Tefl.NET Forums

Can anyone help with the following..
Is this sentence expressing desire in present simple...'I would like a tea'.
IE it means you would like tea now even though the now is not stated.

Thanks.

I agree. And a native speaker would say: I'd like some tea. Or I would like some tea.

jayjay wrote:Is this sentence expressing desire in present simple...'I would like a tea'.
IE it means you would like tea now even though the now is not stated.

Not necessarily. Consider the following:
- What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?
- I would like a full English breakfast.

Your sentence ("'I would like a tea") may well be referring to the present but only by the context would we know it.

Pardon me, but it's not the Present Simple anyway.

"I like tea" is the Present Simple.

"I would like a tea" or varients thereof (I might like a tea, I should like a tea) is a construction with a modal verb and the bare infinitive.

But yes, you have the meaning sussed. It's most likely to be a request form, a synonym of:
"I will have a tea", "Can I have a tea?" and so on.

Unless, of course, there's some sentence stress on "would", like this:
"I WOULD like a tea"
which sort of suggests that none is available or that circumstances don't allow it..

Hope that helps..