Expressing Habits in English

When you start an activity, continue it in time and develop a habit of doing it without remorse that is where “used to” comes into the picture. So you can say I am used to travelling, meaning that you have developed a habit of doing it and it does not present a problem to you. There are others that might argue the fact and say that by declaring that the person does something habitually, it is independent of whether he is pleased about or not.

The “used to” is applied in the present form to express a present habit then and it is placed before the infinitive of the action that one has the habit of doing. So in saying “I am used to driving”, this means that the person has been driving for some time and knows how to do that. Similarly “I am used to working long hours” means that the person has developed a resistance at keeping a long working schedule.

The “used to” is applied in the past for a habit that been concluded and so is no longer applicable. Since the past of am is was, a person will say then that he “was used to driving” when he no longer knows how to do that or is insecure about getting behind the wheel of a car. Note that  the object after the verb form of “used to” is in the gerund form and it is as such because activities are on-going processes. So we will not say “I amused to drive” nor “I was used to drive”.

If one wants to relate a past habit that was not during a progressive period than one will use the past participle of use and drop the past of be before it. In other words one will say, I used to swim when I was younger which does not specify any ongoing period in the past. The person is just recollecting the past of that event.

There is a future form that can be used and that involves the use of “will be” before the used to when one wants to predict how he will develop a habit of doing something in the future. It is as if he can anticipate being able to be comfortable with a process by a certain time. So one can say that he “will be used” driving by time he is twenty when he is eighteen means that he will give himself two years before being able to say that he is used to driving. In effect once he gets to be twenty he will say “I am used to driving”.

Asking a question using the used to means that one puts the auxiliary before the person and the used to just as one normally does for yes, no questions. Then asking about habits in the present, one says “are you used to” driving to find out about the person’s current ability to drive and “were you used to” driving to find out about the person’s ability over a stretch of time in the past.