# they'd

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/theyd
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. they would

pronoun · CEFR A2

a short way of saying 'they would'.

For teachers: a contraction of 'they' and 'would', used to express conditional actions or past habits.

- They said they'd come to the party if they finished work early.
- The researchers predicted they'd find a correlation between the two variables, provided the sample size was sufficiently large.

Usage: Followed by the base form of a verb (without 'to').

Teaching tip: Learners can identify this sense by looking for a base verb immediately following the contraction.

### 2. they had

pronoun · CEFR B1

a short way of saying 'they had'.

For teachers: a contraction of 'they' and 'had', typically used as an auxiliary in the past perfect tense.

- By the time I arrived, they'd already finished dinner.
- The witnesses claimed they'd seen the vehicle parked outside the warehouse several hours before the alarm was triggered.

Usage: Followed by a past participle (e.g., 'gone', 'seen', 'done').

Teaching tip: Help students distinguish this from 'they would' by checking if the following verb is a past participle.

## Examples

- They'd already finished dinner when I arrived.
- The neighbors said they'd be happy to watch our dog while we are away on vacation.
- If the researchers had known the results would be so controversial, they'd likely have adjusted their methodology before publishing the final report.

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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.