Used To
Educall Language Academy
We use used to when we talk about past habits.
Affirmative:SUBJECT+USED TO+VERB+OBJECT
|
I You He She It We They |
used to | smoke | cigarettes. |
Negative:SUBJECT+DID NOT USE TO+VERB+OBJECT
|
I You He She It We They |
did not (didn't) use to | smoke | cigarettes. |
Question:DID+SUBJECT+USE TO+VERB+OBJECT?
| Did |
I you he she it we they |
use to | smoke | cigarettes? |
When we use used to, it means we don’t do it anymore:
George Clooney used to wear glasses. Now, he doesn’t wear glasses.
Alice used to be a ballerina. Now, she is a photographer.
We can also use would when we talk about things we frequently did in the past, but we use it only with action verbs, we do not use it with status verbs:
status verbs: action verbs:
We used to live in Santa Monica when I was a child. We used to/would go to the beach every day.
We used to have a house by the beach. We would have a house by the beach. We used to/would swim in the ocean for hours.
We used to be so happy there. We would be so happy there. We used to/would run home at dinnertime.
be used to+verb+ing means you are familiar with something because you have done it before:
- I am used to waking up early. I have woken up early many times before.
- She is used to doing lots of homework. She has done a lot of homework before.
- They aren’t used to being treated this kindly. They haven’t been treated this kindly before.
get used to+verb+ing means you become familiar with something after some time:
- I got used to waking up early. I’ve been waking up early for the last few weeks.
- She will get used to doing lots of homework. Her teacher will give her a lot of homework.
- They got used to being treated this kindly. They are not so surprised after one month.