'Used to' / 'would'

Introduzione

Usiamo "used to" e "would" per descrivere abitudini o verità nel passato; non capitano o non sono vere nel presente.

Possiamo usare "used to" o "would" per descrivere azioni ripetute nel passato
Usiamo "used to" solo per verità nel passato.

Esempi:

"used to" o "would"

I used to get up at 6am to go to school.
I would get up at 6am to go to school.

used to

I used to live in France. not I ~~would~~ live in France.
I used to have a pet rabbit. not I ~~would~~ have a pet rabbit.
Queste sono verità nel passato.

"used to" vs. "would"
Confronta le frasi seguenti:

I used to / would go camping when I was young.
"go" descrive un'azione ripetuta.
I used to love camping when I was young.
"love" descrive una verità.

Forma 1 - used to

Usiamo "used to" con l'infinito del verbo principale (senza to). Nelle forme negativa e interrogativa, usiamo "did" con "use to" (non "~~used to~~"):

Positivo	I / You / We / They He / She / It	used to	like	chocolate.
Negativo		didn't use to did not use to

domanda

Did

I / you / we / they
he / she / it

use to

like

chocolate?

Pratica

Completa le frasi con la forma positiva, negativa o interrogativa di "used to" usando il verbo tra parentesi:

.

1)

Sarah good at dancing. (be)

2)

When I was young, I fish but now I eat it all the time. (not eat)

3)

I piano lessons. (have)

4)

Where did they to school? (go)

Forma 2 - would

Usiamo "would" con l'infinito del verbo principale (senza "to"):

Positivo	I / You / We / They He / She / It	would	eat	chocolate.
Negativo		wouldn't would not

domanda

Would

I / you / we / they
he / she / it

eat

chocolate?

Possiamo contrarre "would" e il pronome soggetto:
I’d / you’d / we’d / they’d / she’d / he’d / it’d

Pratica

Completa le frasi con la forma positiva, negativa o interrogativa di "would" usando il verbo tra parentesi:

.

1)

When I was learning to play the piano, I every evening. (practise)

2)

At university, Michael until late at night. (study)

3)

They spicy food when they were young. (not eat)

4)

Before you bought a car, how you to work? (travel)

Forma 3 - "used to" / "would" con "always", "never", "ever"

Possiamo usare "always" con la forma positiva, negativa e interrogativa di "used to" e "would". Usiamo "never" con la forma positiva di "used to" e "would" e "ever" con le forme negativa e interrogativa:

used to

Positivo	I / You / We / They He / She / It	never / always		used to	like		chocolate.
Negativo		didn't did not	ever / always

domanda

Did

I / you / we / they
he / she / it

ever / always

use to

like

chocolate?

would

Positivo	I / you / we / they he / she / it	never / always		used to	like		chocolate.
Negativo		didn't did not	ever / always

domanda

Would

I / you / we / they
he / she / it

ever / always

eat

chocolate?

Esempi:

I always used to swim at the weekend.
I would always swim at the weekend.
He never used to swim at the weekend.
Would he ever swim at the weekend?

Pratica

Completa le frasi usando "used to" o "would" e il verbo tra parentesi:

.

1)

He always vegetables at the market. (buy)

2)

Sarah never . (smoke)

3)

They always English. (speak)

4)

Did they ever to the library? (go)

Ulteriore pratica

Completa le frasi con la risposta corretta tra a, b, c o d:
.

1)

We ____ breakfast in the same café every morning.

used to have

use to have

would had

would to have

2)

I ____ the bus to school.

used always to take

used always take

always would take

would always take

3)

They ____ on time.

always wouldn't to finish

wouldn't always finish

always wouldn't finish

wouldn't finish always

4)

He ____ Mexican food but he loves it now.

didn't use to like

didn't used to like

wouldn't to like

wouldn't liked

5)

____ work in a bank?

Did he used to

He would to

Would he to

Did he use to

6)

When they were children, ____ the dinner?

would they ever cook

would they cook ever

they would ever cook

would ever they cook

Nota che a volte sentirai l'ordine di "never" / "always" e "used to" invertito nell'inglese parlato, come nell'esempio: "I used to always like chocolate."

Comunque per gli esempi e gli esercizi usati qui abbiamo usato l'ordine standard delle parole come spiegato sopra (es. "I always used to like chocolate.").