Be Used To and Get Used To: Meaning, Form and Examples

When you are used to something, it is normal for you. You have done it, seen it or lived with it so often that it is no longer strange, new or difficult. I'm used to cold weather means cold weather doesn't bother me, because I know it well.

The verb be changes for the subject and tense (I am, she was, they will be), and used to stays the same. Be used to describes a state. In speech, it is usually contracted: I'm used to, he's used to, we're not used to.

Get used to describes the change: the process of something strange becoming normal. It often appears with time words and with words of difficulty: It took me months to get used to the noise. I'm slowly getting used to it. I'll never get used to it.

Get used to is very common in the present continuous (I'm getting used to), the past simple (I got used to), and with will and can't. In British English, the present perfect is have got used to; in American English it is usually have gotten used to. Some speakers also use become used to, which is more formal.

This is the most important rule. In be used to and get used to, to is a preposition, like to in look forward to or object to. A preposition is followed by a noun, a pronoun or an -ing form. It is not part of an infinitive, so you cannot put a base verb after it.

Say I'm used to getting up early, not I'm used to get up early. A good test: if you can put a noun in the gap (I'm used to the cold, I'm used to it), then a verb in the same place must be -ing. Read gerunds vs infinitives for other words like this, and see dependent prepositions for adjectives and verbs that take a fixed preposition.

Used to + base verb (with no be or get) talks about past habits and states that are not true now: I used to smoke, but I stopped. It only exists in the past, and the negative and question use did: I didn't use to, Did you use to...? For more on this, read the full guide to used to.

The pronunciation is the same for all three structures: used to sounds like ⁄ˈjuːstə⁄, with an s sound, not a z sound. So you need to listen for be or get, and for what comes after to, to understand the meaning. Compare: I used to live alone (I don't now) and I'm used to living alone (it is normal for me).

These structures are especially common when people talk about moving to a new country, starting a new job or school, changes in routine, and new technology. You will often hear them with words like slowly, finally, still, never, quite and not yet, and with the phrase it takes time to get used to.

Useful phrases: get used to the idea, get used to the climate, be used to hard work, be used to people staring, get used to a new routine. Also notice the short replies: I'll get used to it, You get used to it, and the stronger Get used to it, which means stop complaining because this won't change.

In everyday conversation, get used to is one of the most useful phrases for talking about change. People say it to comfort others (Don't worry, you'll get used to it) and to describe their own experience (I'm still getting used to it). Be used to often explains why something is easy or hard for you: I'm not used to spicy food.

When you write, check every be used to and get used to: if a verb comes after to, does it end in -ing? This one check fixes the most common error. To describe a long activity that led up to a change in the past (I had been living abroad for a year before I finally felt at home), see the past perfect continuous.