How to know if sentence containing would/could is not a conditional sentence

Question

Do we always use could would in conditional sentences?

1.I would love to go there.

2.It could rain.

3.That would be Daniel.

Are all the above sentences 2nd conditionals?

How to distinguish between indicative and subjunctive (conditional) sentences?

Answer 1

Most grammarians nowadays would avoid using the term "subjunctive" for "would", "could". That aside...

1. "I would love" and "I would like" are just conventional formulas for expressing desire. It would be possible to understand "I would love to go there" as short for "I would love to go there [if I could]", which would be a second conditional. But when someone says "I would like a glass of water", should we also imagine an implicit subordinate clause ("if I could have one", "if you don't mind giving me one") there, too? It seems rather artificial, given that expressions with "I want..." and "I desire..." carry very similar meaning (even if less politely).

2. "It could rain" expresses a possibility rather than a certainty, just as "It might rain" or "It may rain" does. We don't refer to it as a conditional nor (in modern grammar) as a subjunctive. But we say that the modal verb "could" is being used to express modality (this is a broader term than traditional grammatical mood).

3. "That would be Daniel". Not a conditional. There is no "if", implicit or otherwise. It is just one of the conventional uses of "would", and mirrors a similar use of "will" ("That will be Daniel").

The term "second conditional" is used in EFL/ESL to refer to a complete sentence of the type "If [subject] [verb in the past tense] (then) [subject] would+[bare infinitive]". None of your examples match those criteria, although (1) could be understood that way, as I've outlined.

For modality, see here:

Modality is about a speaker’s or a writer’s attitude towards the world. A speaker or writer can express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity and ability by using modal words and expressions.

On modal verbs:

We use modals to show if we believe something is certain, possible or impossible... We also use them to do things like talk about ability, ask permission, and make requests and offers.

The term "mood" suggests a small number of moods distinguished by inflection (changing the form of the verb). In English, modality is often indicated through auxiliaries instead - hence the term "modal verbs".