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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[-] tyler@programming.dev 13 points 4 months ago

They didn’t write a mistake. They’re correcting the original comment and their correction is worded correctly.

[-] morphballganon@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

The corrector was ambiguous about which version was the original and which version was the correction, as there are some [assumed words] that were left out and could be either "you said" or "it should be." My initial reaction was the same as the heavily downvoted person above, because my brain filled in "it should be" as the assumed words, where most people seemingly filled in "you said."

this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024

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