Used To

Introduction

There are many different tenses for ESL students to learn: simple past, past progressive, etc. However, in addition to these, there is one tense that many students never learn: Used to.

Used to is very common in spoken English. It refers to the distant past, meaning:

1. You did something regularly a long time ago, but
2. Nowadays, you don’t do that thing anymore.

–OR–

1. You almost never did something a long time ago, but
2. Nowadays, you do that thing regularly.

The Grammar

Positive Statements (used to…)

Subj.	Used to	Simple Verb	(Rest of sentence)
I	used to	work	at a store, but now I’m an engineer.
You	used to	have	a truck, but now you drive a van.
He	used to	be	a teacher, but he hasn’t taught for five years.
She	used to	see	her mother every day, but since she moved, she only goes occasionally.
It	used to	rain	every day when I lived in England as a kid.
We	used to	live	in Korea, but we moved to the US five years ago.
They	used to	drive	to work every day, but since the pandemic, they have been working at home.

Negative Statements (didn’t use to…)

Subj.	Didn’t use toto	Simple Verb	(Rest of sentence)
I	didn’t use to	drive	a truck, but I bought one two years ago and I love it!
You	didn’t use to	have	a computer, but nowadays you need one to work from home.
He	didn’t use to	see	his mother every day, but now they live in the same city.
She	didn’t use to	like	children, but nowadays she works as a kindergarten teacher.
It	didn’t use to	be	so hot in California, but the last few summers have been crazy!
We	didn’t use to	live	in Korea, but we moved here last year.
They	didn’t use to	work	from home, but their company has been using Zoom since the pandemic.

Questions (did you use to…?)

Did	Subj.	Use to	Simple Verb	(Rest of sentence)
Did	I	use to	see	you at the grocery store often?
Did	you	use to	shop	at Walmart often?
Did	he	use to	work	at Ford?
Did	she	use to	drive	a Corvette?
Did	it	use to	be	so expensive to rent an apartment?
Did	we	use to	exercise	at the same gym?
Did	they	use to	finish	work at 5 o’clock every day?

Pronunciation Note

Used to is not pronounced the same as the verb use; the “s” in used to has a “hard S” (sss) sound, but the verb “use” has a “soft S” (z) sound. Therefore, the pronunciation is:

• used to: yoost too
• use to (negative or question): yoos too

Learning with Pictures

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Practice Conversation

Andrea is interviewing Scott for a job at The ESL Times, a newspaper.

Andrea: Welcome to The ESL Times. My name is Andrea. Nice to meet you.

Scott: Nice to meet you too. Actually, I think we have met before; did you use to work at UCLA?

Andrea: You’re right! I used to teach a few classes there.

Scott: I think I was in one of your classes during my first year. Did you use to have black hair?

Andrea: That’s me! Anyway, according to your resume, you graduated three years ago and are an intern at The Daily Paper. Is that correct?

Scott: Actually, I have been writing articles for them for three years now. I used to be an intern before I graduated.

Andrea: That’s interesting; my mother used to work there.

Scott: She used to work there? Maybe I have met her!

Andrea: I don’t think so; she retired ten years ago. Anyway, I’m curious why you want to quit there and start here.

Scott: They haven’t been giving me enough work. They used to give me enough work to pay my bills, but nowadays I only get one or two stories a month.

Andrea: We used to have a lot of work too, but it has been slow for the last year.

Scott: Then, um…why are you hiring?

Conclusion

I know this can be confusing. In fact, when I taught in South Korea, my students used to confuse it with simple past. However, I hope you understand it a little bit better now and will be able to use it in conversation (or at least understand when you hear it).