What is the difference between wouldn and couldn

In this sense, could refers to some ability that someone had in the past. In both of these examples, could is being used to express an ability that the speaker had in the past. In other instances, could is a modal verb used to denote possibility. It is also used for some conditional present and future tenses of can.

In both of these examples, could is expressing possibility: things that could have been true or things that could yet come true. For more on condition sentences, see here. What does would mean? Would is also a verb with many senses. In these examples, the speaker is using would to express a past action, which is helpful when comparing would vs. I wouldn't do that if I were you. He wouldn't listen to me, so he got hurt.

I couldn't come to the party because my parent's wouldn't let me. I couldn't come to school on time because there was traffic. See a translation. Highly-rated answerer. But i need the difference being modals.

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Merriam-Webster's Visual Dictionaries. The new edition of the remarkable reference features 8, illustrations. Join Us. Learner's Dictionary on Twitter ». Learner's Dictionary on Facebook ». Maybe he wanted to help you, maybe not, but it doesn't matter because he was not able. If you said, "I asked Bob for help but he wouldn't help me", you are saying that he was able to help but he refused.

In this case, would is used to express a likely situation , and could is used to express ability in the past. Further information can be found on the Merriam Webster Learner's Dictonary , here , and here is a similar question, though not the same. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

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