The difference between "used to" and "be used to"

In short

The difference between "used to" and "be used to" is in their usage and meaning. "Used to" is used to talk about past habits, states, or facts that were true before but are not true now. For example, "I used to live in the city." On the other hand, "be used to" is used to indicate being familiar with or accustomed to something. For instance, "She is used to the cold weather now." So, "used to" refers to past situations, while "be used to" refers to being familiar with or accustomed to something.

Used to

Notice that for the negative and interrogative sentences, the verb is in present, the auxiliary verb did indicate past and as a result there is no d.

The structure of "used to" is used to talk about past habits, states, or facts that were true before but are not true now. It is a modal verb that is always used in the past tense and is always followed by a base verb. For example, "I used to live in the city."

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Usage

It's used to talk about things we did in the past, but now we don't do any more.

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Examples

Some examples:

• I used to speak French every day;
• He used to smoke a lot;
• They used to travel every month, now they travel once a year.
• She used to drive a car every day.
• They didn't use to live in Belgium until last year.
• Did you use to come here as a child?

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Be used to

Notice that you can use the structure in different times and also that your sentence can be finished with a pronoun, object or verb-ing.

Things we are accustomed to; Things we are familiar with (other people may not be).

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Some examples:

• Teenagers are used to practising sports.
• I was used to going to the library as a child.
• I won’t be used to spicy food, even in a thousand years.
• I am used to eating so much for breakfast.
• They are used to going to the beach every weekend

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