Use “use, be used to, used to, and get used to” correctly

Used to + infinitive

Here I will give a short , clear and simple explanation of how used to + infinitive is used in English

 Used to is a form that we use to talk about an habitual action in the past that we don’t do now.

The structure is in the past so questions and negatives are formed using “did”

  •  I used to live in London (now I don’t live in London)
  •  John used to play rugby every weekend (now he doesn’t play because he has serious knee problems)
  •  Mary didn’t use to speak French (but now she speaks French very well because she has lived in Toulouse for 5 years)
  •  Did you use to have a lot of homework when you went to Primary school?

For a general introduction to the differences between the variations of use look at:

How to use “use” correctly

How to use be used to correctly

Go to English grammar lessons

3 Responses to “Use “use, be used to, used to, and get used to” correctly”

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  1. f-k says:

    as a teacher how you should teach differences between used to and be/get use to?

    • admin says:

      One thing you could do is:
      make a list of things that were true (for famous people that they know) in the past but are not true now (George Bush was president of the USA; Cristian Ronaldo played for Manchester United; Johnny didn’t do a lot of homework at primary school etc etc)
      make a list of changes for these people when they stopped the first activity (play football at 10.00pm; do a lot of homework at secondary school etc etc) then use the forms to illustrate these stories: C.Ronaldo used to play for Man Utd but then he moved to Real Madrid. He wasn’t used to playing at 10.00 pm but he slowly got used to it. Now he is used to playing matches late in the evenings and on Sundays