English Wednesday lesson. This week we're looking at used to versus be used to and

get used to. These look very similar but do they mean the same thing in English?

Can you use them in the same way? That is what we're going to focus on in today's

lesson. These are all extremely common ways of expressing ourselves in English.

Native speakers use them every day and I want you to know exactly what each of

these means and how you can use it correctly so that you can communicate

effectively and naturally in English. So our first question is do these mean the

same thing and the short answer is no. They do not. Used to is completely

different from be and get used to. Those two are actually quite similar, so let's

start with used to first. We'll look at what it means and how you can use it

correctly. And then we'll look at be and get used to. Let's start with a couple of

example sentences to see if you can identify how we use used to - what does it

mean in the sentence - and what is the grammatical pattern that we use. For

example I used to drink coffee but now I only drink green tea. I used to drink

coffee but now I only drink green tea. Or she used to live in Los Angeles,

California but now she lives in Chicago. She used to live in Los Angeles

but now she lives in Chicago. So what do you think? How are we using these two

words, what do they mean? Hopefully you've identified that we use 'used to' to talk

about things in the past actions, situations, or states of being (we'll talk

about that in a moment) that are no longer true, they're no longer happening.

They were in the past. Now a state of being is sort of like being happy or

being stressed, being sad. It's not an action. For example, he used to be really

happy in his job or he used to love his job but now he's always stressed. So now

you have three example sentences: I used to drink coffee, she used to live in LA,

and he used to love his job. Can you identify the correct grammatical pattern

that we use with used to? Thankfully this grammatical structure in English is very

easy. It is simply used to plus the most basic form of the verb. I used to go, I

used to drink, she used to eat, we used to watch movies every Friday but now we are

too tired or now we do something different. It is very very simple: used to

plus the most basic form of the verb. So now let's move on to be and get used to.

As I said these are very similar but they have a completely different meaning

than 'used to.' To be used to something is to say that you are accustomed to it,

it's normal for you, it's not unusual or strange or weird. It's part of your

normal everyday life. For example, I'm used to getting up every morning at 5:00

a.m. I'm used to getting up every morning at 5:00 a.m. That simply means

that it's totally normal for me. It is my normal daily routine. Sleeping late would

feel very strange. I would feel that I lost part of my day.

Or another example: she's used to going to yoga every morning. She's used to

going to yoga every morning. It's just, again, part of her normal everyday life.

It feels comfortable and normal to her. Now get used to is very similar but it's

more about the process of becoming accustomed to something. It takes time.

Something was really odd or strange, unusual, now not so much but it's not

totally normal either. It's somewhere in that process of becoming normal for you.

For example, imagine that you live in a country where you don't use a lot of

spices in your food and suddenly you travel to India or Thailand for a month

and there's curries and peppers in everything. You might need to get used to

all of the spice and the food. It might take some time. It might be unusual and

different (and hopefully very very exciting because that's an explosion of

amazing flavors) but it might take some time. Or the same is true when you travel

to another time zone. If you live in Australia and you travel to the United

States, it's a huge difference between time zones and you'll probably suffer

from jet lag. When you travel that far it takes time getting used to the time

differences the time zones. Now a couple of rules about be and get used to: we can

use these in the past, present, or future tenses. For example, when I was younger I

was used to waking up every morning at 5:00 a.m. but now it's a little bit too

early for me. Or, for example, maybe you're moving to a brand-new country soon and

you're feeling a little nervous about cultural differences,

language differences, so your friend might say, "Oh don't worry, you'll get used

to it quickly." You'll get used to it quickly. Now with these examples I'm used

to waking up every morning at 5:00 a.m. I'm used to going to the gym in the

mornings. I'm getting used to the spicy food or I'm getting used to the time

zone differences - do you notice any patterns or grammatical structures in those

sentences? Hopefully you've identified that after those key words - be or get

used to - they are followed by a gerund (gerunds are those nouns with -ing) I'm used

to waking up, I'm used to going, I'm used to eating, I'm used to drinking... or a noun

or pronoun. I'm getting used to spicy food, I am used to the time differences.

In all of those examples, it's followed by an -ing (or gerund) or a noun or pronoun.

And now it's your turn. I want to hear from you. I want you to practice using

these expressions so they start to feel completely normal to you, I want you to

get used to them. so take some time to practice and the best place to do that

is in the comment section just below this video. It's the best place to

interact and get feedback from me and to interact with the Confident English

Community. Read what others have to say, even ask questions, learn from each other.

So here's what I want you to do: first, tell me about something you used to do

or something that used to be true again you're focused on the past something

that is no longer happening or true. And then tell me about something that you

are used to or that you got used to over time. What was it? And then use an example

in the past, present, or future. If you have additional questions, again the best

place to do that is just to ask in the comments section. I do read them

all and respond. And with that thank you so much for joining me. I love having you

here every Wednesday and I'll see you next week for your Confident English

Wednesday lesson.