Regular activities in the past with “used to”, “use to”, and “would”

When you look back at your childhood or reflect on your life, do you ever think about activities that you did often in the past but don’t do any more now?

In English, the expressions use to and used to help you convey those activities that were regularly done in the past. When the statement is positive, the expression is used to.

- Bob used to go to the cinema every Saturday.
- Lucy used to be so excited about her birthday.
- Sheryl’s favorite color used to be purple.
- Brad used to ride his motorcyle without a helmet.

When the sentence is negative, we eliminate the “d” to make use to.

- I didn’t use to like eating vegetables; now I love them.
- Kim’s hair didn’t use to be blonde.
- Angelina didn’t use to laugh so much. She’s much more fun now.
- Bill didn’t use to like smart phones until he bought an iPhone.

Note that both used and use are followed by an infinitive.

Would also expresses repetition in the past. In this case there is no infinitive that follows, only the root verb.

- Nancy would always eat her dessert first.
- My dad would often sing at home.
- Otis would always arrive ten minutes late for everything.
- Lola would often go running to elminiate stress.


Now it's time to get nostalgic :)

Modal verb: would

Modal verbs can give the best speaker a headache because they are verbs that behave very irregularly in English. They are used with other verbs to express different meanings, such as:

ability
possibility
probability
permission
advisability
necessity
requesting assistance
making conclusions
giving instructions
making suggestions
showing preference
making offers
maing promises or predictions


Today I will focus on one use of the modal would: to indicate repetition in the past.

When they first met, they would often go biking in the country.
When I was a child, I would always play soccer with my friends.
When he was a student, he would always do his homework.
When I was at the university, I would speak Spanish. Now I can't remember anything.

It expresses the idea that something was an old habit which stopped in the past. What things would you do that you don't do anymore?