Tenses · CEFR B2 · Confident

would for past habits — English tenses

For repeated past actions, would does the same job as used to — but only for actions, never for states.

The shape

would + plain verb, about the past

Talk about how things used to be, like a storyteller.

In Hindi

बीते समय की बार-बार होने वाली बातों के लिए would, used to जैसा ही है — पर सिर्फ़ कामों के लिए, हालत के लिए नहीं।

CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.

The mistake to fix first

The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.

Commonly said	Correct English
We would have a car in those days.	We used to have a car in those days. Having something is a state, and would only works for repeated actions.

Commonly said

Correct English

We would have a car in those days.

We used to have a car in those days.

Having something is a state, and would only works for repeated actions.

Learn these first

These come first. The rest of this makes more sense once they are automatic.

used toA2Talk about how life was before

Easy to confuse with

Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.

used toA2Talk about how life was before

Questions people ask

What is the would for past habits used for?: For repeated past actions, would does the same job as used to — but only for actions, never for states. In practice: talk about how things used to be, like a storyteller.
How do you form the would for past habits?: would + plain verb, about the past.
What is the most common mistake with the would for past habits?: Saying “We would have a car in those days.” instead of “We used to have a car in those days.”. Having something is a state, and would only works for repeated actions.

Where would for past habits fits

Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.

would for past habits is a CEFR B2 structure — the confident band — and it belongs to tenses. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.

Reading it is not the same as saying it.

CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.

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