winning, I can still talking about winning it and therefore use 'will'. It may seem completely unreasonable to do this from a purely statistical point of view, but I can choose to view it as I wish and use 'would'.
Similarly, in theory I can use 'would' when most people would choose 'will'.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
A: Let me help you with your homework.
B: That will/would be great.
Will or would? Which is correct in the sentence above?
Hello Selet,
Both options are perfectly fine here. It's really a question of personal preference and style – I don't see any difference in meaning.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
My friend says "will" would be wrong here. There are cases where it would sound OK. For example:
A "I'll be at your place by noon."
B "That'll be great, it will give us plenty of time to get the train".
What do you think sir?
Hello Teachers,
I have a question about this sentence:
John will be in his office. (present)
why it is present?
thank you for your help in advance
Hi ShE,
Actually, this sentence can refer to the future (e.g. John will be in his office tomorrow) or the present (e.g. John will be in his office now).
About the present meaning, we can use will to express a belief about the present. If I say John will be in his office now, I'm expressing what I believe to be true. Saying "John will be ..." (instead of a factual statement such as "John is ...") shows that I believe it to be true but I don't know it as a fact. For example, maybe I know that John is usually in his office at this time every day, but I have not actually seen him in his office right now.
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
I'm a bit confused by these sentences. What is the difference? In what should I use them?
It will be very helpful if you provide some context.
It would be very helpful if you provided some context.
Hello Selet,
The first sentence is an example of a first conditional and the second sentence is an example of a second conditional. I'd recommend you read the explanation of these two common patterns on our Conditionals: zero, first and second page, but briefly speaking, the first one shows that the speaker imagines or sees the situation they are talking about as something that is going to happen. Perhaps, for example, it's a teacher who's giving advice to a student who is about to give a presentation.
In the second case, there are two scenarios that are most likely. The first one is the same as what I described above, but in this case the speaker is being more polite. We often use the past tense and 'would' to be more polite. The second scenario is that the speaker imagines the situation as less likely to happen, somehow less real. For example, perhaps the person they are giving this advice to isn't yet sure whether they are going to give a presentation.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Thanks, Kirk. Here is a context. Someone is asking a question about English grammar in a English forum, but the questioner gives a example sentence that doesn't have any context. A forum member says "some/more context would be helpful" or "it would be helpful if you provided some context."
Could you explain how "would" works in that sentence? Second, why doesn't the writer say "it will be helpful if you provide some context?"
Hello Selet,
In that case, it's a way of being polite.
One important strategy for being polite in English is to make requests 'softer'. The idea is that it is impolite to make direct requests.
In this case, the commenter is requesting more information about the context and uses a second conditional to be less direct about it, which is considered more polite.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hello
I am talking about now
example
he is very strong
I wouldn't except
this is past future or hypothetical in the present?
Hi HLH,
Do you mean "expect" (not "except")?
If so, it is a hypothetical present (an unreal present). I know that he is strong, but it is surprising to me. If I didn't know that he was strong, I wouldn't expect it.
Note that it needs an object: I wouldn't expect it/that.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hello support team,
I do appreciate your efforts to help English learners learn.
I've seen native speakers, especially in movies and series, utilize "would" and "will" interchangeably several times, but, although I'm not sure about it after checking all the English grammar books I have, it is what seems to me.
For instance, A tells B: "Are you sure?", and B answers: "I would be." However, he/she could have used 'will' since the situation isn't imagined.
Hi Amir__760__,
We're glad to hear that you find our pages useful!
I wouldn't say that "will" and "would" are interchangeable, because there are differences in meaning and usage such as those described on the page above. There may be sentences where both are grammatically possible, but they may mean different things.
It's hard to discuss these words in general because the reasons for using "will" or "would" are often only understandable in their original context. In the example you mention, there is no apparent reason why B uses "would". But that does not automatically mean that there is no reason, or that it is interchangeable with "will".
It is possible (for example) that B's intended meaning is to advise A: I would be sure if I were you (an imagined and unreal situation). That's just an example - we have no way of knowing why B used "would" here because we are just looking at words only, and they are isolated from the context in which they were said or written (e.g. who A and B are, what their social relationship is, what B's intended meaning is, what topic they are discussing, what else was said in the conversation). But that context often helps us (and speaker A as well) to interpret the meaning.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hi, thank you for all your explanation, but I haven't gotten my answer yet. I thought that it could be advice, but it is still ambiguous to me. Here is an example from the movie Terminator:
JOHN:
Where we going?
TERMINATOR:
We have to leave the city, immediately. And
avoid the authorities.
JOHN:
Can I stop by my house?
TERMINATOR:
Negative. The T-1000 will definitely try to
reacquire you there.
JOHN:
You sure?
TERMINATOR:
I would.
Then, the robot uses a telephone booth to really make sure.
Hi Amir__760__,
OK, this context is useful and now I can see the intended meaning. When the terminator says "I would", he means "I would do that (i.e. go to John's house to try to reacquire John) if I were the T-1000". The terminator is imagining what he would do if he were in the T-1000's situation.
Obviously, he is not in the T-1000's situation, so it is an unreal situation for the terminator and that's why he uses "would".
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hello,
Could you tell me the difference among would prefer, would prefer and would rather?
Hello Peter, Kirk and Jonathon,
We saw a police helicopter overhead yesterday morning. | Really? They would have been looking for those bank robbers.
If I wrote, They would be looking for those bank robbers. Would that be incorrect?
Hello jitu_jaga,
Since the situation is in the past (yesterday morning = finished past time), the correct form is 'would have been looking'. You could use 'would be looking' to describe an ongoing situation (current/present time), which is not the case here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish
Hello, sir. Why didn't you say "the correct form would be..."?
Hello Gendeng,
It is a purely a matter of style and choice. Both forms are/would be fine here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Here Jack uses "would" in his response to the questioner. Could you explain why is "would" used there?
Bajingan: I want to know the difference in meaning between sentences in the form of "I never knew vs I didn't know." Could you explain?
I never knew you were coming vs I didn't know you were coming.
Chez: it's simply a nuance of meaning.
"I never knew" expresses surprise and/or emphasis.
"I didn't know" is just the normal (neutral) negative form.
Jack: I agree with Chez. I WOULD add that "I never knew you were coming" doesn't really seem natural, although it's not impossible. "I never knew" works best when it's followed by an action of long duration (or a state like "being so much fun").
Hello Gendeng,
Would is a way to express an opinion more politely. It makes it less aggressive and direct and more tentative and respectful. It's very common in English, especially in phrases introducing opinions such as 'I'd say that...', 'I'd add that...', 'I'd be of the opinion that...', 'I'd expect that...' etc.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thanks, sir. But what do you mean by "it makes it less aggressive and direct and more tentative?"
Hello Gendeng,
I'm not sure what you're asking. It means exactly what it says: more tentative, less direct, more polite. This is a question of social interaction and how language is interpreted by the interlocutors.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team