would

Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive. Used to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.

• On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.
• Hi! I thought I'd come over and introduce myself. My name’s Chema.
• I'm really flattered you would call your daughter after me.

Used to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.

• On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.
• Hi! I thought I'd come over and introduce myself. My name’s Chema.
• I'm really flattered you would call your daughter after me.

Used to, did repeatedly, habitually; indicates an action that happened several times in the past (cannot describe continuous states, as in I used to live in London)

• When we were younger, we would cycle out to the beach most summer Sundays.

Was or were determined to; indicating someone's insistence upon doing something.

• I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out.

Wanted to.

Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses.

Wished, desired (something).

A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive. Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality, indicating a state or action that is conditional on another.

• If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.
• I'd never do anything that went against my conscience.
• I would love to come and visit.

Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality, indicating a state or action that is conditional on another.

• If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.
• I'd never do anything that went against my conscience.

Without explicit condition, or with loose or vague implied condition, indicating a hypothetical or imagined state or action.

• I would love to come and visit.
• Look at that yummy cake! I would eat that all up!
• Most other people would do it differently, helping anybody who was in trouble, whether they knew them or not.

Suggesting conditionality or potentiality in order to express a sense of politeness, tentativeness, indirectness, hesitancy, uncertainty, etc.

• I would ask you all to sit down.
• I would imagine that they have already left.
• I would say/think we would/might do better to catch the earlier flight.

Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation.

• It's disgraceful the way that they've treated you. I would write and complain.

Used to express the speaker's belief or assumption.

• She looked as if she would be sick.
• He's very security-conscious, so he would have remembered to lock the door.
• They would be arriving in London round about now.

Could naturally be expected to (given the situation, the tendencies of someone's character etc.).

• Sorry, officer, I wouldn't know anything about the crime, since I was nowhere near the scene.

Used interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …?

• Would you pass the salt, please?
• Just reach me down that file, would you.

Might wish (+ verb in past subjunctive); often used in the first person (with or without that) in the sense of "if only".

Might desire; wish (something).

Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.

Ellipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive.