| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. |
| In this lesson, I'm going to talk about "used to" versus "would." We use both of these to talk about past actions. So, we're going to talk about the differences between these two. |
| Let's get started. |
| Okay. I want to begin by talking about "used to." Used to." So, we use "used to" and "would" for actions you did in the past, but you do not do now. So, these can be actions very far in the past, they can be actions from a few months ago, but, this is a key, it's something that was true in the past that is not true today. Not true at the current time. So, you can use this to talk about lots of different things, including statuses and conditions. This is a key difference with "would." So, we're able to talk about activities, yes, the things that we did like our actual physical actions, and we can talk about our conditions in the past, and -- that were true, but that are not true now. So, this is not something we can do with "would." Finally, when you use "used to," you don't need to include a specific point in time. You can give that information in another sentence, or you can provide it in some other way. But you do not need to include the point in time in the past that you're talking about when you use "used to." |
| So, let's look at some examples of this. First, "I used to play soccer." "I used to play soccer." So, this is an example where I did not include a point in time. So, the speaker just wants to talk about maybe a previous hobby, or they had some kind of life experience. And they want to communicate quickly. They did it in the past, but they don't do it now. So, "I used to play soccer." So, if you want to, you can follow up with some more information. "I played soccer when I was a kid," or, "I played soccer a few years ago." But, this "used to" tells the listener this is not true for me now. |
| Another example. "We used to go on a family vacation every summer." We used to go on a family vacation every summer." So, here, we do have some information about the time period, "family vacation every summer." So, this shows this was a repeating action every year. And the action "family vacation," going on a family vacation. So, this shows this is not true now. So, maybe the speaker is an adult, and this was something that happened in childhood. So, you can follow up with some more specific information here. For example, "We used to go on a family vacation every summer. We stopped doing it when I graduated from high school," something like that. So, you can give some sort of time period if you like. So, again, this shows this is not true now, and we do have a time period in this case. |
| Okay. Let's look at this one. This is a status or a condition really. "She used to be a teacher." "She used to be a teacher." So, her job, in other words, her job was teacher in the past. It is not teacher now. So, this is like her condition, "to be a teacher." So, "she" in the past, she was a teacher, she's not a teacher now. We can use "used to" in this way. This is her condition or her status, teacher. We cannot use "would" in this way. So, you can use this to talk about jobs. So, maybe like, "I used to be a retail worker," or, "I used to be a call center, a staff person." Whatever your previous job was, you can use "used to" to talk about that. |
| Finally, then "He used to love eating bananas." "He used to love eating bananas." So, this is another situation where while we can use "would" to talk about this kind of the situation a little bit, we would need to change the grammar. We have to change the grammar in order to use "would" here. I'll show you an example later. So, "He used to love eating bananas," means now he does not love eating bananas. So, this is the thing right here. He used to love it, maybe now, he hates it. So, this shows it is no longer true. So again, in this sentence, I don't have a specific point in time. We don't need to use a specific point in time. It's very common to follow up with like a simple past tense expression that gives us more information. |
| So, let's compare "used to" -- these uses of "used to" with "would." So here, this first point is the same as with "used to." We use "would" to talk about actions you did in the past, but that you do not do now. So, this is the same. However, we cannot use "would" for statuses and conditions. So, when I talked about this one like, "She used to be a teacher," we cannot use it to talk about that condition. We can't use it in that way. We use "would" with a point in time. So, in like the same sentence, we've established when we're talking about. So, it is actually common to use "used to" and "would" together. So, let's take a look at some examples first. |
| First, "When I was a kid, I would play soccer every week." "When I was a kid, I would play soccer every week." So, this is very similar to this one, "I used to play soccer." So here, we don't need to include a point in time. This sentence, however, we've included a point in time. "When I was a kid." So, this could be like a long period of time as well, too. That's fine. "When I was a kid, I would play soccer every week." I would play soccer every week. You'll notice too that with "would," you often see some kind of like repeating action or like a regular activity that's involved there. So, "When I was a kid, I would play soccer every week." Some kind of thing that you did regularly, and we know when it was. |
| This next one, I've actually made this as a continuation of this one, to show how "used to" and "would" are used together. So, this example sentence with "used to" was, "We used to go on a family vacation every summer. We would often visit beaches and enjoy the sunshine." So here, "we would often visit beaches." So, this shows us this was our repeating action. This was something that we did regularly on these family vacations every summer. So, why didn't I include a specific point in time here? It's because I've talked about a specific point in time or given some information about when in the previous sentence. So, it doesn't have to be all in the same sentence, but you can connect your expression with "would" to the sentence before your "would" sentence. But, typically, you need to share the time period before you use "would." You need to do that. So, I'll show a couple of other examples, too. |
| Let's move on to the next one. Here, another time period at the beginning of the sentence. "A few years ago, our neighbors would have huge parties almost every weekend." Our neighbors would have huge parties almost every weekend. So, here, the regular action is "the neighbors having huge parties." And we see here, "every weekend." So, this is again, a regular activity. When did it happen? A few years ago. A few years ago. So, not now, but a few years ago. Our neighbors regularly had really big parties. But we don't say "regularly," we say would "would" have huge parties every weekend. So, again, this "would" often has that feeling of something a repeating or something that happens on a schedule. Okay. |
| One more example here. In this example, I have not included a time period before "would." But, you may hear situations or sentences like this one, "He would eat bananas like crazy when he was little." He would eat bananas like crazy when he was little. This is something that you might hear if you're in a conversation where someone is talking about the way an adult or maybe a young person was when they were very small. So, in the context of the conversation, you already know the time period. So, you're talking about maybe one of your friends -- you're talking with a parent about one of your friends. And the parent is giving some information about your friend in his elementary school days. And this comment comes out, "He would eat bananas like crazy when he was little." So, we already know from the context of the conversation, we're talking about this person, "he," at a point in time when he was very small. |
| So, we might use this at the end of this sentence in situations like that to kind of reinforce, or to show again, that you're talking about this particular point in time here. So, this again, reinforces the repetition. He would eat bananas like crazy. So, "like crazy" is an expression that means a lot. Doing something to a crazy amount. So, this shows this was a very common action for him when he was little. So, this is a case where you might see the time period come at the end of the sentence when we already have the context from earlier in the conversation. |
| So, in sum, "used to" and "would" are both used to talk about past actions. But we cannot use "would" to talk about statuses and conditions. We can use "used to" to talk about statuses and conditions. We don't need to include a point in time when we're talking about "used to," though it is very natural to do that. And when we use "would," we do use it with a point in time, and it can be in the same sentence or it can be from earlier in the conversation where we understand the context. One final point is up here. Quick note, if you're trying to decide, "Should I use 'would,' should I use 'used to,' should I use simple past tense?" Did the action happen just one time? It's like just a one-time thing. If so, just use simple past tense to describe that. So, we use these to talk about things that were regular in the past, things that were common. "Would" has more of a feel of like repetition sometimes. But, if your action was just a one-time action, use simple past tense. |
| Okay. So, I hope that this helps you understand the differences between "used to" and "would" for talking about past actions. Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye. |
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