We can use the Present Simple to talk about present situations or habits:

• situations:
• My sister works as an accountant.
• Roland lives in New York.

• habits:
• Lee usually wears jeans at work.
• Greg often eats in the work canteen.
• Chris doesn’t eat meat any more.
• Does Jim watch TV every day?

Look at these sentences with the Past Simple:

• situation:
• Eddie lived in Hungary for many years.

• habit:
• When he was young, he played football every week.

The verbs are in the Past Simple and the sentences are about past situations or habits.

Look at these sentences with used to:

• Sean used to work in a bank.
• Many people used to make their own clothes.
• My wife used to live in Sosnowiec.

We use used to to talk about a past situation or habit that continued for some time (e.g months or years), and to emphasise that the situation today is different:

• Sean doesn’t work in a bank today because he is retired.
• Nowadays most people buy their clothes in a clothes shop.
• My wife doesn’t live in Sosnowiec now; she lives in Białystok.

Compare the Past Simple and used to:

• Past Simple:
• When he was young, he played football every week. (He may or may not play football every week now.)

• used to:
• When he was young, he used to play football every week. (He doesn’t play football every week now.)

We make negative sentences and questions with did (not) + use to:

• Marcus didn’t use to like coffee.
• Paul didn’t use to wear
• Did Julian use to walk to school?
• Did your parents use to read bedtime stories to you?

Take note of the spelling of use to in negative sentences and questions: there is no d.

We do not use use to for present situations or habits; we use the Present Simple:

• Paulina sings in a band. (NOT Paulina uses to sing in a band.)
• Brad doesn’t take the bus to work. (NOT Brad doesn’t use to take …)