Hi, in today’s lesson you will learn the difference between will and would in English .
Keep watching until the end as there will be a short quiz to see how much you have learned.
So let’s start with will
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.
It is also used to talk about hypotheses (when we imagine something),
and it's used for politeness.
So firstly let’s look at beliefs.
We use will to express beliefs about the present or the future.
For example:
Sam will be at home. (This is a belief about the present.)
Or, We'll be late. (This is a belief about the future.)
We will have to work harder. (This is again a belief about the future)
We use would as the past form of will, to describe past beliefs about the future.
For example:
I thought we would be late, so we would have to take the car.
Now let’s look at willingness.
We use will:
to talk about what people want to do or are willing to do.
We'll see you tomorrow. ( This is something someone wants to do.)
Perhaps Dad will lend me the car. ( this is something your dad is willing to do.)
We also use will
to talk about typical behaviour, things that we often do (because we are willing or want 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.
The baby didn’t want to go to sleep.
Dad wouldn't lend me the car, so we had to take the train.
Dad wasn’t willing to lend the car.
Also, we use would like will to talk about typical behaviour,
things that we often did (because we were willing to do them) BUT in the past:
So for example:
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.
Now let’s look at promises, offers and requests.
We use "I will" or "We will" to make promises and offers.
I'll give you a lift to work in the morning. ( This is a promise or offer.)
We'll come and see you tomorrow. ( This is a promise or offer.)
and We use Will you … ? or Would you … ? to make requests.
Will you carry this for me, please? ( This is a request.)
Would you please be quiet? (and this is also a request.)
OK, moving on to hypotheses and conditionals
We use will in conditionals to say what we think will happen in the present or future.
If it rains, I will get wet. This is what we think will happen in the future.
Or, You won't see the show unless you have a ticket.
Again this is what you think will happen in the future.
We use would to make hypotheses when we imagine a situation in the present or the future.
It would be very expensive to stay in a five-star hotel.
You are imagining this in either the present or the future.
I would help you move house, but I have a bad back.
Again a hypothetical situation.
In conditionals, we use would.
If I won the lottery, I’d buy a fast car.
This is the second conditional and is a hypothesis about the future.
If you want to learn more about conditionals, check out the link above now
and you can go and see my lesson on the second conditional and all conditionals.
Or You would lose weight if you took more exercise. This is a hypothetical situation in the future.
We also use conditionals to give advice.
Dan will help you if you ask him. I am advising you to ask Dan.
Past tenses are more polite, so we'd use would.
Dan would help you if you asked him. Again a more polite piece of advice to contact Dan.
So, finally, let’s look at some expressions with would.
The first expression is:
would you…, would you mind or would you mind (not) doing something for requests.
For example:
Would you mind opening the window, please?
or
Would you mind not mentioning this to Brian?
Secondly expressions for offers and invitations.
would you like ..., or would you like to ...do something.
For example:
Would you like another sandwich?
or
would you like to watch another film?
An Expression to say what we want or what we want to do,
I would like …, I'd like … (you)(to) ...do something.
For example:
I'd like that one, please.
or
I'd like to go home now, please.
The expression I'd rather… which is an abbreviation of I would rather, to say what we prefer.
For example
I'd rather go to school than stay in bed!
And finally the expressions
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.
For example:
It's very difficult, I would imagine.
or
I would think that's the right number.
So now it’s your turn...
Use will or would in the following sentences.
Don't worry. I'm sure your new passport........................be ready soon.
will. We use will to express beliefs about the present or future.
When I was in the army, we ….....................get up at 5 a.m. every day.
would. We use would to talk about typical behaviour,
things that we often did because we were willing to do them, but in the past.
We've never had any pets. We …...........have time to look after them.
wouldn’t. We use would or wouldn't to make hypotheses: when we imagine a situation:
Why on earth did you get a dog? You …...............have time to look after it.
won’t. We use will or won’t to express beliefs about the present or future
….. you …...... a glass of water?
Write your answer down below in the comment section and I promise to let you know how you do.
So that’s it for now. I hope you feel more confident in using will and would
and that you know the difference between them.
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So take care and see you very soon! Bye bye!