would

Would is a modal auxiliary verb in English that marks modality rather than action. It is used to express conditionality, hypothetical situations, politeness, preferences, and reported speech. In many contexts it functions as the past tense of will, but its meaning is not simply temporal; would conveys contingency, willingness, or imagined outcomes.

In conditionals, would appears in the main clause to express the result of a hypothetical condition. For example, If I won the lottery, I would buy a house. In standard second conditional constructions, the if-clause uses the past tense and the main clause uses would. Would is also used with would have to form past conditional statements: I would have gone if I had known.

Would is common in reported speech, where a speaker’s future plans or intentions shift to the past: He said he would come. It can also indicate future in the past, as in He knew she would arrive by noon. In polite requests and offers, would softens the tone: Would you pass the salt? Would you like some tea?

Would also express preferences and wishes with the would rather construction: I would rather stay home than go out. After would rather, the verb appears in the base form, and with the past-perfect form would rather have + past participle to indicate a past preference.

Compared with used to, would often marks repeated past actions, but used to can cover past states as well. Would does not mark a concrete future; it signals condition, politeness, or hypotheticality.