Look at these examples to see how used to, get used to and be used to are used.
I used to want to be a lawyer but then I realised how hard they work!
How's Boston? Are you used to the cold weather yet?
No matter how many times I fly, I'll never get used to take-off and landing!
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Used to + infinitive and be/get used to + -ing look similar but they have very different uses.
used to
We use used to + infinitive to talk about a past situation that is no longer true. It tells us that there was a repeated action or state in the past which has now changed.
She used to be a long-distance runner when she was younger.
I didn't use to sleep very well, but then I started doing yoga and it really helps.
Did you use to come here as a child?
be used to and get used to
Be used to means 'be familiar with' or 'be accustomed to'.
She's used to the city now and doesn't get lost any more.
He wasn't used to walking so much and his legs hurt after the hike.
I'm a teacher so I'm used to speaking in public.
We use get used to to talk about the process of becoming familiar with something.
I'm finding this new job hard but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon.
It took my mother years to get used to living in London after moving from Pakistan.
I'm getting used to the noise now. I found it really stressful when I first moved in.
Be used to and get used to are followed by a noun, pronoun or the -ing form of a verb, and can be used about the past, present or future.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
Strictly speaking, the "to" found in expressions such as "I used [to smoke]", is not part of the verb "use", but a marker introducing the infinitival complement clause, as shown in brackets.
Hello team. Could you please tell me if the following sentence is correct or not? Why? What is the meaning of it?
- My brother often has stomach troubles as he is used to eating fast food.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
The sentence is grammatical in terms of structure but does not make sense. The brother's stomach troubles come from eating, not from being used to eating. Being used to something means that it is not novel, not that it is done frequently or to excess.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello GiulianaAndy,
I'm afraid we don't help with answers to questions from other sites or sources. If we did, we'd soon end up doing users' homework for them! You'll need to ask the author of the questions, or check in a key if there is one.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aziz-12345,
The verb 'dress' doesn't seem right to me here; I'd recommend 'wear' instead. After the verb 'see', we use a bare infinitive form ('wear') to speak about seeing an action in general or an -ing form ('wearing') to speak about seeing an action in process. In this case, I'd suggest and -ing form, I think. It depends a little on what exactly the sentence means.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Maahir,
The correct spelling here is 'now', so the second sentecne is correct.
Generally, we don't provide answers to questions like this one. We try to offer explanations of how language works rather than just right or wrong answers as otherwise we would end up doing our users' homework for them!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Nayoung,
The sentence about your father uses the present perfect, which implies that your father is still moving from country from time to time. 'be used to' can only be used to talk about past actions that we no longer do, so your book is right -- it's not correct to use it here.
If your father were retired now and the original sentence had the past simple ('worked in several countries'), then it would be possible to use 'used to' there. But 'I've been to' would not be correct. This is a statement about your life experience and so it wouldn't be correct to use 'used to' as long as you are alive.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi jennie1996,
It should be living, because it follows isn't used to. :)
It would be live if the sentence was Linda used to live ... or Linda didn't use to live ..., but this has a different meaning.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Yokohama,
In a question, 'did you use to' is actually the correct form, not 'did you use
dto', though the word 'use' is very often misspelled here.I'm not completely sure I've answered your question. If not, could you please rephrase it? It wasn't completely clear to me what you were asking.
Sorry.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello ryanmicah,
No, that's not correct. In the phrase 'get used to' the word 'to' is not part of an infinitive but is rather a preposition. It is followed by an object, which means here a noun or a gerund, The correct form is:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello DanilaKorobkov,
Yes, there is some difference. In 1, 'be used to' means that you are already familiar with the new job. In 2, 'get used to' means that you are in the process of becoming familiar with the new job.
In other words, in 1, you are already used to it; perhaps it doesn't really feel new to you any more, since it feels normal to you now. In 2, you aren't used to it yet, though you are beginning to be more used to it -- it doesn't feel normal to you yet, though maybe not completely strange either.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Memmedeva Nezrin,
The form use to appears in negative and interrogative sentences when talking about past habits, as described in the first section on the page:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi hardikpatild,
Yes! Here are some examples.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi soniariverofdez,
Yes, be used to can be followed by the gerund! But it's not the only possible structure. It can also be followed by:
Does that make sense? There are some more examples of these structures in the activities above.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi susanavali,
In the first sentence you are describing an repeated/typical/normal action in the past which is no longer true. Thus 'used to' is needed. In this context you need a negative as the word 'much' is generally used in questions and negatives; also, the contrast with getting positive feedback now makes it plain that it was different in the past. Thus 'didn't use to' is the answer.
In the second example, we are talking about trying to accept something which was difficult (long hours). The speaker tried to accept the long hours as normal but failed. Thus 'couldn't get used to' is the correct form.
In the third example the meaning is similar to the first. We have a regular past action (playing the guitar) which is no longer true. Hence, 'used to play' is needed.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Memmedeva Nezrin,
I'm afraid you're mistaken. I've checked both tasks and the answers to the first questions are used to work (task 1) and got used to (task 2).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Stellaaa,
In terms of meaning, these are very similar. I think become familiar tends to be used with a sense of recognition - the way something looks or is physically organised - while used to suggests something more like a routine of some sort becoming normal.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Stellaaa,
I'd suggest you have a look at the Modal verbs section of our Grammar reference. Both 'could' and 'would' are mentioned on several pages in that section and the explanations should give you a good idea of how to use them.
After you study them a bit, let us know if you have any questions -- there's a space for comments on those pages as well and we'd be happy to help you with specific questions.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello cha14,
In this context 'take-off' is a noun and it is grammatically correct. We often use this form:
What time is take-off?
With such a strong wind that was a difficult take-off!
It's also correct to use 'taking off' here. There is no difference in meaning.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello danybern,
The difference is the time that the getting used to happens. 'get' is present tense and 'got' is past tense. Notice that in the first sentence, the verbs are 'is worried' and 'won't be able', which refer to the present and future -- so 'get' is better than 'got'.
The second sentence is about the past and so 'got' is more appropriate.
Hope this make sense.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi John A.
Two answers are possible here:
In this context, there is little if any difference between them.
In the construction 'be used to','to' is a preposition, not a part of the infinitive. It is followed by an object, generally a noun or gerund:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello arik,
1. Yes, that's correct: used to not having means that for you it is normal to not have...
2. Yes, again that's correct: not used to having means that for you it is not normal to have...
In your context I don't think there is any difference, so both forms work equally well. You can say you are used to an absence of people (used to not having) or that you are not used to a presence (not used to having); it's really two ways of saying the same thing.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sara hesham,
We say get used to something when there is a change over time from something being new or strange to it becoming familiar. Your first sentence is like this: at first sleeping with the lights on was strange but it then became normal.
We say be used to something when something is normal for us. It does not tell us anything about change: it could be something that was never strange for us, or it could be something that became normal over time. This is the meaning of your second sentence.
We use used to do something when we did something regularly or normally in the past but do not do it anymore. This is the meaning of your third sentence.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Viktoria,
There is no time I can think of when an infinitive is used after 'get used to'. The 'to' in 'get used to' is not part of a verb -- it is a preposition. After a preposition, we can put a noun (e.g. 'get used to the weather') or a verb in the '-ing' form (e.g. 'get used to speaking French'). We use this form to speak about how we feel about something.
Note that this is different from 'used to' + infinitive, which is used to speak about past habitual actions that are no longer true.
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team