How to use 'USED TO' correctly - Basic English Grammar

Hi and welcome. My name is Ganesh, I'm from LearnEnglishLab.com and in

today's lesson we're going to talk about how to use 'used to' correctly. Now this is

one of the most misunderstood and misused areas of grammar and by that I

mean, many students don't understand the structure and they make a lot of

mistakes with it.

Well that's why we have this lesson today and after watching this video you

won't be making any of those mistakes. Alright now the first and most

important thing that you need to keep in mind is that 'used to' talks about the

past.

It doesn't talk about the present or the future,

it talks about the past. Now there is one situation where you can use it to talk

about the present but I will tell you what that is at the end of this video

but it's not that common so you don't have to really worry about it.

Just remember that we use 'used to' to talk about the past. In talking about the

past 'used to' has two purposes -

the first is to refer to past habits. Take a look at this sentence I have over

here - "I used to play soccer in high school." Now when you hear me saying that

sentence you should immediately think of two things - first,

this happened in the past, and second - this was a habit in the past. That means

I'm not saying I played soccer one time in high school

No, I'm saying "I used to play soccer in high school" - that means it was a habit

for me, and I did it repeatedly. Have a look at this timeline

I've got. Let's say that that side is the future, this is now or the present and

over on this side is the past. All of these are the action and the action is

"I used to play soccer in high school." So you can see that I did the action

regularly or repeatedly. So it was a habit for me. In the second sentence "Matt

used to drink coffee every morning." So once again

Matt did it every day. He did it as a habit. You also know that Matt perhaps

does not do it now because we're saying "Matt used to drink coffee every morning."

So maybe Matt drinks tea now or he doesn't drink anything in the morning. So

that's one way to use 'used to', that is to talk about past habits.

The second is to talk about states or situations that are no longer true. What

do I mean by that? Well have a look at sentence number three -

"Karen used to live in Vermont." Notice that living is not really a habit

because it's not something that we do repeatedly - it's simply a state - a state

of being or a situation. And this is a situation that was true in the past so

Karen started living in Vermont at some point and she lived in Vermont for some

period of time and then the situation finished. So let's extend the sentence - we

can say "Karen used to live in Vermont but now she lives in New York." So that

means she stopped living in Vermont and at some point she moved to New York. In

our last sentence, "The office used to be very tidy when Frank was the manager."

What do you understand when you hear that sentence?

Well I'm not really happy about the new manager because I'm saying the office

used to be very tidy when Frank was the manager. So you know that that situation

is now finished. Frank is not the manager anymore and the office is not

very tidy anymore. Tidy means neat and clean so I'm so saying it in a sort of a

negative way. I'm saying the office used to be very tidy back then and now it's

not so tidy. So that again is a situation that is no longer true. Alright

so now you know the two major ways that we use 'used to' - one is to talk about past

habits and the second is states or situations that were true in the past

and that are no longer true.

OK now let's take a quick look at how to make negative sentences and questions

with 'used to'. This is one place where a lot of students make mistakes. Alright

take a look at what I have over here - to make negative sentences we put 'didn't' in

front of 'used to' and we remove the 'd' from 'used to' - that is very important. So

'didn't use to'

Let's make some negative sentences with these. In the first "I didn't use to play

soccer in high school." Remember 'didn't use to'

So "I didn't use to play soccer in high school." "Matt didn't use to drink coffee

every morning.'

Can you make negatives with these? "Karen didn't use to live in Vermont." Very good.

"The office didn't use to be very tidy when Frank wasn't manager." Now let me give

you a tip here - if this is a little difficult to remember - the whole 'didn't

use to' business you can simply make past simple tense negatives and that is

perfectly OK.

By that I mean you can very simply say "I didn't play soccer in high school." That

is perfectly OK. "Matt didn't drink coffee every morning." "Karen didn't live in

Vermont." In this sentence the verb 'is be' so we need to say 'was' so "The office

wasn't very tidy when Frank was the manager." So you can either say 'didn't use

to' or you can simply use a past tense past simple tense negative. And it's the

same thing with making questions as well. To make questions we start the sentence

with 'Did' and then you fill in the subject - it can be I, you, he, she, it,

anything and then again 'use' not 'used' - 'use to' so 'Did + the subject + use to'

Let's make questions with these - so in the first

"Did you use to play soccer in high school?" I'm changing 'I' to 'you' to make it

more natural-sounding - "Did you used to play soccer in high school?" Before we

move on to the second sentence once again just like with negatives you can

simply use a past simple question if you want - you can say "Did you play soccer in

high school?" That is also OK.

In the second, can you make a question? "Did Matt use to drink coffee every

morning?"

Very good. Or "Did Matt drink coffee every morning?" That is also OK. Number three -

"Did Karen use to live in Vermont?" Or "Did Karen live in Vermont?" And number 4 - "Did

the office use to be very tidy when Frank was the manager?" Or "Was the office

very tidy when Frank was the manager?"

Both of those are perfectly OK. Alright before we finish the lesson there are

two important points that I want to share with you - first is a common error

alert! This is a place where I have heard many, many students making mistakes and

the mistake is that a lot of students say 'used to' to talk about present habits

or situations. You cannot use 'used to' in that manner.

Let's say that I get up at 7 a.m. every morning. So the alarm rings at

seven in the morning. I turn off the alarm and I get up so it is a present

habit for me. Some students say "I used to get up at 7 a.m. everyday", and they're

talking about their present routine. That is wrong. If you want to talk about a

present habit or routine simply use the present simple tense. You can just say I

get up at 7 a.m. every day, it's very simple.

OK don't say 'used to' because if you say 'used to' the other person will think

you're talking about a past habit, they might be a little confused.

OK so just remember that. And the last point I wanted to share with you

is when you see this type of structure 'be + used to + something' - 'sth' means

something. Then what that means is to be adjusted to something. Like in this

sentence "I'm used to it."

For example imagine that I work at a factory and it's very noisy in my

factory. And let's say one of my friends asked me "Hey how do you work in a

factory? Isn't it really noisy?" I might say "Oh I'm used to it." Here I'm saying i

am adjusted to it. I'm using 'used to' as a shortcut for the word 'adjusted'. OK here

we are not talking about habits or situations or anything, just being

adjusted to something.

Keep that in mind. Alright let's do a quick recap - we use 'used to' to talk about

two things in the past - one is past habits and the second is states or

situations that were true in the past and that are no longer true. We make

negative sentences by using 'didn't use to' or simply with the past simple. OK

like "I didn't play soccer in high school." We make questions with 'did' and then the

subject and 'use to'. Or we can make questions with the past simple.

OK so "Did you play soccer in high school?" That's also OK. Remember this common

error - do not use 'used to' to talk about present habits. For present habits just

use the present simple tense. And finally to be used to something means to be

adjusted to something.

Alright I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Remember to subscribe to this channel,

and I'll see you in another lesson soon.