The difference between "I used to" and "I'm used to" [closed]
What is the difference between "I used to" and "I'm used to" and when to use each of them?
Here, I have read the following example:
I used to do something: "I used to drink green tea."
"I used to drink green tea", means that in the past I drank green tea, but now I don't. Used to describes an action that did happen, but doesn't happen now. Check out these great examples:
"When I was young I used to play with dolls, but I don't anymore."
"Before I passed my driving test, I used to cycle everywhere."I am used to something: "I am used to drinking green tea."
"I am used to drinking green tea" means that at first, drinking green tea was strange and unusual, but now it has become familiar. To be used to describes an action that was, perhaps, difficult and is now easy. "I am accustomed to green tea" has the same meaning.
But I do not know how accurate it is, so please could any one help me.
It's accurate. The second example doesn't necessarily means that doing something at first was strange and unusual. It just means that I'm used to doing it now.
Basically as stated in the article, "used to" means in the past and you are no longer doing it and "I'm used to" means you are still used or accustomed to doing it
This is a tough one for non-native speakers.
"Used to do" and "used to be" by themselves are just another way of expressing a past condition.
I used to be a star. [Formerly I was a star.]
He used to do photography, but now he's into watercolor painting. [In the past, he did photography . . .]
But to be used to doing something is rather different. It describes a customary condition.
I am used to getting rained on. [I am accustomed to getting rained on. It's normal for me.]
We were used to being ignored, but not at that level. [We had been habituated to being ignored, but not to that degree.]
- I used to smoke, but I've given up.
- I am used to living in London.
The best way to get a grip on these is to study them independently, not together. Sentence (1) shows the strange, defective verb used, which takes an infinitive with to. We use it to describe habits and habitual actions in the past. Note that in sentence (1) the infinitival word to grammatically belongs with the verb smoke.
Sentence (2) shows the adjective and preposition combination used to. This phrase means the something very similar to accustomed to. Sentence (2) means:
- I am accustomed to living in London.
Note that the word to here is a preposition. It is not part of a verb construction.
It is best to learn the verb used to in combination with other ways of talking about habits in the past, for example the use of would to describe routines. It is better to learn about the adjective used along with other adjectives that take dependent prepositions, such as:
- accustomed to, obsessed with, keen on.
[Note for grammar junkies: there is a view that the verb used has now fused with the word to to form one discrete item. This comes largely from an analysis of phonemic considerations.]
Hope this is helpful!
It's not quite accurate, in my opinion. It is generally true that " used to" implies that the thing being described is no longer happening (e.g., someone who "used to" go on walks probably doesn't go on walks any more), but "is/am used to" does not imply that the thing being described was once considered foreign or unusual. In the green tea example, the given sentence does not imply anything about the speaker's initial attitude toward green tea--to say nothing of whether drinking it was once "difficult"!
There's also a smaller issue--the example says that drinking tea is implied to be "easy" for the speaker. This is also not part of the standard meaning of "used to." One can say "I'm used to working hard," which means merely that hard work is familiar to the speaker; it does not mean that hard work is "easy" for the speaker, at least not in the typical sense of "easy."
"The tree used to be green" tells us that the tree was formerly green but now, alas, is no longer green. "Used to" can be regarded as an auxiliary that's forming a type of past tense.
"The tree is used to being green" tells us that you think the tree is sentient, and that you think it is accustomed to being green. At the very least the tree has resigned itself to being green (which as we know, is not easy)—and who knows, by now it might be so used to being green that it would feel uncomfortable being any other colour. "Used to" is not an auxiliary here, but rather a synonym for "accustomed to". It tells us more than just the action or condition (the being green): it tells us how the condition of being green has changed the tree psychologically. It does not tell us whether or not the tree is green at the moment. It possibly tells us something about the speaker's grasp on reality.