| Hi everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I am going to talk about how to use Would to make some future and future-related statements. So I am going to talk about some ways to use the word Would and give some quick explanations. So let's take a look. |
| Okay. The first use of Would that I want to talk about is using Would for an unreal situation and an unreal future situation too. So unreal means it's not true. Something that is unreal means it's not true now, not true in the future. So we use this to, for example make a guess, make predictions or talk about possibility in the future if there's some condition that's true. So you will see these patterns use if, if, if a lot. Meaning, if that situation were true, something, something, something. |
| So let's take a look at a few examples of this. Okay first one. I've got a couple of patterns here really which is, if I were something, something, I would in the positive form or I wouldn't in the negative form. We can also do like he, she, they, we and so on. So if he or she were, he or she would or wouldn't blah, blah, blah. And same thing. We can use It here. If it were, it would or it wouldn't. So just a couple of different patterns for you to think about here in the positive and the negative form. |
| But I want to look at actually some finished example sentences here that present an unreal situation and a future unreal outcome. So, here I have the same pattern. If I were. We will use this word, if I were, not if I was but if I were. You will hear native speakers use if I was. It's not really a communication problem but Were is correct. |
| If I were rich, I would take expensive vacation. So, here you see that Would is followed by the regular verb. I would take expensive vacations. This sentence shows us, if I were rich, this part shows us, I am not rich now but if I were rich, I would take expensive vacation. So meaning, this part, this situation is not real. It's unreal. But if it were real, this is the outcome. So unreal situation, unreal situation but we are just discussing possibility here. |
| Let's look at the next sentence then. Okay so here, if the party were on a weekend, everyone would come. So here, I have Were again and in this case, I am saying, if the party were on a weekend meaning if the party were held on a weekend, everyone would come. So all the people would come. There is a very high chance everybody would come to the party if the party were on a weekend. So this might be a sentence you could hear when you are planning an event. If the party were on a weekend, everyone would come. |
| One more example. If he were a criminal, I wouldn't date him. If he were a criminal. So, he is not in this case in this sentence but if he were a criminal, I wouldn't date him. So, an unreal situation, this person, this he is not a criminal. However, if he were, the speaker would not date that person. So date means have a relationship with that person. |
| So to kind of visualize this grammar point, we can imagine on a timeline a sort of unreal situation here. So I've marked it here in a dotted line. Now, there is this thing that's not real. It's an unreal point. And it relates to an unreal situation in the future. So, this is sort of a visualization. We are talking about something not true now. Something not true in the future but perhaps there is a chance that it could come true in some cases especially with this second example sentence. |
| So we use this to talk about unreal, these unreal situations. Let's look at some different uses of Would though. I think perhaps the most familiar forms in this lesson are for requests and for invitations using Would. So, we use these – these are types of questions but when we want to make a request, we can use Would you blah blah blah or for more formal situation, Would it be possible to? Would it be possible to? |
| So first, Would you. We follow Would you with a simple verb. So, for example, would you give me the files? In a more formal situation, would it be possible to meet later? So these are making requests. These are asking for something. In this case files, in this case, it's asking about availability. So we can use Would to make request. Something we want in the future, maybe immediately, right away or later in the future. So Would is nice to make requests. |
| We can also use Would to make invitations like the very common, would you like to something as in, would you like to get a drink or would you like to watch a movie? So using Would here instead of, do you want to sounds a little more polite. It sounds a little bit more formal. Would you like to blah blah blah sounds a little bit more formal. |
| Okay but I want to move on to maybe a more difficult grammar point which is using Would to talk about future but in the past. So let's – before I explain this, I want to give kind of a visual explanation of this point. When we are using this, we combine the past tense as you'll see in a moment. The past tense, usually a verb like Know or Think. We have this in the past tense, simple past tense and then, in that past tense thought, we have some idea about the future and we use Would to express that idea about the future. |
| Let's look at some examples of this though. Here, I knew you would help me. So here in the past, at some point, my past tense idea, my past tense thought. I can say, I knew you would help me. So in the past, I knew that in the future but before now, you would help me. So the speaker would say this, Now after the listener has helped them with something. So I received help from someone and I can say this. I knew you would help me. So meaning, in the past, in the far past, I knew that this would happen. Um. So we can use Would to talk about future but in the past. |
| Let's look at another example of this. Here, he knew we would hate this. He knew we would hate this. So again, the speaker is talking now and here is this, this past tense point, he knew some other guy, somebody knew that we, the people involved in this situation, we would hate whatever is happening at this point in time. So the speaker or rather he in this sentence knew here in the far past that the other people in the situation would hate whatever is currently happening. |
| Okay. One more example. She thought, you would like it. This is very common when receiving presents. I thought you would like it or she thought you would like it. So here, this one is quite easy to imagine, I think. When the person is shopping, in this case, she. She's shopping and she finds something and she thinks, oh, this person, maybe the listener will enjoy this present. So, in the past, she thought, you would in the future like it. And, did you like it or not. We don't know but the conversation is happening now. So she thought you would like it. He thought you would like it. Meaning, the speaker or rather the person who made the decision thought that the listener would enjoy something in the future but that future point is before now. |
| Okay. One more example. I didn't invite you because I thought you wouldn't want to come. So here, I've got the negative. This is a more complicated sentence. So I am saying, there are two – there are two points in the past here. So I didn't invite you is one. I didn't invite you because I thought in the past, you would not want to come to my event. I didn't invite you because I thought you wouldn't want to come. So meaning, at the point in time when I was planning the event, I thought, the listener would not want to attend the event in the future. So I didn't invite the listener here. |
| So, in this way, we are seeing actually two things happening. In the past, I didn't invite you because I thought you wouldn't want to come. So, we should not use Don't in this case. For example, I didn't invite you because I thought you don't want to come. That's incorrect because Don't is a present tense. You do not want to come. I would ask that. In the present, I would say, you don't want to come or don't you want to come in present tense. |
| But here, I am talking about a past tense thought about the future. So I need to use Wouldn't, Wouldn't in that case. It's quite a complex topic I think. But that's kind of an introduction to this. So I know that that's a lot of information and it might be a little bit confusing but if you have any questions, please be sure to let us know in the comments section below this video. |
| Thanks very much for watching this episode and I will see you again soon. Bye bye! |
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