🕰️ Past of will 🤝 Polite or imagined 🤔 Probable or expected 🔁 Past habit ⏳ Unreal past

would

1.0

To show something could have happened in the past but did not

auxiliary
/wʊd/

: condicional perfecto

If you had called earlier, I would have answered your questions.

Examples

I would have gone if I had known.
She would have joined us for dinner if she had finished work on time.
They would have traveled abroad last year if it had been possible.
She would have called you.
If you had called earlier, I would have answered your questions.
She would have joined us for dinner if she had finished work on time.
They would have traveled abroad last year if it had been possible.

Synonyms

would have

vswould

2.3

To show that something could have happened in the past but did not

is the same meaning expressed by the modal plus have and a past participle

Idioms

as luck would have it

Informal

7 5.4

Happens by chance in a lucky, helpful way

face that would stop a clock

Offensive

9.9

A face so ugly that it shocks people

Phrasal Verbs

would have

2.3

To show that something could have happened in the past but did not

would not

1.0

To refuse to do something in the past

would not

1.0

To say in the past that something will not happen later

Surface Forms

would infinitive

Etymology

The word would comes from old English wolde, from the verb will, meaning 'want' or 'wish'. So, when we use would with 'have' and a past form (for example, 'would have done'), it shows something that did not happen but might have if things had been different.