Used to і would: звички в минулому

When you use it

You use used to for something that was true or happened regularly in the past and is different now: I used to live in a small village. The listener understands that you no longer live there. It works for repeated actions and for states.

You use would for repeated actions in the past when you are remembering or telling a story: Every summer we would stay at my grandmother's house. It does not work for states. Both forms describe the past only; for present habits you use the present simple.

How it is formed

Used to is followed by the base form of the verb. Its negative and question forms use did, and after did the spelling changes to use to.

Form	Pattern	Example
Affirmative	subject + used to + base verb	She used to smoke.
Negative	subject + didn't use to + base verb	She didn't use to smoke.
Question	Did + subject + use to + base verb?	Did she use to smoke?

Would is also followed by the base form. Its negative is wouldn't. In this meaning questions are rare.

Form	Pattern	Example
Affirmative	subject + would + base verb	He would walk to work every day.
Negative	subject + wouldn't + base verb	He wouldn't take the bus, even in winter.

Which one to choose:

Meaning	used to	would
Repeated past action (play, visit, go)	yes	yes
Past state (live, be, have, like, know)	yes	no
Something that is no longer true	yes	usually implied by the story

Examples

• I used to live in a small village. Now I live in the city.
• Tom used to play football every weekend, but he stopped after the injury.
• Anna didn't use to like coffee. Now she drinks it every morning.
• Did you use to walk to school?
• When we were children, my grandmother would read to us every evening.
• On Sundays we would get up late and have a long breakfast.
• There used to be a cinema on this street.
• Tom would always forget his keys, so Anna kept a spare one.

In the last example would with always sounds a little critical, as if the habit was annoying. This is a common use in spoken English.

Common mistakes

• ✗ I use to play tennis when I was younger.
  ✓ I used to play tennis when I was younger.
  In the affirmative the form is always used, with a d. The mistake is easy to make because used to and use to sound the same in fast speech.
• ✗ I didn't used to like vegetables.
  ✓ I didn't use to like vegetables.
  After did or didn't the verb goes back to its base form, exactly as with any other past simple verb: didn't play, not didn't played.
• ✗ When I was a student, I would live in Kyiv.
  ✓ When I was a student, I used to live in Kyiv.
  Would describes repeated actions, not states. Live, have, be, like and know describe states, so they go with used to or the plain past simple. Russian бывало and Ukrainian бувало work like would: they also suit actions rather than states.
• ✗ I am used to get up early when I was at school.
  ✓ I used to get up early when I was at school.
  Be used to plus an -ing form is a different structure. It means that something is familiar and not difficult for you (звик / привык), and it can refer to the present. Used to plus a base verb only describes the past.
• ✗ I used to go to the gym twice a week now.
  ✓ I go to the gym twice a week now.
  Used to tells the listener that the habit is over. Ukrainian and Russian have no verb form for this; they add an adverb such as раніше / раньше to an ordinary past tense. In English the meaning is built into used to, so it cannot combine with now.

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