Will or would?
Will belongs to the real future. Would takes the same sentence and steps away from reality.
The short answer
Will states what is going to happen. Would is its unreal counterpart: use it for imaginary situations, for polite requests, for repeated actions in the past, and whenever will is reported in the past tense.
Which one do you need?
| Meaning | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| real future | will | I will call you tonight. |
| imaginary situation | would | I would call, if I had your number. |
| asking politely | would | Would you hold the door? |
| repeated past action | would | Every summer we would drive south. |
| will, reported later | would | He said he would call. |
Practice the choice
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Getting your first question ready.
Side by side
Three sentences for each form, taken from the 276 sentences this drill uses. The answer is highlighted.
will
- Will you come to the party tomorrow?
- Will they buy a new house next month?
- Will my cousin have been working all afternoon?
would
- Would they walk to work if it snowed tomorrow?
- If they invited me to the party, I would attend.
- He said, "I will come to the party." => He said that he would come to the party that day.
Will: the real future
Decisions made as you speak, predictions, promises, offers:
- I’ll get it. — deciding now
- It will be cold tomorrow. — predicting
- I won’t tell anyone. — promising
Would: the same sentence, one step from reality
Put a condition in front of it that is not true, and will becomes would:
- If I win, I will share it. — I might actually win
- If I won, I would share it. — I am imagining
The pattern of the second conditional: past simple in the if-half, would in the other. Not would in both.
Would for politeness
Would is the standard register for asking and offering:
- Would you mind waiting?
- Would you like a seat?
- I*’d** rather take the train.*
Would like means “want”, politely, and the thing you want follows as a noun or with to: I’d like a room, I’d like to see it.
Would for the past, oddly
Would also covers things that happened again and again in the past:
On Sundays my grandfather would read the paper from cover to cover.
This use is close to used to, with one difference: used to can describe past states, would cannot.
- I used to live in Rome. — correct
- I would live in Rome. — reads as imaginary, not as a past fact
Would in reported speech
When the reporting verb is in the past, will moves back to would:
“I will be there.” → She said she would be there.
That backshift is the same mechanism that turns is into was and has into had. It is covered in full in the article on reported speech.
Would have
Looking back at something that did not happen:
I would have come, but the train was canceled.
Contracted to would’ve, which sounds like would of. In writing, would of is always an error.
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: If it will rain, we'll stay in. correct: If it rains, we'll stay in.
The if-clause takes the present tense even though it talks about the future. Will goes in the other half.
Wrong: If I would have money, I'd travel. correct: If I had money, I'd travel.
In a second conditional the if-clause takes the past simple and would stays in the main clause.
Wrong: I will like a coffee, please. correct: I would like a coffee, please.
Would like is the fixed polite form for ordering and offering. Will like means something will please you in the future.
Wrong: He said he will come. correct: He said he would come.
Reported speech shifts the verb back one step: will becomes would.