USED TO vs BE USED TO Whats the difference
Hi.
I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
I used to study English.
I’m used to studying English.
What’s the difference?
Let’s talk about it.
The two verbs used to and be used to are often
confused by English learners.
These expressions sound similar but they mean
different things so today I’m going to help
you learn when to use them and also how to
create a sentence structure that’s correct
and that’s also going to be commonly used
in daily conversations.
Let’s start with the first one.
Used to.
If I said to you, “I used to go to bed late,”
what does this sentence mean?
What does imply?
Well it implies two things.
The first one is that there’s a continual
action that happened in the past.
I used to go to bed late means that continually,
in the past, I went to bed late.
But it also implies something else that’s
really important.
It implies that I don’t do this anymore.
This continual action has stopped.
My sentence was, “I used to go to bed late,”
but what it really means is, “I used to go
to bed late but now I don’t.”
You don’t need to say that final part because
it is implied.
Implied means that we understand what you
mean, but we’re not exactly specifically saying
it.
You could say, “I used to study English every
day,” and we understand in the past you continually
studied English every day but now you don’t
do that anymore.
You’re continual actions have stopped.
I just shared with you a positive sentence
using used to.
I used to go to bed late.
But what if we want to formulate a negative
sentence?
What will that mean?
What will that imply?
If I said, “I never used to go to bed late,”
here we have a negative sentence.
Never.
I never used to go to bed late.
What does this mean?
What does this imply?
What are we saying without saying it directly?
Well, if you remember from the positive sentences,
it means that there was a continual action
but now that action has stopped.
Here we have the opposite thing.
There was not a continual action but now there
is an action that’s continuing to happen.
If I said to you, “I never used to go to bed
late,” this means in the past I didn’t go
to bed late but it implies something has changed.
Now I continually go to bed late.
You could say, “I never used to go to bed
late but now I do.”
Both of these positive and negative sentences
show that something has changed.
An action that was continual has now stopped
or an action that wasn’t continual is now
starting.
There is a change in something that’s happening.
Now that you know what this expression means,
let’s talk about the sentence structure.
How can you formulate and create a sentence
that’s accurate and correct with used to.
Well, the best way is to use used to plus
an infinitive.
I used to go to bed late.
I used to study English.
I used to play with my sister.
Here we have used plus to play, to go, to
study.
You’re using these two parts together to create
a beautifully grammatically correct sentence.
Before we go to the second expression I want
to ask you a question.
What is something that you used to do when
you were a child?
What did you used to do?
Now you might remember, this means something
that was a continual action in your childhood
but now it doesn’t happen anymore.
It has stopped.
You might say, “I used to do my homework every
day.”
“I used to climb trees.”
“I used to call me friends.”
And that means those things don’t happen anymore.
They were continual in the past but now they’re
not.
Take some time.
Pause this video if you need to to write a
sentence, to think of a sentence, to say a
sentence out loud using used to.
Now we’re going to move onto be used to.
How can you make accurate sentences using
this?
When can you use them?
And also what are the difference between used
to and be used to.
Let’s talk about it.
I’m used to drinking tea every morning.
Are you used to drinking tea?
Or maybe you’re used to drinking coffee.
What are you used to drinking every morning?
This is using be used to.
We’re not using the first expression, which
is used to, we’re adding a be verb.
I am used to drinking tea every morning.
Here our key expression, be used to, is linked
with every morning.
You can kind of have a sense of something
that is a habit.
Something that right now is continuing now.
It hasn’t stopped.
It is continuing.
Every morning I drink tea.
And that’s exactly what be used to means.
It’s something that is continuing now.
It is your habit now.
You might say, “I’m accustomed to drinking
tea every morning.”
But this expression, accustomed to is pretty
formal and it’s not really common in daily
conversation so instead you can say, “I’m
used to studying English every morning.”
“I’m used to watching Vanessa’s videos.”
“I’m used to doing something.”
Let’s talk about how you can make be used
to sentences grammatically correct.
Well, if you said, “I am used to sleeping
late,” here we have our key expression be
used to plus sleeping.
Sleeping.
This is an I-N-G verb so you need to have
an I-N-G verb directly after this expression.
I’m used to studying English with Vanessa.
I’m used to drinking tea.
Make sure that you used that I-N-G verb.
Now I want to know for you, what’s something
that you’re used to doing every morning?
You might say, “I’m used to hitting snooze
on my alarm clock.”
“I’m used to eating toast.”
“I’m used to running out the door because
I’m always late.”
What are you used to doing?
This is a habitual action that happens all
the time.
It happens continually.
Before we go, let’s do a quick recap.
A recap is a review.
If you say, “I used to study English every
day,” this means that it was continual but
now it has changed.
Now you don’t study English every day.
Or if you say, “I am used to studying English
every day,” this means that right now it is
a continual habit.
You’re continuing to do it.
I hope that that second one is true for you
but let me know in the comments, what is something
that you are used to doing.
Thanks so much for studying English with me
and I’ll see you again next Friday for a new
free English lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Thanks so much.
I’ll see you later.
Bye.
The next step is to download my free e-book,
Five Steps To Becoming a Confident English
Speaker.
You’ll learn what you need to do to speak
confidently and fluently.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons.
Thanks so much.
Bye.