USED TO vs BE USED TO

USED TO vs BE USED TO- What’s 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.