Used to, be used to, get used to, would: what is the difference?

While there are usually no problems for the students with the construction “used to”, the ones “be used to”, “get used to”, “would” may make you confused. To understand and remember the cases of their use, let's look at the example:

Lily used to live in the countryside.
Every summer she would walk barefoot along the river in her neighborhood.
A few years later her family moved to the city.
Lily has been getting used to it for long.
And now she is used to living in a busy and active city.

“Used to” is used to speak about past habits and states; the things that were actual or common in the past, but now everything is the other way round.

• He used to live in Lviv (but he doesn’t now).
• She used to travel abroad every summer before the epidemic (but she doesn’t now).

“Used to” is used in the same way for all the persons.

• Affirmative form:
  used to + bare infinitive
  They used to drink milk.

• Negative form:
  didn’t + use to + verb (pay attention that there is “use”, not “used”)
  I didn’t use to drink milk.

• Question:
  Did + subject + use to + verb
  Did you use to drink milk?

When we speak about past habits – but not about the state – we may also use “would” + infinitive without “to”.

• We would hang out every evening in the yard.
• I would watch Disney films. (this was my habit)

Using “be used to”, we speak about the result of getting accustomed to something, so, previously we hadn’t got a habit of doing something, but then, it has appeared: subject + to be used to + Ving / noun.

Unlike “used to”, “be used to” may be used in the present, the past, and the future tenses, changing only the form of the verb “be”.

• I was used to doing sports every day.
• She is used to his character. 

To show the process of getting used to something, we take “get used to”: subject + get used to + Ving / noun.

• She can quickly get used to any changes (to become accustomed).
• We finally got used to skiing.

It’s important: you can’t use “be/get used to” with the infinitive, you can use only the gerund or the noun.

Incorrect:

• I used to riding a bike.
• She will get used to live in a big city.
• They are used to sleep in the noise

Correct:

• I used to ride a bike.
• She will get used to living in a big city.
• They are used to sleeping in the noise.

Here are a few more phrases to remember the material:

• Don't make things too complicated. Try to relax, enjoy every moment, get used to everything. (Angelique Kerber)
• Fitness is not about being better than someone else... It's about being better than you used to be. (Khloe Kardashian)
• I'm still getting used to changing earrings. It still feels really weird to be pushing bits of metal through holes in my earlobes that weren't there a few weeks back. (Mischa Barton)

And if you want to train this topic in practice and to learn the useful lexis, connected with habits, I recommend you to study a short online English course in 4 lessons on the topic “How to talk about habits” from booyya.com - https://bit.ly/3JavmQ7.