# that'd

CEFR B1 · Pronoun

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/thatd
Updated: 2026-05-03

## Definition

a short way of saying 'that would' or 'that had'. You use it when speaking or writing to friends to make your sentences flow more quickly.

For teachers: a contraction of the demonstrative pronoun 'that' and the auxiliary verbs 'would' or 'had'. Primarily used in spoken English or informal written registers to represent natural speech patterns.

## Examples

- If we left now, that'd be great.
- I thought about calling him, but I realized that'd only make the situation more awkward than it already was.
- While formal essays require full forms, in a casual email to a colleague, writing 'that'd be helpful' is perfectly acceptable and sounds much more natural than the full construction.

## Pitfalls

- Not "that'd been better" but "that'd have been better" — When 'that'd' represents 'that would', it must be followed by 'have' to form the conditional perfect; 'that'd been' is often a mishearing of 'that'd have been'.

## Usage notes

- The apostrophe replaces the missing letters 'woul' or 'ha'; the specific auxiliary is determined by the following verb form.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.