“Would” has several functions. First, it functions as the past tense of “will”.
Second, it functions as the conditional mood of “will”. Third, it is used to be polite. The
negative of would is “would not” or the contraction “wouldn’t”.
Example: I would try to act like my father when I was young.
In this example “would” functions as the past tense of “will”.
Example: I would get a tan if I worked at the pool.
In this example “would” functions as the conditional mood of “will”.