5. London used to be very foggy (used to)

 

Listen to this famous song, Viva la Vida by Coldplay. Count how many times you can hear the structure used to in the song. To watch and listen to the song, you must go to Youtube.
You can also listen to these other songs that include used to, e.g.: Madonna's song This used to be my playground and Daughtry's song Used to.

Importante

USED TO

Used to describes a repeated action or state IN THE PAST which no longer exists in the present.

It has the same form for all subjects (I, you, he,etc): USED TO, followed by an infinitive:

Afirmative: used to

Slovenia used to be part of Yugoslavia.

Negative: didn’t use to

Paco didn’t use to play golf.

Interrogative: did .. use to ..?

What did people use to do before TV was invented?

NB: It is similar to the Préterito Imperfecto (-aba, _ía), but not always. If we want to say:

Juan iba al colegio cuando tuvo un accidente, in English we say : John was going to school when he had an accident.

Remember, used to= repeated state or action. In the above sentence, iba = one action. In Spanish we can also say Cuando Juan estaba yendo al cole, tuvo un accidente, so we use past continuous, not used to.

We cannot use it in the present. To talk about a present state or action, we use present simple:

He used to walk back home from the office. (Volvía a casa andando desde la oficina.)

He usually walks back home from the office. (Vuelve a casa andando desde la oficina.)



Traducción

USED TO


La forma used to describe una acción repetida EN EL PASADO, que no se produce ahora, o un estado pasado que no existe ahora. Se utiliza la misma forma para todas las personas (I, you, he,etc): USED TO, seguido de un verbo en infinitivo con TO:


Afirmativo: used to


Slovenia used to be part of Yugoslavia.


Negativo: didn’t use to


Paco didn’t use to play golf.


Interrogativo: did .. use to ..?


What did people use to do before TV was invented?


Se suele traducir al españo con el préterito imperfecto (-aba, _ía) pero solamente cuando no podemos reemplazar el verbo con ESTABA ___ANDO/IENDO.


Por ejemplo: Juan iba al cole con sus amigos todos los días- Juan used to go to school every day


Pero: Juan iba al cole cuando tuvo un accidente= Juan was going to school when he had an accident.


Evidentemente, no tenía accidentes repetidas así que no se puede usar USED TO, solamente past continuous.


Tampoco se puede usar en presente. PAra hablar del presente, existe el present simple.


I buy bread every day- Compro pan todos los días.

Ejercicio Resuelto

Change the sentences into the past tense with used to. Look at the example:

I / smoke / when I was young: I used to smoke when I was young.

They / play tennis / on Saturdays: _________________________________________

He / live / in Madrid: _____________________________________________________

Paco / study English / before the trip: ______________________________________

Sonia / help / her brother with English: ______________________________________

Comprueba lo aprendido

Order these sentences as said in the song. Use numbers from 1 to 9.
Video de The Adam Mattlock Show alojado en Youtube
 
 
 
 
Can we get this back?
. At least there's you, and at least there's me.
When nights were clear, you were the first star that I'd see.
Can we get this back to how it used to be?
We used to have this under control.
We never thought.
We used to have this figured out;
. We used to know.
We used to breathe without a doubt.

 

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THE CITY OF LONDON CROSSWORD
1
2
5
3
8
4
6
7

1.IT OPENS WHEN A BOAT PASSES 2. THE CROWN JEWELS ARE HERE

3. A FAMOUS ABBEY 4. IT IS A CLOCK

5. YOU CAN FIND NELSON HERE 6. THE QUEEN LIVES IN THIS PALACE

7. YOU CAN RELAX HERE 8. THE RIVER OF LONDON
Londres
Imagen de Unsplash en Pixabay. Licencia CC

Para saber más

Let's visit London. Click here to visit some famous places in London.
About the use of used to in Spanish.

About the use and form of used to in English.