Used to, didn’t use to – past habits and states

Used to, didn’t use to – past habits and states

Exercise 3

Complete the text with used to, didn’t use to, did … to and the words in brackets.

Interviewer: What 1 (you/be) like when you were a child?

Sally: I remember I 2 (wear) very thick glasses, and I 3 (be) quite short and uncoordinated. To be honest, I 4 (not like) myself very much. However, I'd say I had a very happy childhood.

Interviewer: What 5 (you/do) for fun?

Sally: Oh, I have great memories. We 6 (not have) phones or technology of any kind and the streets 7 (be) safer than now, so we 8 (play) outdoors all the time.

Interviewer: 9 (you/get) good marks in school?

Sally: Yes, I 10 (study) very hard.

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Used to, didn’t use to – Grammar chart

Used to

Past habits

We use used to for past habits or things that happened repeatedly in the past, but they don’t happen any more.

• I used to play chess every day, but now I don’t play very often.
• When the economy was better, we used to eat out every week.

Past states

We use used to with non-action verbs (be, have, etc.) for past states: things that were true in the past, but they are not true any more.

• She used to be very shy when she was a child.
• I used to like her music, but now I hate it.

Didn’t use to, did you use to?

We use did/didn’t + use to for negatives and questions.

• He didn’t use to travel a lot.
• ‘Did he use to live here?’ ‘Yes, he did.’

We can also use never for negatives

• We never used to argue.

Past simple vs used to

Past simple + always, usually, often, etc.

We can also use the past simple tense + frequency adverbs for past habits.

• I always met her at the bar down the street. (= I used to meet …)
• I usually had a big salad for dinner. (= I used to have …)

Past simple (NOT used to)

But we use the past simple (NOT used to) for actions that happened once or when we mention when they happened.

• Last week I met her at the bar down the street. (NOT I used to meet …)
• I had a big salad for dinner last Sunday. (NOT I used to have …)

Usually or used to?

Used to is only used in the past. For present habits, we must use the present simple tense with usually or normally.

• I usually get up very early at weekends. (NOT I use to get up …)
• We don’t usually play on Sunday. (NOT We don’t use to play)

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