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.