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Questions asked using past tense, some examples like: "Would you mind...?", "Could you please...?", "Should I do...?", "Did you want...?"

It seems people are using past tense in these sort of questions, when the correct tense grammatically is present tense.

Why is that?

Is this a hint of being polite or humble? Is there a grammar rule for this setup? Or is this wrong grammar but usual usage?

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  • Why the downvote and closing votes? Enlightenment me how you think this is not related to English language and its usage?
    – user1589188
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 1:05
  • Look up modals in any English grammar website to get a fuller and better picture. The topic of modals is very vast, quite complicated for learners, and needs to be taught properly.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:45
  • The following verbs: will / would, can / could, may / might, shall and should are modals, the verb that follows is in the infinitive without "to" . E.G Will you take this to Mr. Brown*, Would you take this to Mr Brown?, Do you mind taking this to Mr Brown? and Would you mind taking this to Mr Brown? all mean the same, and all refer to the present, "now". It may look related to the "past" but the requests are made in the present.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:47
  • Compare: "May I close the window?", "Can I close the window?", "Could I close the window?", Shall I close the window? and "Would you mind terribly, if I closed the window?" all of these requests are polite, some more than others. Which do you think are the most polite, and why?
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:52
  • Thanks @Mari-LouA, love to see you answering instead of commenting. To answer your question, the "past" tense forms are more polite, and that is exactly my question, WHY "past" tense? The question is not asking about what are modal verbs, is asking why the "past" tense form shows more politeness? This is not being addressed in all the answer/comments so far. And forget about modal verbs, I also gave an example of usual shop assistants saying "Did you want any help?" instead of "Do you want any help?". Clearly Do/Did is not modal verb.
    – user1589188
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 23:05

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The tense used when asking such questions is not the simple past tense, rather it is the conditional tense, which is used "to speculate about what could happen, what might have happened, and what we wish would happen." (this is a quote from this website that breaks down the conditional very well http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/conditional/ )

When you are asking someone to do something for you, the conditional is used because you want them to do something for you though it has not been done, and you are not sure whether or not it will be done. It's just something you wish would happen.

Though for the last example "Did you want to..." I think it's more commonly expressed as "Would you like to?"

Hope this answered your question.

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  • Thanks. The only occurrence to me of the conditional tense is when using together with "If" sentences. Not sure what you said applies here. I can wait for other posters' comments. The last one I was thinking "Did you want something?" or "Did you want my help? like usually when you go into a shop what a shop assistance will say.
    – user1589188
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 1:36
  • @user1589188 You may be right. But, only most cases of the conditional in English begin with If, not all. I think with questions the rule is a bit different.
    – RE Lavender
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 1:54
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    It's better to call this the modal use of would, the past tense of will. Modal means that the verb conveys something other than time, person, or number. Here it's a polite, reserved way to ask a favor or disguise a command as a request.
    – deadrat
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 2:16
  • Thanks @deadrat for agreeing such use is for politeness reason. But you are merely pointing out people use it that way, just because, period. This is exactly what my question is asking, why past tense means politeness? Without loss of meaning, same sentence can be constructed using present tense. To make it more polite, some other languages will either make the sentence longer by throwing in more polite words or add in special polite phrase at the end of the sentence. English, uses past tense, why?
    – user1589188
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 23:18
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    @user1589188 I'm going to guess that you're confusing the past tense (which is a verb form) with the meaning of past time (which is but one use of the past tense). Please forgive me if I've made an erroneous assumption. The "softening" aspect of the past tense of will (i.e., would) is very old. The OED can date written examples to the year 888. Let me emphasize that this usage (called modal) isn't about time at all. There really isn't much more reason than that people "use it that way" and have for a very long time. Perhaps the answer may be found in Old English.
    – deadrat
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 23:38

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