1. ‘Used to’ vs. ‘didn’t use to’

‘Used to’ is used for things that true in the past but aren’t true now.

‘Didn’t use to’ are used for things that weren’t true in the past but are true now.

*Note 1: ‘used’ changes to ‘use’ when with ‘didn’t’. This is because ‘didn’t’ is the past tense, and only one past tense is needed.

Past	Now	Structure	Example sentence
yes	no	used to	Nanjing used to be the capital of China.
yes	no	used to	Herb and Hailey used to be married.
yes	no	used to	As children we used to play in rain until our parents told us to come inside.
no	yes	didn’t use to	We didn’t use to be friends, but now we are OK.
no	yes	didn’t use to	This company didn’t use to give the staff a Christmas holiday.
no	yes	didn’t use to	Alaska didn’t use to be part of the US.

2. Examples

Used to	Didn’t use to
I used to play football a lot when I was a kid, but I haven’t played for a long time.	She didn’t use to be so fat.
He used to like her a lot, but not so much now.	I didn’t use to like chemistry very much, but since the teacher changed I quite like it.
They used to be married. I think they got divorced three years ago.	The company didn’t use to be so kind to its workers.
This city used to be a quiet, peaceful little village. Now it is a hige sprwaling city.	People didn’t use to worry about drinking too much.

How have these things changed:
(i) your life?
(ii) the place in which you live?
(iii) your likes and dislikes?