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Correct Use of WILL and WOULD | What's the Difference? | Modal Verbs in English Grammar - YouTube
Channel: Learn English Lab
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âWillâ and âwouldâ.
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These two verbs cause a lot of confusion for
English learners.
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So, in this video, Iâm going to clear up
that confusion for you.
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I will teach you the difference between these
two modal verbs, and Iâll show you how to
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use them correctly without making mistakes.
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As always, there is a quiz at the end to test
your understanding.
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Alright, there are three main differences
between âwillâ and âwouldâ.
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Letâs start with the most basic use of the
two verbs.
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We use the verb âwillâ to talk about the
future.
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One very common use is to make a prediction,
or say what we expect to happen in the future.
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Take this sentence: We will be in Hong Kong
by 8 pm tomorrow.
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That means, we are traveling to Hong Kong
and I expect that if our flight is on time,
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we will be there by 8 oâ clock tomorrow
night.
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This next sentence also talks about the future
but itâs a little different.
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Iâm not hungry, so I will just have an orange
juice.
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Imagine that youâre sitting in a restaurant
with a friend and you say this.
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Here, youâre not talking about the distant
future, youâre talking about the immediate
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future.
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In other words, here âwillâ is used to
express a decision that you have made.
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We also use âwillâ to make a promise to
someone: Iâll send you all the details by
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email.
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So, Iâm promising to do something for you.
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OK, so thatâs âwillâ.
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What about âwouldâ?
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Well, âwouldâ is simply the past tense
form of âwillâ.
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So imagine that we didnât reach Hong Kong
by 8 pm.
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Our flight was late.
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We only reached there at 2 in the morning.
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So then, we might look back at the past and
say: We thought we would be in Hong Kong by
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8 pm.
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But that didnât happen.
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We often use âwouldâ when we report a
past conversation â that is, we say what
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someone said in the past.
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For example: I wasnât hungry, so I said
that I would just have an orange juice.
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Itâs the same sentence that we saw with
âwillâ, but changed to the past tense.
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And the last sentence becomes: She said she
would send me all the details by email.
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OK, now you know the basic use of âwillâ
and âwouldâ.
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So letâs look at a more challenging use
of these two verbs.
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This is the area of most confusion for people,
and it is conditionals.
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That means sentences where you have a condition
and a result.
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For example: If it rains tomorrow, Iâll
bring my umbrella.
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Thatâs pretty easy.
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You see that Iâm talking about something
I will do in the future (âIâll bring my
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umbrellaâ), but only on one condition â âif
it rains.â
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Hereâs another one: If Jared stops playing
video games, his grades will improve.
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What do you understand by that?
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Well, it means that Jared probably spends
a lot of time playing video games, so his
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grades are not very good.
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But if he stops playing video games, then
he can spend more time studying, and we expect
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that his grades will improve.
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In both of these sentences, weâve used âwillâ.
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And that is because both of these are real
situations (these are both possible).
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This type of sentence is called the first
conditional.
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But sometimes, we want to talk about imaginary
or unreal situations.
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For example: If I had wings, I would fly all
over the world.
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Obviously, this is not possible.
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I canât grow wings, so all Iâm doing is
Iâm using my imagination.
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Notice that we have used the past tense throughout
this sentence â âIf I had wings,â â âI
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would flyâ.
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Weâre not talking about the past, but this
past tense, including âwouldâ, just shows
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that this is not real â itâs imaginary.
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Now, letâs go back to Jared and his video
game addiction.
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What if I said: If Jared stopped playing video
games, his grades would improve.
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Itâs similar to the sentence with âwillâ,
but using the past tense (with âwouldâ)
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just shows that I donât think this is possible.
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Jared is not going to stop, heâs just going
to keep playing video games, and his grades
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are never going to improve.
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Remember, with âwillâ itâs possible,
with âwouldâ itâs not possible, itâs
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imaginary.
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And this type of sentence is called the second
conditional.
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But thereâs one more â the third conditional.
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This is used to talk about past conditions.
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Imagine that Jared had his exam, and as we
expected, his grades were poor.
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So then we can say: If Jared had stopped playing
video games, his grades would have improved.
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So here, weâre talking about a condition
in the past.
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Notice that we say âhad stoppedâ (this
is the past perfect tense) in the condition,
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and we use âwould haveâ in the result.
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Hereâs one final example for you: If Nancy
had gone to law school, she would have become
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a lawyer.
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What does it mean?
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Did Nancy go to law school?
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No, her parents advised her to go to law school,
but she didnât listen to them, so unfortunately,
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she didnât become a lawyer.
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So you can see from these sentences that we
only use âwillâ when we talk about real,
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possible situations.
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For imaginary conditionals, we use âwouldâ.
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Now, I know that this topic can be a little
tricky, so I have full lessons just on conditionals
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to help you understand them.
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You will find the links in the description
below.
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OK, letâs now turn to the final difference
between âwillâ and âwouldâ and that
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is in using polite expressions.
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For the purpose of politeness, we use âwouldâ
and not âwillâ.
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So there are some special phrases with âwouldâ
that you should memorize: The first is âWould
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you mindâŠ?â
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For example: âWould you mind lending me
some money?â
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This sentence is a request, and itâs a very
polite request.
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Notice that after âwould you mindâ we
have an âingâ form â âlendingâ.
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This is the correct form when you want to
make requests with this expression.
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But you can also use it to ask for permission.
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For this, you would say âWould you mind
ifâ plus a past tense: âWould you mind
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if I left a little early tomorrow?â
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You might say this to your boss at work.
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Even though we have a past tense verb, thatâs
just a grammar rule, weâre still asking
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for permission for the future.
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The phrase âWould it be OK ifâŠ?â is
also used to ask for permission: âWould
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it be OK if I left a little early tomorrow?â
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Same meaning.
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Another common phrase is âWould you likeâŠ?â
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and this is used to make offers: Would you
like some more milk in your coffee?
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Would you like to come along with us?
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Would you like me to give you a ride home?
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All of these are offers.
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And finally, to express wants, to say âI
want thisâ, we use the polite expression
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â âI would likeâŠâ
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I would like another cookie, please.
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I would like to buy a wedding present for
a friend of mine.
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The important point is that in all of these
sentences, you cannot use âwillâ.
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Remember that these are fixed expressions
â you must use âwouldâ in all of them,
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so itâs a good idea to memorize them all.
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OK, if youâre ready, itâs now time for
the quiz to see if you can use âwillâ
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and âwouldâ correctly.
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On the screen, there are eight sentences.
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In each one, I want you to fill in the gap
with âwillâ or âwouldâ.
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Stop the video, think about your answers,
then play the video again and check.
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Alright, here are the answers.
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How many did you get right?
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Let me know in the comments section.
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If you have any questions about these, you
can ask me in the comments as well.
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If you liked this lesson, give it a thumbs
up by hitting the like button.
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Happy learning and I will see you in another
lesson soon.
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