I was wondering what verb tense would one use for an expression with would.

Question

I was wondering what verb tense would one use for an expression with would. For example if I wanted to say: Where would they work?

thanks for your time! :D

Answer 1

It can also depend a little bit on context. For example, if you're expressing a "speculative request" or "pondering" about something, it's quite common to use the future tense (though the conditional is generally possible too):

¿tendrá cambio?
would you have change?
¿qué hora será?
what time would it be?

To express a future-in-the-past, you can also use the imperfect tense of ir a... (though the conditional is also possible):

dijo que iba a venir
he said he'd (=he would) come (could also mean "she...")
no sabían donde iban a trabajar
they didn't know where they would be working

In fact, "would" has quite a complex set of meanings in English, so there are various other common translations, such as:

• "would like to" generally expressed with "me gustaría..."
• generally the imperfect/preterite of querer, if it means "refused to" ("the car wouldn't start"; "he wouldn't help me until I insisted")
• polite requests: "would you shut the door'" ("¿me cierras la puerta'", "me haces el favor de...", "le pido el favor de..." etc)
• imperfect, if it means "used to" ("every day, he would walk the dog at 8 o'clock")

Sorry, hope that's not too much information-- I just wanted to point out a few other possibilities to look out for, as "would" is something of a "common translation problem".

Answer 2

Thank you very much for your help!
I thought it was conditional but i wanted to make sure I was right

Thanks again : )

Answer 3

You want to use the conditional tense, as Daniel suggested, but like this:

¿Dónde trabajarían?

Or, using his construction with an extra "can / be able to":

¿Dónde podrían trabajar'

Answer 4

¿Dónde podrían trabajo? "podrían" is conditional 3rd prs, plr. I am only a beginner so we both will wait for a real answer.