Examples of sentences with the word would

Would

In English, the word ‘would’ It belongs to the category of modal verbs and is used in the context of a conditional statement.

It can be said that the presence of the word would in the framework of a sentence often realizes a conditional structure, in particular of one of the two types of truly contingent conditionals: the ‘Second conditional’ and the ‘Third conditional’, which express situations that are still possible and situations that are no longer possible, respectively.

Example sentences with would

Here are examples of sentences that include the word ‘would’:

1. I he would like to play tennis on Sundays
2. If you come with that mask, John would start crying
3. Paul and Max would always choose the most exotic vacation destinations
4. I have promised I would send cards every week
5. I would never go to that city
6. Would you turn off the lights when you leave?
7. They say they would help you, they will do.
8. Would you like broccoli for a side order?
9. If I had found his wallet of him, I have would have paid for the salad
10. As a child, she would always miss school
11. If I were you, I would break up with her at this moment
12. The president she would present his resignation of ella this night
13. If we had won the lottery, we she would have traveled around the world
14. Would this work be finished by 4:00 PM?
15. Would you mind opening the window? It´s really hot here…
16. If I had time, I would study French
17. I would like to become a doctor
18. They wouldn´t have accepted the gift if they had been told about this affair
19. If he was the president, he would not raise taxes
20. They would have gone to the theater if it hadn’t been rainy

Applications

The term would in a second conditional would be equivalent to the simple conditional of the indicative (for example: would go, iría), while in a third conditional it would be equivalent to the antepreterite of the subjunctive (would have gone, would have gone).

However, also in a similar way to the Spanish language, the word would has other uses besides allowing the construction of conditional structures. This word too it is the past of the auxiliary ‘will’ that has a direct intention in the future: this somewhat paradoxical situation only becomes apparent when you want to refer to something that happened in the past that involved a relative future.

The expression ‘he told me that he would arrive at 9’ will be translated as ‘he said that he would arrived at nine’. On the other hand, the expression accompanied by the word ‘Always’ and the verb in infinitive is used to indicate situations that were common in a tense already finished: ‘you would Always bring your bicycle when you came to this town ‘means that he used to bring the bicycle when he came to this town.

Finally, as in Spanish, the conditional is used in two alternative cases:

• In the journalistic speech, when it is not known if something will happen with certainty;
• In order to seem kinder in the case of making a request, that is, as a form of courtesy. The would also applies in those cases.

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The word «would» has a few meanings and cases of use in English. Grammatically, «would» is the past form of «will». We do not put «to» before the main verb after «would» and the main verb stays in its infinitive form.

We often shorten «would» to ‘d (I’d, you’d, we’d etc.). Do not confuse the shortened versions of «would» and «had». 

1. I would help you, but… — conditionals

«Would» is used in conditional sentences.

When we imagine or think of something which is not real, we use would + infinitive.

When we express regrets about something in the past, we wanted things to go otherwise, but we can’t change that anymore, we use would + have + past participle.

2. She said she would come — reported speech

We use «would» as the past of «will» when we need to harmonize tenses in two parts of the sentence, for example, in the reported speech.

3. He wouldn’t listen — refuse

We use «won’t» and its past form «wouldn’t» in the meaning of «not want», «refuse», «be unwilling» to do something.

4. Would, used to — habits in the past

We use «would» as an analogue of «used to» when we speak about regular actions and habits in the past.

Pay attention!

In the examples above, we can either say «would» or «used to». But we can only say «used to» when we talk about states in the past and not physical actions.

5. Would you please, I would like, would you mind — polite request and set phrases

We use «would» to make a polite request. It is also possible to use «could» (could you please…?) in the same manner.

«Would» is a part of some polite set phrases, like:

• I would like, would you like
• I would rather (do something)
• Would you mind (doing something)

Would for Imaginary Situations

How to Use Would

There are many different uses of would, but on this page you’ll learn to use would when talking about imaginary situations.

What is an imaginary situation?

An imaginary situation is something unreal, you just create it in your mind.

You think or dream about something or you wish it. For example, you don’t have so much money but you think of a situation that you have a lot of money, you wish to have a lot of money and you think about the things you want to do with that money.

Let’s say, you want to buy a car and go on a holiday with that money. You say: I would buy a car. I would go on a holiday. You just imagine a situation that you have a lot of money.

