How to Use Would in English - English Modal Verbs

Hi, I'm Mike. Welcome to Oxford Online English. In this lesson, you can learn about the modal

verb 'would' in English. Would you like to learn more about 'would' and what it means?

If I asked you to tell me all the meanings and uses of 'would' right now would you be

able to? Like all modal verbs, 'would' can have many different meanings. These different

meanings aren't connected to each other, which can make it difficult to work out what 'would'

means in different sentences or situations. In this class, you'll see all the uses of

'would' and the meanings. Let's start with the most important use of 'would'.

Imagine your friend asks you:

What would you do if you were attacked by a shark?

Why does your friend use would in this question? And how should you answer?

Probably, your answer would also include would. Maybe something like:

I'd probably try to hit it on the nose, or poke it in the eye, or something like that.

Maybe I'd just try to swim away.

So, any ideas? Why do we use would here?

It's because getting attacked by a shark is very unlikely. We use would when we talk

about things which are either very unlikely, or totally impossible.

For example:

What would you do if you could read people's thoughts?

Reading people's thoughts is impossible, so we use would. It's a question about an

imaginary situation.

I would help you if I could.

I can't help you, so I use would to show that it's impossible. This is like saying,

“I can't help you.”

She would be here, but she has too much work at the moment.

She's not here, although she would be if she didn't have so much work.

In all of these cases, when you use would, you're talking about a situation which isn't

true, and which you think will never happen.

That's what it means when you use would like this. You're saying, “I think this

thing will never happen.”

If I won the lottery, I would…

You say would because you don't think you'll ever win the lottery.

You can use would have plus a past participle to talk about the past in the same way. For

example:

What would you have said if she'd seen you? She didn't see you, so you didn't say

anything to her. I'm asking you a question about an imaginary situation. I'm saying,

“Imagine a different version of the past, where she did see you…”

I wouldn't have come if I'd known it was going to go on so late.

I didn't know it was going to go on so late, so I did come, but now I regret it! Imagine

you're at an event and you have to get up early tomorrow. The event goes on much later

than you expected, so you say this.

He wouldn't have been much help, anyway.

He wasn't there, so he couldn't help, but even if he had been there, he wouldn't

have been able to help us.

This is the most common way to use would, and probably the most complicated. However,

would has many other uses.

Let's look!

If you want to ask someone to do something for you, using would in your request can make

it sound more polite.

For example:

Can you tell me the time? Will you get me a sandwich?

I want something to eat.

All of these requests are quite informal. That can be fine, depending on the situation,

but sometimes you want to be a bit more formal, so that you sound polite.

Would can be useful here. Look at the sentences. Can you see how to use would?

Okay, let's check your ideas:

Would you mind telling me the time? Would you get me a sandwich?

I'd like something to eat.

Using would you mind + -ing is a very polite way to make a request.

You can also use would in place of will in a request. This makes it a little more formal

and polite.

Finally, using would like instead of want is better, unless you're in a very informal

situation.

To be clear, these aren't the only ways to use would. There are other possible answers.

For example, you could say:

Tell me the time, would you? Would you mind getting me a sandwich?

These are possible, but the first answers I gave you are the most obvious.

Also, let's get something clear: there's no connection between these different uses

of would.

If you use would to make a polite request, like you're doing here, there's no connection

with the idea of imaginary or unreal situations that you saw in part one.

Okay, let's move on and look at another way to use would.

Imagine you have a friend who's always late for everything. You're meeting your friend

tomorrow, and you're really annoyed that you always have to wait. You tell your friend

to be on time, and she replies:

I'll be on time, I promise! I'll get an earlier bus, which will get to the centre

by 3.00.

Now, imagine that it's a few days later, and you want to tell me what your friend said

to you. How would you do it?

You would say something like:

My friend promised she'd be on time. She said she'd get an earlier bus, which she

said would arrive by 3.00. Of course, when she turned up it was nearly 4.00!

Do you see what's happening here?

Every time your friend says will, you say would when you're talking about what your

friend said.

English learners often say something like, “Would is the past tense of will.” That's

true sometimes, but not generally.

For example, for the uses of would you saw in parts one and two, it's not helpful or

accurate to say that would is the past tense of will.

However, in reported speech, it's a good way to think about it.

There's one more case where would has a past meaning connected to will.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Both will and would can have the meaning of refusing to do something. For example:

I'll ask him, but he won't help me. He'll refuse to help me (in the future).

I asked him, but he wouldn't help me. He refused to help me (in the past).

In this case, you can see would as the past version of will.

You can use this to talk about people:

They wouldn't give me my money back, even though I had the receipt.

They refused to give me my money back.

You can also use it to talk about things:

My car wouldn't start this morning. My car ‘refused' to start. Okay, cars

can't literally refuse to start, but we often talk about machines, computers and things

like that in this way.

Here's a similar example:

When he tried to show me, the file wouldn't open.

So here and in part three—reported speech—the meanings of will and would are connected.

When you're thinking about how to use will and would, it's important to remember that

sometimes the meanings are connected, and sometimes they're completely different.

We'll come back to this point at the end of the lesson.

There's one more way to use would that we need to look at:

You can use would to talk about things you did in the past, but don't do now.

For example:

My mum would walk us to school when we were little.

When I was training for the marathon, I would go running for two hours every day after work.

It was exhausting!

Would is similar to used to here, but it's not exactly the same.

When you use would like this, you can only talk about repeated actions in the past. You

can't talk about states and situations, like you can with used to.

So, you can't say:

I would live in a small flat with my friends when I was a student.

That's not correct, because live is a state, not an action.

However, this sentence is okay:

I would go out with my friends most evenings when I was a student.

This is fine, because go out is an action.

So, now you've seen all the different ways you can use would in English.

Let's review what you've learned today.

Would has five common uses in English. It can be used:

To talk about imaginary or unreal situations. To make polite requests.

In reported speech, as the past version of will.

To mean ‘refused to'. To talk about repeated actions in the past.

When you're learning about how to use would, one of the most important things to get clear

in your head is the relationship between will and would.

Sometimes will and would are connected: if you're using reported speech, or using would

to mean ‘refused to', then would behaves like a past version of will.

However, in the other uses of would, there is no connection between will and would. In

fact, in the most common use of would—talking about imaginary or unreal situations—will

and would have almost opposite meanings.

For example, if someone says, “I'll help you,” with will, you can expect them to

help you, in reality.

If someone says, “I would help you,” with would, then you shouldn't expect them to

help you. Will and would have completely different meanings here.

It's also good to remember that the different uses of would aren't connected to each other

at all. The meaning of would depends completely on the sentence and the situation.

Finally, would can refer to different times depending on how you're using would. For

example:

I would come tomorrow, but I've already made other plans.

Would you pass me that blue bag? I asked them to change my ticket, but they

wouldn't do anything.

These three sentences are about the future, the present and the past, respectively.

So you can't say what time would refers to by itself. It can refer to any time depending

on the meaning and the context.

Most importantly, would doesn't necessarily have a past meaning. Sometimes it does, but

it can also refer to the present or the future. Thanks a lot for watching!