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  • Hey, I have a question for you.

  • Um Hi, hi board, how's it going?

  • Um This is a very curious thing that that I've been thinking about as a native speaker of english and I want to know what you think.

  • Um we have two ways to talk about our past, Well probably more than two, but let's not get into that.

  • Um the two phrases that we use a lot in english are used to and we use wood.

  • So for example, I can say, oh you know what?

  • Um I used to drink Guinness every saturday or I can say I would drink Guinness every saturday and I was thinking what's the difference when I would say used to or would now another reason why this is difficult is because when I would say this normally or quickly, I wouldn't say used to, I would say use to, so when you hear native people speaking, you're gonna hear them say you stop.

  • Oh, I used to do that.

  • I used to play football, I used to do this, I used to, I used to use that and what is you stop?

  • You stop is used to, okay, we use this to talk about our past habits, but it's super important to understand that we don't do them now.

  • And would we're going to use for repeated actions or routines.

  • But again, both of these are in the past um used to or use to is also going to have a time period.

  • So we're going to know exactly that the action has stopped.

  • So let's look at these two sentences.

  • If I say in a very natural way, I'd say we used to go to the sea or the ocean when I was young.

  • If I compare this to uh, we would go to the sea every summer.

  • When you look at this, you think, do you know what they're talking about the past?

  • I don't really see a big difference and you're right, it isn't a huge difference, but there's a definite difference.

  • Um, when we speak english quickly, we don't say we would, we say we'd we'd yeah, we'd, oh, we go to the sea every summer.

  • We would, so we say we, oh, when I was a kid, we go to the sea every summer.

  • So let's look at the difference.

  • We used to go to the sea when I was young.

  • This tells me that I'm not young anymore and because I'm not young, my time period, I finished doing the action.

  • But if I said the sentence, like we would go to the sea every summer time.

  • It's like I'm reminiscing or I'm telling you a story about what I did in the past as a repeated action or a routine.

  • Maybe every summer your family would jump in the car and go on a road trip.

  • Oh, you know what?

  • We would drive for hours and then go nowhere because dad got lost all the time.

  • Um but if I say like, oh, we used to go on road trips, it has the connotation, which means the meaning the hidden meaning that you don't do that anymore.

  • But if I say we would go to the sea every summer, I don't know if you still do that or not, So remember it like this used to, it means you did something in the past, you don't do it anymore.

  • And would you just talking about repeated actions and routines and we're not sure if you do it anymore, it's not important.

  • What's important is that you did do it and you're telling me about it.

  • Okay.

  • Um I used to, okay, that's how we say it quickly.

  • Used to, I used to smoke, but I don't now because I use use stuff.

  • If I said I would smoke or I'd smoke at the cottage.

  • This is something that I would do as a routine and you don't know if I still do that.

  • Mhm.

  • You have no idea.

  • Let's look at these two examples.

  • What do you think would be the best words to fill in?

  • So we can say she used to eat meat or she would eat meat.

  • Probably the answer is going to be used to.

  • So she used to eat meat.

  • It's telling me that she did it and now she doesn't, maybe she's a vegetarian or vegan now whatever this one he drive 100 K every day.

  • I wanted to say drove.

  • But do you think we would say he used to drive 100 kilometers every day or he would drive 100 kilometers every day because we have the word every day.

  • We're talking about a routine.

  • So it's more natural to say he would drive or he'd, oh yeah, he drive 100 k every day.

  • Now.

  • We don't know Is he driving 100K.

  • It's not important.

  • Maybe he doesn't even have a car, but it's not important.

  • What's important is that we don't know, we know we did this as a routine, but if I say he used to drive means he's not doing it anymore.

  • So this is something for more advanced english thinkers or english learners the next time you're listening to people in a conversation when they use wood or used to pay attention to figure out if what they're talking about is as a routine.

  • So you can use wood or if it's something that they did in the past, but don't do anymore.

  • And what about you?

  • What are some things that you used to do?

  • Maybe when you lived in another country or when you were younger and what are some things that you would do as a routine when you were younger in the past?

  • Oh, I would go on my bike for hours ride around.

  • It was great.

  • Well, I'm out of here.

  • It's nice talking to you.

Hey, I have a question for you.

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