Used To: The Old Days
Used to takes you back: past habits and old states that are gone now. When I was a kid, I used to play outside every day.
Used To
The time machine to the past
Used to is a time machine: it takes you to habits and states that are over. The past it describes is closed — no longer true, no longer happening.
Past habits
you did it regularly, then stoppedI used to play football
Old states
it was true, then it changedShe used to live in London
Didn't use to
the past non-habitI didn't use to like coffee
Questions
did + use toDid you use to play the piano?
⚠️ Used to + bare verb. The past is over — now it is different.
The Formula
used to + bare verb
One formula for the whole past: used to plus the bare verb. In negatives and questions, the helper did takes over — and use drops its -d.
Iused to playfootball every day
Sheused to livein London
Wedidn't use to eatout
Did youuse to playthe piano?
Common Mistakes
Four time-machine slips
The time machine breaks when the -d wanders, when the past verb sneaks in after used to, or when a different structure borrows the same words.
I use to play football when I was young.
I used to play football when I was young.
💡 The habit form is used to + verb.
I used to played football.
I used to play football.
💡 After used to, the verb is bare — no past form.
I didn't used to like coffee.
I didn't use to like coffee.
💡 After did, the -d disappears: didn't use to.
I am used to play football.
I am used to playing football.
💡 Careful: be used to + -ing is a different structure — a later lesson.
Quick Quiz
Test what you just learned
Three minutes, five questions — check what stuck. No essay questions, we promise.
When I was a child, I ___ watch cartoons every morning.
💡 Info supplémentaire2 sections
Used To or Past Simple?
Habit or single event?
Both look at the past — one films a repeated habit, the other snaps a single event.
The Used To Family
Three look-alikes, three jobs
The words used to appear in three different structures. Do not let the similarity fool you.
⚠️ Used to tells the past; be used to tells your comfort zone.