“Rather” is rather annoying because it looks like it should be a verb:
“I would rather eat snake soup,” she said after he asked her out.
“Rather” is an adverb. It is not a verbal synonym for “to prefer,” which means that this sentence is wrong and torture to the eye or ear:
“I rather run away than fight you.”
“I would rather run away than fight you.”
In lieu of a lengthy explanation, use this rule of thumb:
When qualifying verbs, only use “rather” with “would.”
(Skupno 23 obiskov, današnjih obiskov 1)