LoginWould vs. Used To
'Would' and 'used to' are used to talk about habits which is why many learners confuse them. In this lesson, we will find out their difference.
What Is Their Main Difference?
Would
'Would' is a modal verb (also known as modals). Modals give additional information about the function of the main verb. 'Would' is used to talk about willingness, habits, offers, requests, etc. It is known as the past tense of the modal 'will.' Take a look at the following examples:
I
They
Used to
'Used to' is a phrase and a semi-modal that indicates a past fact, habit, or action. Have a look:
I
He
Talking about Past Habits
Habits are routine actions. Habits tend to repeat themselves. Past habits are routines and repeated actions that occurred in the past but no longer happen. We use 'would' and 'used to' to talk about these habits; however, there is a distinction that requires your attention:
- 'Would' only talks about past habits when the time frame is specified in the sentence. Have a look:
I
Here, we are indicating 'when' this habit happened.
When I was younger, I
- 'Used to' talks about routine actions that stopped occurring in the past but we are not sharing the specific time frame.
I
Here, we do not know the specific time of this habit but we know it is in the past.
I used to watch my favorite movie on repeat.
Talking about Past States
When we want to talk about a situation or a certain state in the past, we use 'used to.' Note that we cannot use 'would' in this case since we are using stative verbs such as love, feel, be, and know. For example:
When I was younger, I
When I was younger, I would live in California.
Tip!
We can use stative verbs with 'would' only when we have a conditional sentence. For example:
I
I
Question
We can create questions with 'would' and 'used to.'
Would
We can create
Yes/No Questions
To create these questions, we place 'would' at the beginning of the sentence followed by the subject and the main verb. Have a look:
You
Harry
Wh-questions
To create wh-questions, we begin with a wh-word such as what, when, where, who, why, and how; then we use 'would' followed by the subject and the base form of the main verb. Look at these examples to see this process in action:
She
You
Used to
We can create
- Yes/no questions
- Wh-questions
Yes/No Questions
We can create questions with 'used to.' To do so, we begin with 'did' followed by the subject, 'used to,' and the rest of the sentence. For example:
Did you
Did he
Wh-questions
To create wh-questions with 'used to,' we begin with a wh-word such as what, where, who, why, and how; then we add 'did' followed by the subject, 'used to,' and the rest of the sentence. Here are some examples:
What did you
Where did you
Negation
We can create negative sentences with 'would' and 'used to.'
Would
To make the sentence negative, we add 'not' to 'would' as illustrated below:
- Would → Would not → Wouldn't
Here are some examples:
She
He
Used to
To make a sentence with used to negative, we add 'did not' or its contracted form 'didn't' before 'use to' or 'used to.' Some may say that 'used to' is incorrect, however, it is correct but it is very uncommon. For instance:
I
I
Comments
