Used to/would

Used to
▶ A) We use USED TO /DIDN’T USE TO + infinitive to refer to
past habits, repeated actions or states.

In such cases, used to can be replaced by the past simple with no

difference in meaning.

◦ I used to travel /travelled a lot when I was younger

(I don’t any more)

used to= not now

not any more
no longer
▶ B) We use the past simple, and not used to, in the
following cases:

◦ To refer to an action which happened at a definite time in the

past.
⚫ I went clubbing yesterday

◦ To say how many times an action happened at a definite time

in the past.

⚫ I went to the hairdresser’s twice last month.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!

used to doesn’t exist in the present tense.

For present habits, use:

▶Usually+the present simple

◦ I usually walk to work. I used to go to work

USE “USED TO” OR PAST SIMPLE
USED TO
1. We __________(live) in London years ago.
2. __________(you/go)
DID YOU USE TO cycling when you were five?
3. Tourists __________(not/
DIDN’T USE TO come) years ago.
4. Last summer I always __________(meet)
MET her at the
seaside.
5. __________(he/buy) the newspaper before going to work?
DID HE USE TO

6. They __________(not/spend) their holidays in Portugal.

DIDN’T USE TO
7. She __________(spend) a lot of money on cosmetics years
ago.
USED TO
Would or used to?
• We use would/used to for repeated actions in the past.

⚫ When I was young I used to play with my toys. When I was young
I would play with my toys.

▶ But we do not use would with non-action verbs

• I used to live in New York (Not would)

Would or used to?
➢ If the sentence is not about a repeated
habit/action, or does not include a time
expression, we can not use 'WOULD':

I used to play piano. →I would play piano.

➢ It is more natural to say:

I used to play piano. I would practice every day.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT OPTION
▶ We __________ go for a walk every morning when we were little.
A. used to B. would C. both A and B
▶ Dad ___________ a good student.
A. was B. used to was C. would be
▶ I_______________ ice cream when I was a baby.
◦ A. didn’t like B. didn’t used to like C. both A and B
▶ My sister and I ____________ to the cinema on Saturdays and have an Ice- cream afterwards.
A. used to gone B. would always go C. did go
▶ Before I moved to Paris, I _________________ in Scotland.
A. used to live B. would live C. both A and B

REWRITE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING “USED TO” OR “WOULD”

1. Martin/walk home from school

2. Carl and Rachel/play chess every Friday
3. Jenny/have a hamster
4. We/have bacon and eggs for breakfast
5. People/think the earth was flat
6. My father/tell me bedtime stories
7. Barbra and Frank/live in a small flat
8. We/ meet in the park every morning.