what is the actual meaning of "would" and "could"? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by kionite231@lemmy.ca to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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hii,

I am learning English for around 5 years and I still can't comprehend the meaning of "would" and "count" in some context. are they just past form of "will" and "can"?

"would you like coffee" means a person is asking if you liked coffee in past? "I would do it" means I did it in past?

I really don't understand since my language doesn't have anything like those words.

Edit: Thank you for answering my naive question :)

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[-] Signtist@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

I didn't really see people mentioning that "would" can still be used past-tense outside of "would have," though it's not in the same way - you use it when talking about something that happened multiple times in the past. For example, "When I was a kid my friends and I would go to the pool every Saturday," which means that, as children, my friends and I did visit the pool every Saturday.

this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024

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