Verbes modaux anglais: would
- ashwinimadnala
- Jan 4, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 19, 2022
le verbe modal: would. Explication claire et simple!
Watch the video here
Hi everyone!
Well since last week's video on could was so popular, I decided to continue with modal verbs this week.
And we're going to focus on the modal verb would
So, let's get straight into it.
Would similar to could has many different uses.
Would - for requests
So, let's start with the first one - requests
You can use would for making requests
For example,
- Would you take me to the airport tomorrow?
Now, it's very very similar to could
They're both very polite ways of making a request
So,
- Could you take me to the airport?
and
- Would you take me to the airport?
are really really similar.
The only difference really is that could - is more about possibility
- Could you take me to the airport - is like,
Is there a possibility you can take me to the airport?
and
- Would - is more,
Are you willing to take me to the airport?
Do you want to take me to the airport - is it's not really about possibility
But at the end of the day
If you say,
- Could you take me to the airport?
Or
- Would you take me to the airport?
It's pretty much the same thing.
Would -for offers
We also use would for offers
The most common being - Would you like?
- Would you like a cup of tea?
- Would you like a sandwich?
- Would you like to go out with me?
- Would you like some help?
And again,
It's a little more polite than saying - Do you want?
- Do you want a cup of tea?
- Do you want a sandwich?
Would you like? - is just that bit more polite.
Would - for desires
We use would for desires (things that we want)
- I would like
- I would love
- I would really enjoy
Examples:
- I would like a cup of tea right now
- I would love to go to the cinema
- I would really enjoy an ice cream right about now
And in spoken English, we often use the contraction here.
Instead of saying
- I would like
We say,
- I'd like
- I'd enjoy
- I'd love
We use would in reported speech.
So,
In Direct speech, - Whenever we use will,
In reported speech, - We use would
We replace it(will) with would
For example,
- I will go to the mountains this weekend
- Kathryn said, she would go to the mountains this weekend
So, we replace will with would
Let's take another example,
- I will help you
- Kathryn said, she would help me
Would - for willingness in the past
We also use would for willingness in the past.
So, what is willingness?
Willingness - is when you're happy to do something.
Let's take this example,
- The bank won't give me a loan
So the bank are not willing to give me a loan
They don't want to give me a loan, basically.
So in the past,
I could say,
- The bank wouldn't give me a loan
- The bank were not willing to give me a loan
Now generally, we use this willingness in the past - only with negative
For example,
Using will not or the contraction won't
We change it to wouldn't in the past
It doesn't really make sense to use would in the past
Let me give you an example,
- I will let my daughter go to the party
- I would let my daughter go to the party
We don't even use would in there, it's superfluous meaning, it's extra information that we don't need.
We would simply say,
- I let my daughter go to the party
So, in general, with this willingness we only use it in the negative.
So let me give you some more examples just to get that into your brain
Okay!
- Paul won't do his homework
- Last night paul wouldn't do his homework
He was not willing to do his homework
- The internet won't work
- Yesterday the internet wouldn't work
Okay, did you get it…?
Good !
Would - for habits in the past
We use would for habits in the past - very very similar to how we use used to in the past for habits as well.
They’re synonyms of each other.
For example,
- When I was young, I used to ride my bike to school
- When I was young, I would ride my bike to school
- When I lived in Singapore, I would eat at the same restaurant every day
or
- When I lived in Singapore, I used to eat at the same restaurant every day
So, it's very very similar.
Wish with would
We also use wish with would
And, we generally use wish for things that we want to change about another person.
Like for example,
- I wish he would not smoke in here
or
- I wish you would come visit more often
We generally don't use it for things about ourselves.
You wouldn't say,
- I wish I would do more exercise
No, we would simply say,
- I wish I did more exercise
Okay?
We also don't really use it for things, to change things!
- I wish tomorrow would be Christmas day
We don't really use that. However, there is an exception.
For weather - we do actually use it
For example,
- I wish it would rain tomorrow
or
- I wish tomorrow would be sunny
That's acceptable, but generally just for weather and for behaviours of other people that we want to change.
Some more examples:
- I wish that you wouldn't work so late
- I wish that the neighbours would be quiet
- I wish peter would just ask me out on a date
Would for conditional
Okay! Finally, let's talk about would - for conditional sentences.
So, we can use would in the second conditional.
Now, what is the second conditional?
It's a scenario or situation that is probably not likely to happen.
For example,
- If I won the lotto, I would travel the world
- If I moved to Moscow, I would learn Russian
That's the second conditional.
We use would for the third conditional.
The third conditional uses the structure would + have + past participle.
It's about a scenario in the past that didn't happen but we imagine the result.
For example,
- If I had gone to bed earlier, I wouldn't be so tired now
- If I had won the lotto, I would have travelled around the world
So, you didn't win the lotto and if you had you would have travelled around the world
It's similar to could + have + past participle
and for example,
- If I had won the lotto, I could have travelled around the world
There's a slight difference in meaning between would and could
As I explained previously could is more about the possibility
For example,
- If I had won the lotto, there is a possibility to travel overseas
Okay, but if you use would it's more the willingness
The fact that you would be happy to do something.
- I would have travelled overseas
- I could have - is just a possibility
So I think that covers everything.
If you have any questions please ask them in the comments below and as always to practice these you should really write some sentences of your own. If you write them in the comments, I will correct them for sure. Go for it!
Thanks a lot and see you next time :)
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