Would can be a difficult word to explain, but with a bit of practice I'm sure you'll get a feel for it in no time. There are several different ways to use "would", and they depend on different interpretations of the word. "Would" can refer to a time in the past, in which case it is usually used with "when"; for instance: "When I was young I would ride my bike home after school every day." It implies something that you did regularly for a period of time in the past. Another way of using "would" is in the conditional tense, and is usually used together with "if". "IF you had a million dollars, what WOULD you buy?" "IF you had to pick one food to eat for the rest of you life, what WOULD you pick?" This is actually related to the usage that you mentioned: making things more polite. Whenever you say that you "would like" something, instead of that you "want" something, it technically makes it into a conditional phrase. The same applies to asking someone if they "would" do something. The "if", or "condition" isn't specified, but is instead implied to be something along the lines of "if it is possible", or "if you don't mind". Using "would" in this context makes something more polite because, by making the demand into a request, it gives the person the option of saying "no". I think I might have made it sound much more complicated than it needs to be: Here's some simple rules to remember. 1. Use "would" with "when" when talking about something you did regularly in the past. Ex: "WHEN I lived in France, I WOULD eat fresh crepes every morning." 2. Use "would" with "if" in a conditional phrase, i.e. a phrase about a hypothetical situation. Ex: "What WOULD you do IF you won the lottery?" "If I won the lottery, I would buy 1,000,000 chicken nuggets." 3. Use "would you" in front of commands and "I would like/would you like" instead of "I want/do you want" to be more polite. Ex: "I would like some jelly. Would you open the jar for me?" "Would you like jam instead?"