Is it Used To or Use To? How to Use Both

Don’t feel bad if you mix up use to and used to now and again—it is not an uncommon mistake. Used to is a phrase that can mean “accustomed or habituated to” or refers to something from the past that is no longer true. Use to and used to are also frequently used in English grammar as modal verb phrases.

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Use

followed by an infinitive

Before we get into idiomatic meanings for the phrase used to, it is worth pointing out that both use and used can correctly appear before to when to is part of the infinitive of a second verb. That sounds far more complicated than it is, so let’s go straight to some examples.

use to
decorate cakes and cookies?

What do youdecorate cakes and cookies?

Buttercream icing was used to
frost all of today’s cakes and cookies.

In these kinds of sentences, whether you decide to write use to or used to will depend on whether the present or past tense is needed.

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Use to

vs.

used to

as a synonym for

accustomed to

When your intention is to say the equivalent of accustomed to or habituated to, always write used to and never use to.

Horseback riding was frightening to me at first, but now I am use to
it.

Horseback riding was frightening to me at first, but now I am used to
it.

Why do people get confused so often with this phrase and incorrectly write use to? It is probably because of our ear’s influence over how we write. When you say used to aloud, the d in used and the t in to blend to almost become one consonant sound. Often, we spell words incorrectly because in our mind’s ear, that is how they sound. A similar mistake frequently happens with the phrase supposed to.

Get used to it

—how to use it correctly

The construction of the example above involves the verb to be + used to in order to show that the speaker is in a state of being accustomed to something. A closely related construction is get + used to, which is an idiomatic phrase meaning “become accustomed to.” When you use get + used to, it means that the process of habituation is still ongoing. It is also incorrect to write use to in this case.

Horseback riding has been frightening for me, but I will get use to
it.

Horseback riding has been frightening for me, but I will get used to
it.

Here’s a tip: Avoid writing I am use to it or Get use to it. Always include the d: I am used to it and Get used to it.

Used to

shows a former fact, habit, or action

We also use the phrase used to in the sense of formerly to indicate something that happened in the past but no longer does. While in centuries past there was a corresponding present tense form, use to, we now use this construction only in the past tense.

used to
be at the corner of Main and Fifth.

The grocery storebe at the corner of Main and Fifth.

Karl used to
work out every morning, but he has been too busy to keep up with it.

My father used to
take a donkey to school.

The only time you should write use to instead of used to with this meaning of the phrase is when it is paired with did or didn’t. The reason is that did or didn’t will have assumed the obligation of reflecting the past tense.

Did
your father use to
take his donkey to school?

your fathertake his donkey to school?

My father didn’t use to
take his donkey to school on Mondays, because it was needed at the farm.

If the negative construction in the above example feels too formal for the setting you are writing in, rewrite the sentence without it.

My father didn’t take his donkey to school on Mondays, because it was needed at the farm.

Now that you have learned about use to and used to, you may want to check out these other commonly confused words.