Would...

Question

Saudi Arabia says it would be keen to attend an Arab-Israeli peace conference proposed by the United States.

What does "would" mean here.Does It tell past or present or future?

Someone can explain this ?

Thanks...

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

'Would' is conditional-- it refers to a hypothetical present or future.  It suggests that they WOULD attend IF the conference is actually called.

CalifJim · Answer

In terms of time it is present, but in another way, it is outside of time and in the world of imagination.

Saudi Arabia is imagining something like being invited to attend such a conference. What is their feeling about attending such a conference? In this imagined world, they see themselves as keen to attend.

This entire imagined situation is captured by using the word would.

But an imagined situation can only become a real situation if certain conditions are fulfilled -- something that makes the imaginary real. So another way of looking at it is that there is a hidden (unstated) condition lurking in the background, and one hidden condition is being invited to attend. Without that, they have no chance of attending. Another hidden condition is that of the U.S. proposal for such a conference actually materializing and coming to pass. If no one actually organizes the conference, obviously nobody will attend! (There may be all sorts of other unstated conditions, but it is not necessary to think of all of them to understand how the sentence works.)

So a very long version of the sentence is:

Saudi Arabia says that, if the conference proposed by the U.S. were to be organized, and if Saudi Arabia were to be invited to the conference, then it would be keen to attend an Arab-Israeli peace conference proposed by the United States.

CJ

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