Is it 'used to' or 'use to'?
You'll get used to it
What to KnowThe verb forms use to and used to both communicate that something that formerly existed or repeatedly happened in the past no longer exists or happens. The difference between the two rests entirely on the word did. Use to requires it: “I did use to like that song, but I don’t now”; “it didn’t use to be like that.” Used to does not: “I used to like that song, but I don’t now”; “it used to be different.” Used to also functions as an adjective describing someone who is so familiar with something that it seems normal or usual, as in “I’m used to eating at noon.”
Though 'use' was once commonly used to mean "to be in the habit or custom," this sense now only occurs in the past tense: 'used to'.
Used To: Usage
Use was once commonly employed as a verb meaning "to be in the habit or custom":
The English then using to let grow on their upper-lip large Mustachio's...
—John Milton, The History of Britain, 1670
But this sense of use now occurs only in the past tense with to in the phrase used to:
''I used to dress so badly,'' Ms. Gates said. She was wearing vintage Chanel ankle boots, a Reformation dress, a Nili Lotan blazer from Poshmark (she is a fan of blazers) and some Tiffany jewelry she bought on the RealReal. When she got to college, she said, ''I used to dress in, like, Forever 21 and Shein. Sophia saw me and was like, 'Oh girl, no.’’'
— Vanessa Friedman, The New York Times, 27 Apr. 2025I used to make fun of the audience, and little by little, it became more and more a part of my performance.
—Don Rickles, quoted in The New York Magazine, 11 Jan. 2016
Because the d and t sounds in used to are blended into a single consonant in speech, people sometimes get confused about the spelling of the phrase. It may be that many people in fact say use to rather than used to, but since the pronunciations are essentially identical, it makes no difference. (The same occurrence happens in the pronunciation of supposed to.) In writing, however, use to in place of used to is an error.
Use to: Usages (with 'Did')
The problem becomes a little trickier in constructions with did. The form considered correct following did, at least in American English, is use to. Just as we say "Did he want to?" instead of "Did he wanted to?," so we say "Did he use to?" instead of "Did he used to?" Here again, only in writing does the difference become an issue.
While in American English "did used to" is considered an error, such usage appears to have won some measure of acceptance in British English:
One of my mother's most shameful ever moments came when the local primary school headmistress made a formal complaint that my mother's treasured eldest son had arrived for lessons "smelling of alcohol".... And yes, I did used to sneak the odd gulp of flat bitter or a decaying Pinot Grigio."
—Piers Morgan, Dailymail.co.uk, 26 Dec. 2010
If you're stuck, remember: we're used to seeing this phrase in the past tense, even though it did use to be otherwise.
