# there'd

CEFR B1 · Pronoun

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/thered
Updated: 2026-05-07

## Definition

a short way of saying 'there would' or 'there had'. You use it to talk about a situation that might happen or something that happened in the past.

For teachers: a contraction of the existential 'there' combined with the auxiliary 'would' or 'had'. The specific meaning is determined by the following verb form: a bare infinitive indicates 'would', while a past participle indicates 'had'.

## Examples

- I thought there'd be more people at the party.
- If we had known about the traffic, there'd have been no reason to leave so early.
- The architect suggested that there'd be significant structural challenges if the client insisted on adding a glass roof to the historical wing of the museum.

## Usage notes

- Functions as a contraction in spoken or informal written English. When followed by 'be', it represents 'there would'; when followed by 'been', it represents 'there had'.

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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.