Votre partenaire pour les langues

We can express general preferences and preferences related to specific situations using the verb ‘to prefer’, but the structure we use will not be the same.

To express preferences in general, we use this verb without a modal. It is usually followed by a noun, or the gerund form of a verb, and the second choice is preceded by ‘to’.

I prefer paying rent in snowy Vermont to being homeless in sunny California.

It is also possible for ‘prefer’ to be followed by a verb in the infinitive. In this case, the second choice is preceded by ‘rather than’.

Sophie Jeffares preferred to follow her dream rather than get a boring desk job after graduation.

If we are talking about preferences arising from a specific situation, we put the modal ‘would’ before ‘prefer’.

I would prefer to invest in the co-op that has been built in my neighbourhood.

If we are showing our preference for one thing over another, we use ‘rather than’ before the second option:

I would prefer to invest in my local co-op rather than live in this rental for another year.

We can also use ‘would rather’ instead of using ‘prefer’, in which case the following verb is in the infinitive, without ‘to’.

The New Zealand government would rather improve the quality of life of ethnic Mãoris.

Similarly, if we mention the other less preferred option, we use ‘than’ and don’t put ‘to’ in front of the verb.

The New Zealand government would rather improve the quality of life of ethnic Mãoris than allow historical injustices to have an impact on New Zealand’s future.

As we saw above, ‘would rather’ can be used to express a preference for one thing, or to say that one prefers one thing to another. When used with the 2nd conditional form (would + past tense form), it can indicate a desire for another person to perform an action. Though, it isn’t explicitly mentioned in this structure, it is implicitly understood that the alternative is that the speaker performs the action. It is a way of saying: “I don’t want to do it; you do it instead.”

The City of Los Angeles would rather the state government took over the expense of housing the homeless.