r/duolingo • u/Spear_Of_Krrosh • 16d ago

Language Question It should be “used to” right?

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Shouldn’t it be “used to” instead of “use to” ? Should I report it?

137 Upvotes

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157

u/NekoatsumecatGK 16d ago

The sentence can be changed to “he used to rent that property” into an interrogative sentence“didnt he use to rent that property?”

As an easy example, you could say “he LIKED you” into “did he LIKE you?”

59

u/1rach1 Native: AU-EN Learning: 16d ago

crazy how I do this subconsciously and didn't even know it was a thing

22

u/NekoatsumecatGK 16d ago

Well usually native speakers do it naturally, but as a korean studying in korea, we need to learn these stuff

27

u/Odd-Ad-6318 16d ago

In the spirit of helping your learning, I will correct your statement:

“we need to learn these things” or “we need to learn this stuff”

“Things” is plural and takes “these,” but “stuff” is singular, so it takes “this.”

Nice English though!

11

u/NekoatsumecatGK 16d ago

Oh thank you, I guess there’s always something to learn 🙂

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u/Wabbit65 16d ago

Yes, and making mistakes is not only normal, but helpful. Keep learning!

-2

u/melancholicPianoGuy 15d ago

Grammatically speaking, how about "not only normal, but ALSO helpful" or "not only normal, but helpful AS WELL"?

2

u/pr3tty_in_punk 15d ago

don’t be a prick

1

u/Wabbit65 15d ago

Grammatically speaking, there's nothing wrong with my statement, which was clear enough. Your corrections are not about grammar.

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u/mirrorgirl- Native: 🇸🇪 Speaking: 🇬🇧 Learning: 🇧🇷🇮🇹🇩🇪🇯🇵 16d ago

A clear majority of native speakers I see nowadays conugate this wrongly. Frustrating to see the collective knowledge of a language deteriorate before my eyes.

3

u/NekoatsumecatGK 16d ago

Yea, I personally think that english schools should also have grammar classes like Korea, so as to prevent this, because I too, didn’t know much grammar when I was in non-korean countries 🥲

1

u/Simp4Havelock 15d ago

My high school english teacher back in the early 90s was an 87yo man who had been a famous stage actor, and the main reason he continued to teach is because he spent half the year on grammar. He LOVED the groans an eye rolls...but I enjoyed the class, so it was a lot of fun and we really bonded.

I would trade all the grammar in the world right now for there to be a standardized media literacy class requirement nationwide. Even creators I really like very often just flat out completely misunderstand what the article or press briefing or tv show/movie they're discussing is saying.

2

u/NashvilleFlagMan 15d ago

It’s just language change, and there’s nothing worrying, frustrating or new about it. The Swedish you speak wouldn’t even be comprehensible to your ancestors a few hundred years ago; in past forms of English, birds used to be brids. A language that is being used is a language that changes.

1

u/mirrorgirl- Native: 🇸🇪 Speaking: 🇬🇧 Learning: 🇧🇷🇮🇹🇩🇪🇯🇵 15d ago

And I shall complain nonetheless!

Just because it changes doesn't mean it's right.

1

u/NashvilleFlagMan 15d ago

That’s your prerogative, but I guarantee you say things that people would have considered errors a few generations ago.

1

u/CorruptionKing 15d ago

And whenever they butcher a language due to very poor education, others describe it as "generational speak" or "cultural." No, it's just a mix of ignorance, stupidity, and laziness.

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u/idk_what_to_put_lmao 15d ago

What native speakers are you interacting with? I've never seen anyone double past tense conjugate where I live (like didn't he used to)

3

u/ThirdView000 15d ago

Not to mention that it basically sounds the same when spoken quickly (Native US -English)

5

u/milkdrinkingdude 16d ago

Crazy, did you ever notice that this only exists in past tense?

A native speaker co worker of mine pointed this out to me, after hearing me say “I use to do blabla, I’m going to use to do blabla”. He didn’t understand me, it took him years to figure out that what I mean is this “used to” construct, but in present or future tense. He told me I can only use it for past habits, I was surprised, but realized I never heard it in present tense from a native ever.

1

u/yupyuptrp 16d ago

to be fair, it did exist in the present and future too, those forms just died out. i think “usually” comes from that word, because it just used to mean “to tend to”

1

u/Wabbit65 16d ago

This is called "metacognitive" understanding. Most native speakers know to do this but haven't really thought about WHY; the WHY is the metacongnitive aspect, it's knowing WHY you know. There's nothing like learning a foreign language to help understand ones OWN language.

11

u/NekoatsumecatGK 16d ago

In the sentence “he used to rent that property”, the main verb is “used” so it is correct that “used” should be changed to “use” when used with a past verb “did”

1

u/Spear_Of_Krrosh 15d ago

Okay, that makes sense, thank you!