Speaker 1: I used to drink a lot of coffee all day,
but these days I tend to just have a cup
or two in the morning, so I'm drinking less coffee. Sure,
it was hard to get used to, but now that
I'm used to it, it's all good.
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 John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight sixty two.
Used to be used to and get used to. Hello,
and welcome and thanks for joining me for another episode
of the Happy English Podcast. Today we're checking out something
that looks simple, but I've seen it trip up a
lot of English learners. Now I'm talking about used to
be used to and get used to. Yeah, they all
kind of look the same, but they mean totally different things.
So let's break it down together, starting with used to.
We use used to when we talk about something from
the past, something that you did regularly, or something that
was true before. But it's not anymore Like me. I
used to live in New York, YEP. I lived there
practically my whole life. But now I'm living in Japan,
so that life in New York that's in the past.
I used to live there, and wow, I used to
drink ic coffee even in the middle of the winter.
Crazy right, These days, hot coffee is more my thing,
even though it's hot as heck outside in the morning.
And you know what else, My buddy David used to
play in a blues band, and now he plays in
a Rolling Stones tribute band. They're pretty good too. So again,
used to is all about the past, past habits, past situations,
stuff that's not part of your life now. I'm sure
you can think of something you used to do when
you were younger, right, but you don't do it now.
You used to do it now. Here's the part that
gets confusing, because then we've got be used to. Be
used to is all about out right now. When you
say you are used to something, it means it feels
normal to you. You're comfortable with it, It doesn't feel
strange anymore. Let me give you an example. Back in
New York, I wasn't used to taking off my shoes
before going into someone's house. That's just not something we
do a lot in the US. But here in Japan.
You take off your shoes everywhere, at people's homes, sometimes
even at schools or clinics. So at first it felt
a little strange, but now I am totally used to it.
It feels weird not to take off my shoes now,
so again I'm used to It means something feels normal
to me. Now I've had enough experience with that and
it's just part of my life. And I'll tell you
something that I am not used to hear, and that
is the heat and humidity. Don't get me wrong, it's
hot in the summer in New York. But the high
temperatures and the mugginess, that's gonna take time to get
used to, get used to. You know, get has a
lot of meanings, and one of them is become. So
when you are getting used to something, it still feels
a little new or uncomfortable, but you're adjusting, you're adapting.
You're not there yet, but you're on the way. Like
right now, I'm still getting used to the Japanese summer.
It's hot, it's humid, the cicadas are loud, and at
first I thought, how do people survive this? But now
I'm slowly getting used to it. I still sweat like crazy,
but I don't complain as much. And then let's talk
about driving here. In Japan, they drive on the left
side of the road and on the right side of
the car. For my whole adult life, I've been driving
on the right side of the road. But here it's
a challenge. For sure. Driving here is not automatic like
it is back in the States. I make some why turns.
I turned on the windshield wipers instead of the turn
sall a few times, But little by little I'm getting
used to it. Hopefully I'll get used to it soon.
So to sum up in a little story, I used
to live in New York. Now I'm used to living
in Japan. But I'm still getting used to driving here. Phew,
one day I'll be ready. And hey, this pattern happens
a lot in life. Maybe you used to hate coffee,
but now you're used to drinking it every day. Maybe
you're still getting used to speaking English at work. That's okay,
it takes time, all right. There's one more point I
want to help you with. There's often confusion between use
to and used two. Let me spell that out for you.
Use too, us two and used two used two. One
reason for the confusion is the sound, so let me
help you. We use use to without the D in
negatives and question, like I didn't used to drive on
the left, or didn't you used to live in New Jersey.
The pronunciation between used to and used to is basically
the same. Just be careful when you write it in
a positive sentence it's used too with a D, and
in a negative sentence or a question, it's us to
without the D. Okay, wrapping things up. We use used
to used to when we talk about something that was
true in the past, but it's not true now. I
used to live in New York. And remember when you
write negatives or questions, it's used to without the D.
We use be used to when we talk about something
that was its range or uncomfortable at first, but it
feels normal now you're comfortable with it. I am used
to taking off my shoes when I go to someone's house.
And we use get used to when we talk about
the process of adjusting to something new, like I'm getting
used to driving on the left. It's really all about
where you are in your experience with something the past,
present or in progress. All right, and now it's your
turn what's something you used to do but you don't
do it anymore. What's something you're still getting used to
right now? Come share it with me on Instagram at
Happy English and why, or drop me a message. If
you're listening on Spotify or Speaker, thanks as always for listening.
And remember the best 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. Then memorize
your sentences. And if you really want to get more
practice using your English, well, you should join my podcast
Learner's study group. There you can make new international friends,
join us for live group lessons every week where we
practice these podcasts lessons together. Plus you get access to
the PDF, transcript and audio download for every Happy English
podcast in the past and in the future. And on
top of that, each episode has exercises where you can
practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me. Yeah.
To learn more, well, just visit Myhappy English dot com
Choose podcast lesson eight sixty two. Remember, 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.