Would Prefer Vs Prefer

What’s the difference between would prefer and prefer? How do you use would prefer? How do you use prefer?

As a general rule, both would prefer and prefer are used to express preference. Would prefer is used to say what you want to do in a particular situation; however, prefer is used to say what you prefer in general.

Would Prefer Vs Prefer: What’s the Difference?

How do you use would prefer and prefer?

Would prefer to do something /Would prefer doing something

I would prefer = I’d prefer

I would rather = I’d rather

As we said before, would prefer is used to express preference in a particular situation. Here are some examples:

A: Let’s go by bus.

B: Well, I would prefer to go by car today. ( or I would prefer going by car today).

You can also use would rather instead of would prefer to express preference, but would rather is followed by the infinitive without’to’. Have a look at the examples below:

• I would rather go by car 🚙.
• I feel very tired today. I would rather not go out.
• Would you rather stay or go? I would rather stay.

As you can notice, would rather is followed by the infinitive without ‘to’.

Prefer to do something /Prefer doing something

Generally, we use prefer to do or prefer doing to say what we prefer in general.

• I prefer to leave really early as I have lots of things to do.
• We prefer to live in the countryside.
• We prefer living in the countryside.
• I prefer writing emails.
• We prefer to use the stairs not the lift.