Speaker 1: Do you have this problem when you talk about habits
in English and you use the same grammar again and again,
things like I eat breakfast at seven, or I go
to bed late, or I work on Saturdays. Those sentences
are correct, so no problem there. But if you always
talk about habits that way, your English can start to
sound a little flat or mechanical. The good news is
Native speakers actually use several different expressions to talk about habits,
depending on how strong the habit is, how they feel
about it, and whether it's something now or from the past.
Let's dive in.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you, yeah, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
This is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine sixty four, talking
about habits in English always tend to keep and used to. Today,
we're going to look at four very common and very
natural ways Native speakers talk about habits in everyday conversation,
and as we go, I'll show you how each one
sounds a little different, even though they're all talking about
repeated actions. Let's start with the strongest one, always. We
use always that feel very regular or fixed. Sometimes it
sounds neutral, and sometimes it shows emotion, Like you might say,
I always drink coffee in the morning. That's just a
normal routine, nothing special. It's just a part of your day.
But now, if you change the grammar just a little,
always can become more emotional. When we use always followed
by an ing, we're usually reacting to someone's behavior and
sometimes to complain. Like Jackie is always checking his phone
during meetings here always sounds well annoyed. Or Jenny says
her son is always forgetting something at school. Again, this
sounds like a complaint. But and this is important, always
followed by an ing is not only negative. You can
use this pattern for positive habits, especially when you're praising
someone or expressing appreciation. For example, my buddy Ed is
always making me laugh. That's clearly positive. So the grammar
pattern is the same, but the feeling changes. Always followed
by an ng highlights a repeated action that stands out,
and the context and the tone tells us whether you're
complaining or praising. And speaking of complaining, when you need
to vent, you can use keep followed by an ing.
In this context, Keep means continue, and when something keeps
happening or someone keeps doing something, it could be annoying
or persistent. Like at work, my coworker keeps interrupting me
when I talk. And it's not always other people. Maybe
you have a bad habit that happens all the time.
Like me, I keep forgetting to turn off the gas
when I go out. Not good, right? That sounds like
an ongoing problem. Well, I just need to get used
to it. By the way, using keep followed by an
ing isn't always negative. Like my student Yana, she keeps
studying and practicing English every day because she wants to improve. Here,
keep followed by an ing shows effort and persistence, So
this pattern focuses on repetition and often carries emotion with it. Next,
let's talk about tend to. Tend to is softer than always.
It means usually, but not every time. Native speakers love
this phrase because it sounds relaxed and thoughtful. For example,
instead of saying I eat late, you might say I
tend to eat late. That has a more natural sound
to it, and you can use tend to when you
want to talk about other people's habits as well, Like
one of the students in my class tends to get
quiet when she's tired. It doesn't happen one hundred percent
of the time, but it happens often. Or in a
more general context, someone might say people tend to spend
money more at the end of the year, so tend
to is perfect when you want to talk about habits
in a relaxed tone. And finally, let's talk about used to.
Used to is her habits from the past that are
well no longer true. This one is very important for
storytelling and conversation, like I used to walk to school
when I was a kid, Yeah, that habit is finished.
Or Sam used to live near her office, but now
she works from home. You can use it for lifestyle
changes too, like we used to eat out a lot,
but now we cook at home. So used to is
great when you're comparing then and now. If you think
about it, each of these expressions lets you talk about
habits in a slightly different way. Always sounds strong and fixed,
tend to sound softer in general. Keep, followed by an
ig focuses on repetition and feeling, and used to looks
back at habits that have changed. That's why Native speakers
don't rely on just one grammar pattern. We mix them
up naturally. So here's a question for you before we
wrap up. What's one habit you always do, What's something
you tend to do, And what's one habit you used
to have but you don't anymore. Leave a comment and
let me know. And remember. The best way to remember
English like this and any other word or phrase in English,
is to take that word or phrase, write it in
a sentence that's true for you or true in your world,
and then memorize your sentences. That's how you build fluency. Yeah,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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Happy English.