Let’s talk about another example to explain the use of would:

In these sentences I used would to talk about my imagination.

We use would for imaginary situations that are in the present or future. 
The situation is not real, it might or might not happen.

For example; I said: I would dye my hair pink and blue.

Is my hair pink and blue now? NO.
Do I want to dye my hair pink and blue? YES.
Do I imagine it? YES.
Will I dye my hair? MAYBE.

Let’s see more examples:

• I would exercise more but I don’t have time for it.(I imagine a situation that I exercise  more.)
• I would have dinner with you but I need to leave now.
• I imagine being on top of a mountain now, I would meditate every night.
• I live in the city, but in my dream house, I would be in the countryside and grow avocados in my garden.
• She would choose this dress with red dots. (Your friend wants to get a dress for her girlfriend and asks you which one is a better idea.)
• A: Imagine a garden covered with thick, green lawn and beautiful flowers. B: That would be amazing!

Would with Conditional Sentences

We use conditional sentences to talk about some conditions and their results.
There are three types of conditional sentences: Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3.
Here I want to talk about Type 2 conditionals.

There are two parts of a conditinal sentence: If clause and main clause.
In Type 2 conditional sentences, we talk about imaginary (unreal) situations in the present or future. 

We use would in the main clause part of the Type 2 conditional sentence.

We use if + past simple, would + infinitive.

For example:

• If I had money, I would buy a new computer. (In reality, I cannot buy a new computer because I don’t have money.)

We use Type 2 conditional sentences to talk about imaginary situations. In spoken language, most of the time, we omit the if clause part of the sentence and just use the main clause with would.

Look at the examples again:

Let’s say we imagine a situation that we have more time and we talk about it with a friend. We say:

If I had time, I would exercise more. 

When we talk to our friend, we can omit If I had time and only say, I would exercise more, because the person that we are talking to already knows or guesses this part of the sentence from what we previously talked. – most probably we were complaining to the person that we do not have time for anything, we dream of doing more exercises, etc.

We omit the first part of the sentence but the person that we are talking to still understands what we mean. 

Let’s see more examples:

• When we imagine being on top of a mountain and talk about it to a friend, we can say:

I would meditate every night. (Normally the sentence is like If I were on top of a mountain, I would meditate every night. But we omit ‘If I were on top of a mountain’ part of the sentence.)

• When we imagine having only six months to live and talk about it to someone, we can say:

I would go to Iguazu Falls in Argentina. (We omit ‘If I had only six months to live’ part of the sentence.)

Now It’s your turn. Write down 3 things you would do if you had only six months to live. What’s on your bucket list?

How to Form Would

Would is a helping verb. In English we have helping verbs (auxiliary verbs) and main verbs.
When we use would in a sentence, we use it with a main verb. The main verb is in the infinitive form.

would + infinitive form of the verb

• I would tell him the truth. (If I were you, I would tell him the truth.)

Positive Sentences (+)

To form positive sentences with would, we use would with the infinitive form of the verb.

would + infinitive

• If I had time, I would travel to South Africa.
• If he were rich, he would buy a BMW.
• If we had enough space,we would put a dinner table in the middle of the living room.
• If I had a chance, I would learn how to fly a helicopter.
• If you helped me, I would finish my homework earlier.

Contractions (Short forms):

We usually use I’d as the short form instead of I would in a sentence.

Short form of would with different subject pronouns:

I would = I’d 
You would = you’d 
He would = he’d
She would = she’d
It would = it’d
We would = we’d
They would = they’d

Negative sentences (-)

To form negative sentences, we use not with would.

would + not + infinitive

• If I were born again, I wouldn’t worry about small things in life.
• If I had more money, I wouldn’t buy this phone.
• If my mother knew the price, she wouldn’t let me buy this dress.
• If I had some cash with me, I wouldn’t pay with credit card.

Questions (?)

To form questions, we use would at the beginning of the sentence.

Would + subject + infinitive?

• Would you come to the movies with me?
• If you had time, would you help me with the housework?
• If you had another chance, would you apologise to her?

We also use would with the question words, what, who, where, when, etc. in questions.

• What would you do in this situation?
• What would you do if you had 3000 dollars?
• Where would you live?
• Who would you invite to your new house?
• How would you spend your money?

Ready to Practice?

Click here to try an exercise about would for imaginary situations.

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