Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk the channel that goes deeper into everything about the
English language. And welcome to another two minute grammar when you take two minutes
from your busy schedule to learn a little English grammar. Ok So let's do this thing
becuase we've just got two minutes appoxiamately. so have a look at this sentence and tell me
if it's correct or incorrect. "I would eat a doughnut but I'm on a diet."
Yes, it is! Next question is this correct? "When I was was young I would eat a doughnut
every Sunday with my friends."
In English we use WOULD in conditional sentences. But did you know that WOULD is also used a
past tense? Yes, that right we use WOULD to talk about repetive actions in the past.
Let's look at some more examples. "When I was a student I would study at night
because it was more peaceful" "When I was young I would often think about
joining the army." "The other girls would go and play outside
but she would sit in a corner and read a book. "
And you may have noticed in the examples I gave you could also use USED TO in those sentences.
That's right USED TO is also correct here. "When I was a student I used to study at night
because it was more peaceful" perfectly correct. But be careful because USED TO and WOULD are
not always used in the same way. You cannot use WOULD for a past state or things that
lasted a long time. "I USED TO smoke" that's correct but you cannot say "I WOULD smoke"
(as a past state) "I used to live in the countryside" that's a past state you cannot say "I WOULD
live in the countryside". No that sounds like a conditional. So WOULD is very specific that
repetive actions in the past or past habits usually with a time reference. Now WOULD is
a bit for formal than USED TO and you'll read it a lot in novels in English you see there
it all the time. And If you don't know the difference between WOULD as a conditional
and WOULD as a past tense then you're going to get very confused. So do learn it.
Ok that's it I hope you found that useful and once again thank you very much for watching,