Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hi, my name is Antonia Romaker!

  • Anв you study English and Russian with me.

  • Today we are going to talk about English!

  • And namely we are going to discuss the crazy magical word 'would'!

  • Sometimes you see it in a sentence and you just have no idea why it's there.

  • Today we are going to discuss all functions,

  • all general functions of this verb.

  • And it will get better, it will get easier.

  • Now, let's get cracking!

  • So the first function, I want to talk about, is when you imagine things.

  • When things are not real,

  • and you are imagining things, it's not like that!

  • So you can say: 'I would study English every day,

  • but I don't have time.' Actually I do! I hope you do too!

  • By the way, when you talk about imagining things,

  • an imaginary situation, you can also talk about conditional sentences,

  • the sentences, where you see 'if'.

  • Like 'I would study English every day,

  • if I were in your shoes.

  • However, as I have already pointed out,

  • you can also use it just without the 'if' clause.

  • You can simply say: 'I would date him, he's hot!'

  • You are imagining things, you are not going to date him.

  • OK... So once again, we imagine a situation or an action.

  • Then we can use 'would', let's take a look at an example.

  • Well, what's the job?

  • Assistant buyer! Oh! I would be shopping! For a living!

  • So tell me something, mom...

  • If you had to do it all over again, I mean if she was here right now. Would you tell her?

  • We can also talk about the past.

  • However, in this case we are supposed to use a perfect infinitive

  • after 'would', so we say 'would have done'.

  • And it is connected with the past.

  • So it works for conditional sentences,

  • OK, like 'I would have gone out with my friends,

  • if I had had some free time.'

  • Or you can use it in usual sentences,

  • where there's no an 'if' clause.

  • So 'I would have gone out with my friends,

  • but, unfortunately, I was swamped.

  • I didn't have any free time.'

  • So see the difference: present - we say 'would do',

  • past - we say 'would have done'. Let's take a look at an example.

  • ...we can go to Aruba!

  • When I went there on what would've been our honeymoon...

  • ...it was really nice. You would've liked it.

  • I had a bra...

  • So stop yelling! All I'm saying is that

  • If you'd told me vegetarian lasagna,

  • I would've made vegetarian lasagna.

  • Now let's compare 'will' and 'would'.

  • If you say: 'I will help you! Where do you want me?'

  • So you are going to help this person, you've agreed,

  • this is certain, you will help. 'I will help you.'

  • But if you say: 'I would help you.' Usually there is a but.

  • There's always a butt.

  • It's always about a butt.

  • Anyway, joking! Once again if you say: 'I would help you.'

  • Then you say: 'But, unfortunately, I'm swamped.

  • I do not have any free time, I should go to the dentist,

  • I should do something. So there is a but.

  • I would if I could... but I can't so I shan't.

  • So... By the way, this phrase was said by Sheldon.

  • ...Sheldon.

  • If I could I would, but I can't so I shan't.

  • Moving on, the next function: 'would' is used in sequence of tenses.

  • So when you talk about future but...

  • you talk about future in the past.

  • There's such a construction - future in the past.

  • And it's used here, so you can say something like

  • 'And then my boss said he'd kill me

  • if I do not send the order the following day.'

  • I'm still alive, so I guess he hadn't killed me yet.

  • OK, so he said he would kill, he said he'd kill.

  • So if the first part of the sentence is in the past,

  • the second part of the sentence,

  • if it's a... well... sentence where two parts are connected,

  • you should start... you should use 'would', not I...

  • Not 'he will kill me', but 'he would'.

  • 'He said he would kill me'.

  • Well, he was not going to, and it's all a made-up situation.

  • So do not worry about me.

  • Well, is it what we thought it would be?

  • Uh-huh.

  • Hey! What?... What..? OK, what did we think it's gonna be?

  • Moving on to the next function, and it is

  • Well, you can say: 'I would go to school every day when I was a kid.'

  • In this case you talk about a regular action in the past.

  • So you can use 'would'.

  • 'I would do something' basically means 'I used to do something'.

  • In the past, it happened regularly in the past.

  • If you say: 'I wouldn't...'

  • 'He wouldn't stop crying', 'she wouldn't stop crying'.

  • You mean that this person refused to do something.

  • So that's basically it, now an example...

  • After school we would organize snowball fights every day.

  • And the second example with 'wouldn't':

  • When the roads are icy my car wouldn't move!

  • Or for example, 'when it's too cold, like 30 degrees below zero

  • my car wouldn't start.'

  • OK, not let's take a look at an example from series.

  • Two examples.

  • ..you always have been, even when you were a kid,

  • and you were chubby, and you had no friends, you were just fine!

  • And you would read alone in your room, and your puzzles...

  • ...evil or anything... She's just, you know... she's always braking my stuff!

  • When I was 8, I wouldn't let her have my Judy Jetson thermos,

  • so she threw it under the bus.

  • And the last, but certainly not the least,

  • the function of a modal verb.

  • So 'would' can be a modal verb, and it can have quite many meanings.

  • Let's take a look at them very quickly.

  • The first one is persistence, an example:

  • 'He would still smoke!' It means that

  • he can't quit! He would still smoke!

  • And usually you talk about the past.

  • Wish! You are talking about wishing to do something!

  • I would I were a kid again!

  • It's like 'I wish I were a kid again.'

  • So the meaning is very close to 'wish', 'I wish I were...'

  • I would I were... But this construction is not very often...

  • I should say. So 'I wish' is much more popular.

  • Then possibility - 'that would be his sister.'

  • Imagine that you see a guy, whom you like.

  • And you see him with a girl!

  • And you say: 'Well, that would be his sister.'

  • You are not sure, but you hope that it is true.

  • It's a possibility.

  • Moving on, a polite request, like:

  • Would you do me a favor? Would you...

  • I don't know... give me some money.

  • Would you lend me some money.

  • So and the last one is preferences, like

  • I would rather be a virgin than date Joey.

  • 'I would rather', 'I would sooner'.

  • This is the expression that used here

  • And you talk about your preferences.

  • OK, that's basically it, today we discussed different

  • functions of this magical word 'would'.

  • Not I hope that it got a little bit clearer

  • And you understand it better and you w...

  • And when you see this word, you won't freak out!

  • Well, OK, that's it, hope that you liked this video.

  • If you did, please, push the button, like it, share it,

  • subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow me.

  • Keep studying English with me!

  • Keep studying Russian with me!

  • Hope to see you soon! Happy English and Russian practice! Bye-bye!

Hi, my name is Antonia Romaker!

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it