When do you use 'would' for polite request?

Example: "Would you mind reviewing this PR today?"

← All modal verbs

Modal verb

would

Q: When do you use 'would' for hypothetical result (conditional)?

Example: "If we cached this response, the page would load much faster."

would + base verb (no 's', no 'to')

Uses

Polite request

“Would you mind reviewing this PR today?”

Hypothetical result (conditional)

“If we cached this response, the page would load much faster.”

Common mistakes

✕“I would to help, but I'm in a meeting.”

✓“I would help, but I'm in a meeting.”

✕“That would causes a memory leak.”

✓“That would cause a memory leak.”

Choose the correct modal

Pick the modal that fits the meaning of each sentence.

you mind reviewing this PR today?

If we cached this response, the page load much faster.

Spot the correctly formed sentence

Only one option follows the rules for modal verbs. Pick it.

Previous: should Next modal: ought to

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Written by

Roxana Lafuente

Lingua-e's founder

Roxana Lafuente is a software engineer with 8+ years of experience. At the beginning of her career, even though she had already passed the First Certificate in English, she still froze every time she had to speak up in the daily standup. That was a gap nobody was fixing. After 2,000+ standups, she figured out what actually builds fluency: practice that looks like your real work. She built Lingua-e so other developers wouldn't have to take the long road to feel confident working in an international development environment.