USED TO / USE TO / BE USED TO / GET USED TO / WOULD - English Grammar Lesson (+ Practice PDF)

- So I didn't have a high school reunion

but I always wonder what would that be like?

Wow, 20 years, this is crazy.

Everyone looks so different.

I hope Mr. Smith. isn't here though.

Remember when he used to spit in our mouths

if we got a question wrong?

That was weird.

- I think that guy used to be in our math class.

Hey, poo pants.

- Catch up with you later.

Hey, it's you.

It's Aly.

Oh, I used to be fat and I used to be spotty.

- Sorry.

- No?

- Sorry.

- I would be sitting next to you

and then you would fart whenever it went quiet, hilarious.

Do you remember doing that poo pants?

- Mate, I've never done that. - But don't you remember?

You would poo yourself to get out of doing PE,

so genius.

- Shush, mate, I have never done that, all right?

- See you later, poo pants.

- Remember we would throw bits of fish at the teacher.

- Oh. - Nothing?

- I don't remember, I'm sorry.

- I used to have really bad acne,

I look very different now.

I also used to have hair.

No?

Why does no one remember me?

Was I that forgettable?

Maybe I didn't used to have friends.

- Aly.

- Kyle, it's like, no one even knows me.

- Yeah, probably because I got the date wrong.

This isn't our reunion.

This is just a regular high school dance.

- What, like prom?

- Yeah, these people are all just like random teenagers.

(upbeat music)

- Oh, I thought their skin was so much better than mine.

Geez, ah, that's a relief, I'll be honest.

Oh.

We need to leave.

- Yes, we do.

- Like now.

- Yep. - Yep.

- Today we're doing used to, get used to,

be used to, and would.

Look at this photo of me as a kid.

I know, I'm adorable.

I was only like five, I don't know, kid age.

Compare that photo to now.

Can you see any difference?

I can't, it's like the same person.

Okay, okay, so yeah, we can see hair, no hair, massive head.

My mom tells me that my head was really big

and it was quite painful.

Sorry, mum.

Anyway, I can say I had hair when I was young.

That's fine, the grammar is good,

but I want to show that something changed.

So we replace this with used to, I used to have hair.

I used to have a massive head.

The grammar, used to plus infinitive, used to have.

Not used to had, used to having, no.

And use it for descriptions.

I used to be small, in the past, small.

Now, no, try a negative.

For example, I didn't use to like spicy food.

So when I was a kid, spicy food, blah,

but now mm, spicy food.

It means something changed.

Practice this grammar.

What has changed for you since you were a kid?

Practice this in the comments

or practice in the ebook of sexiness.

Hmm, okay, question.

If someone asks you,

"Did you use to smoke?"

The pronunciation, use to, say it with me, use to,

nice, good job.

But how can you answer this?

Remember this means something changed,

but what if you never smoked?

You have never smoked and you still don't smoke.

How can you answer that?

I've never smoked, easy.

And a common mistake with this,

if you want to use present tense for use to,

don't, it doesn't exist.

Like, "Oh yeah, these days I use to smoke."

No, this is a common mistake.

You say,

"Yeah, I usually smoke."

(ding noise)

Don't smoke, It gives you yellow teeth, it's gross.

So remember those two things,

used to means a change happened either before yes,

now no or before no, now yes.

And if you want to use this in present tense,

don't say use to, use usually.

Super easy, right?

Now let's do get used to, this has a very different meaning.

Okay, let's say you are from Brazil

and you just moved to London.

Brazil, it's sunny, great food, great weather,

the people are nice, but now you live in London.

It's always raining, people are miserable,

and we only eat sandwiches.

I used to live in Brazil, before yes, now no.

But imagine, how does it feel

when you first moved to London?

Feels bad, right?

Feels different, feels weird, ugh, it's not normal for you.

But with time you slowly become accustomed to this.

It becomes normal-ish for you.

And when you become accustomed to it,

you,

get used to something.

Living in London was hard at first, but I got used to it.

It took some time to get used to living

in London and notice the verb form here,

with I used to, the next verb is infinitive.

But with get used to, or be used to,

the next verb is "ing", get used to living, for example.

When you say, "get used to,"

you're saying I became accustomed to it.

I became okay with it.

It became normal.

So with this, get means become, keep that in mind.

It's very important.

Like, "The weather here is rubbish,

I'm still getting used to it."

It's not normal yet,

but I'm becoming accustomed to the weather.

To clarify, I got used to the food.

I became accustomed, it's fine now.

I'm getting used to the food,

it's becoming normal.

Now, when you wanna say,

"I am accustomed to something, it is normal.

Now I'm fine with this."

That is when you use, be used to.

For example, if you come to London,

you will notice that we say, sorry a lot,

but pretty quickly, that becomes normal.

So you could say this,

"I'm used to everyone saying, sorry, all the time.

It's normal now, I am used to it."

I'm used to, and remember the verb "ing."

I'm used to people saying, blah, blah, blah.

It's normal for me now.

I am accustomed to it.

It's normal, it's not weird.

But the negative, how do we use that?

Nice and easy.

If it's still weird for you,

I'm not used to people saying sorry, all the time.

It's so weird, maybe I'll never be used to it.

People are weird here.

So practice this right now.

What in your life has changed?

Maybe you changed schools, changed cities, changed jobs.

Was it weird in the beginning?

Did you have to get used to something very strange?

Are you still getting used to something strange?

Let me know in the comments

or boost your learning with this guy.

Let's put all of this together

for one final example and a very important point.

Let's imagine that you are a fish.

You used to live in the sea, but now you live in London,

you have a job.

What could you say?

I used to swim every day.

I used to see my fish friends.

I used to play fish games.

Your English teacher will hate this repetition,

so we can change this.

You start with used to, that sets the time.

I used to swim every day.

Okay, we know this is past, fine,

but now to avoid repetition,

we can replace the next used to's with would.

I used to swim every day.

I would see my fish friends

and I'd play fish games, but be careful.

With would, you only use it for repeated actions,

not states.

So earlier when I said I used to be small,

I used to have hair.

Those are fine.

I would have hair, I would be small, no,

Because those aren't actions.

Only replace used to for would with repeated actions.

These are fine because these are actions,

repeated actions.

Use this in your writing when you're talking

about when you were a kid

and what changed and I'll see you in the next class.

(warm music)