jack said:
MikeNewYork:
"Normally we would say"
How did you know what to use? Like how did you know how to use would instead of will. why didn't you use "will"? again what dwould it mean if i use "will" instead of would" and vice versa?
Jack, I am a native speaker. I have been speaking only English for decades. Any language becomes more natural with practice and time. You seem to move from subject to subject. It might be better to focus on one at a time.
You have some issues with "have" and "had" and with "will" and "would". Questions are a different area, as are conditionals.
"Will" is a modal verb. We use it with another verb to form the future tense. "Will" is used in questions and statements about the future. In addition, "will" can be used for other uses, but in almost all cases, the event has not yet happened. The following is a list of uses of "will" as an auxiliary (helping) verb:
will2 (wĭl)
aux.v., Past tense would (wʊd).
Used to indicate simple futurity: They will appear later.
Used to indicate likelihood or certainty: You will regret this.
Used to indicate willingness: Will you help me with this package?
Used to indicate requirement or command: You will report to me afterward.
Used to indicate intention: I will too if I feel like it.
Used to indicate customary or habitual action: People will talk.
Used to indicate capacity or ability: This metal will not crack under heavy pressure.
Used to indicate probability or expectation: That will be the messenger ringing.
The verb "would" is another auxiliary verb and can be seen as the past tense of "will", even though this past tense might deal with events other than those that have already happened. "Would" can be more polite, less definite, more hypothetical than "will".
would (wʊd)
aux.v., Past tense of will2.
Used to express desire or intent: She said she would meet us at the corner.
Used to express a wish: Would that we had gone with you!
Used after a statement of desire, request, or advice: I wish you would stay.
Used to make a polite request: Would you go with me?
Used in the main clause of a conditional statement to express a possibility or likelihood: If I had enough money, I would buy a car. We would have gone to the beach, had the weather been good. See Usage Note at if.
Used to express presumption or expectation: That would be Steve at the door.
Used to indicate uncertainty: He would seem to be getting better.
Used to express repeated or habitual action in the past: Every morning we would walk in the garden.
Start with these two lists. Study the examples and notice how they vary from those with "will". :wink:
