How to Talk About the Past in English: Share Your Life Stories

معنی واژه با لمس

1. 0:00I have a quick question for you. How would you finish this sentence?
2. 0:05When I was a kid, I always, I'm asking because I was recently reminiscing about my childhood with some of my friends.
3. 0:14All of their kids are finishing up school exams and making summer plans. So while we were talking about that, we were also talking about our childhood experiences.
4. 0:26Like when I was a kid, I always went to summer camp or when I was a kid, I remember that we always went to Minnesota to visit my grandparents
5. 0:37and my grandmother would play cards with me every afternoon.
6. 0:42That conversation with my friends was all about talking about the past and telling stories, and in the process we used three different structures to help us do that.
7. 0:54Each one of those structures does a slightly different job, so this lesson is going to walk you through all three of them so that you can tell your own stories.
8. 1:04The first grammar structure to know is combining used to plus the base form of a verb.
9. 1:12I want you to think about used to as a way of contrasting the past with the present. When English speakers use it, they're really saying that things were different back then.
10. 1:24We say used to when we want to highlight a change in our life, in our habits, in our personality,
11. 1:32or something that we used to do or own, but not any longer.
12. 1:37When we use this structure, the listener immediately understands that whatever you are describing about the past is no longer true.
13. 1:47So let's look at some examples to illustrate this. First, I used to live in Washington dc I used to be shy in
14. 1:56my second language and I used to have a red sob and I loved it.
15. 2:02In those examples we have used to live, used to be and used to have. So we're following that exact structure.
16. 2:10To build on this, I want you to imagine that you're telling a friend about how much your life has changed since becoming a parent. In that conversation, you might say,
17. 2:21before I had kids, I used to travel a lot. In fact, I used to take three or four international trips a year.
18. 2:30I kind of miss all that travel. Notice how in those examples, the words used to signal change, the travel is not happening anymore.
19. 2:42That's the work that this grammar structure does.
20. 2:45So now that you have that pattern, here are some of the most common moments to use it.
21. 2:51The first is when you're talking about lifestyle changes. For example, I used to live in Washington dc. That sentence.
22. 2:59Makes clear that it's no longer true. I no longer live there.
23. 3:04The second is a past identity or state as in I used to be shy in my second language. Again, that identity or state is no longer true.
24. 3:16The next moment when this is a great structure to use is when you want to indicate that you had something in the past but you no longer have it.
25. 3:25Now as in that example, I used to have a red sob, and then finally, this is great for talking about old habits or hobbies.
26. 3:35For example, I used to have a paper calendar for everything, but now I've switched to a digital calendar. Okay, that's not really true. I love my paper calendars,
27. 3:47but it's a great example and I know that having more examples for lifestyle changes, old habits and past identities is super helpful.
28. 3:57That's why I've provided many more examples using different versions of this exact structure in my full lesson over at my Speak Confident English website.
29. 4:08So I recommend that you definitely check that out and I'll leave a link for you in the notes below. All right.
30. 4:14The second grammar structure for talking about the past is to use the word wood with the base form of the verb.
31. 4:22I love this structure because it brings past routines to life.
32. 4:26It tells your listener what happened over and over again during a specific period of time in your past. In fact,
33. 4:36it helps a memory feel like it's in motion.
34. 4:40It helps someone visualize it.
35. 4:42Maybe it's a childhood routine that you had or the way you're describing someone's quirks or character traits or perhaps a repeated moment that meant something important to you.
36. 4:54This particular structure works beautifully in storytelling because it really invites your listener to imagine this scene with you. Now,
37. 5:04before I give you some examples, I wanna talk about one important note.
38. 5:08Unlike the structure with used to, we cannot use wood unless we've already established the timeframe. For example,
39. 5:19if I just start talking to you and I randomly say, I would walk to school, now I drive, you have no idea what I'm talking about or when I'm talking about,
40. 5:30however, there's so much more clarity when you say, when I was a kid, I would walk to school.
41. 5:38So when you use the structure, it's important to always set that timeframe first. For example, when I was a kid,
42. 5:46we would play hide and seek every night outside in the summer, or I remember my grandmother would always play cards with me back then.
43. 5:57I would get up early and run first thing. Once again, I wanna look at how this works in a real conversation.
44. 6:05So picture your aunt or uncle sitting across from you at the dinner table, and they're describing your great grandparents' home from
45. 6:16their childhood memories to help paint the picture. They might say, when I was little, our family used to spend every Sunday at our grandparents' house.
46. 6:27Grandpa would sit in his big green chair reading the paper while grandma would be in the kitchen all morning and the whole
47. 6:37house would smell like garlic and tomatoes By lunchtime, do you notice how using wood in a few of those sentences really makes the routine of that memory come alive?
48. 6:48You can almost see someone's grandfather sitting in his chair, and you can almost imagine the smell of the kitchen.
49. 6:56I wanna give you some specific situations when this structure works well, but before I do, there's one more important note about this particular word.
50. 7:05Wood describes repeated actions, not a continuous state. Let me explain what that means.
51. 7:13If you're describing something that is true across a whole period of time without any breaks, like being shy or being afraid of dogs or loving a
52. 7:25particular location, those are moments when we use to.
53. 7:31For example, I used to be afraid of dogs, not I would be afraid of dogs.
54. 7:37This is one of the most common mistakes I hear with the word wood, which is why I want to share it with you right now.
55. 7:44Now one more thing about this structure is that it's very often associated with nostalgic storytelling.
56. 7:52And nostalgic storytelling is one of the most natural ways that English speakers build closeness with each other in conversation.
57. 8:01But it isn't just this grammar structure that creates that nostalgic feeling.
58. 8:07There's something else that's doing the real work of creating that feeling, and I'll show you exactly what it is at the end of this lesson after we've looked at all three structures together.
59. 8:19So let's continue and talk about when to use wood.
60. 8:23Once you have the pattern in place, it's wonderful to use for childhood memories or old traditions.
61. 8:30For example, when I was a kid, we would play hide and seek every night in the summer or every summer we would travel to Minnesota.
62. 8:41This structure also works really well when you want to describe a person, not how they look or how they were, but through their repeated actions.
63. 8:51For example, when we were in college, my roommate.
64. 8:55Would start singing the moment she woke up, and it's great for your own past routines, as in back then,
65. 9:03I would get up early and run first thing. Now, once again, if you want to see more example sentences with different ways to use
66. 9:12wood to describe childhood memories or past routines, be sure to check out this lesson over at my Speak Confident English website.
67. 9:21And now let's get to the third structure for sharing past memories or telling stories about the past. And this structure, we use the past simple with adverbs of frequency,
68. 9:32such as always, never, sometimes, usually every week, every summer, and so on. Sometimes when telling stories about the past, you don't want to paint a picture,
69. 9:43you just wanna share the facts like how often something happened or how long it lasted or what was simply true at that time.
70. 9:53And this is a perfect situation to use the past simple with those frequency adverbs or other time expressions. Here,
71. 10:01the focus isn't on emotion, it's on the facts. As a result, it's the most straightforward and common way to talk about the past. For example, when I was a kid,
72. 10:14we always had toast for breakfast or growing up, we never watched TV until our homework was finished,
73. 10:23or every summer we went to Colorado. Now with these three structures, if you ever feel stuck or you're not sure which structure to use to talk
74. 10:33about the past, the past, simple is always the safest choice.
75. 10:38So let's see this in a real conversation.
76. 10:41Imagine you're getting to know a coworker and you start talking about your university experience in describing their first year.
77. 10:50They might say, during my first year at university, I rarely went out. Instead, I studied at the library until it closed at midnight,
78. 11:00and I never missed a lecture. Looking back, I think I worked too hard, but I got the grades I needed.
79. 11:09Do you notice how this was really about what was true at the time?
80. 11:13Not a lot of nostalgia or trying to describe a scene. Instead, it's really focused on the facts of that time. Now,
81. 11:22here's what this structure works really well for. First, when you're stating the frequency of a past habit,
82. 11:30as in how often it happened, for example, when I was a kid, I always, when I was a kid, I always had toast for breakfast.
83. 11:39We also use it to talk about habits that relate to a specific time period in the past. For example, during my childhood,
84. 11:48we often went to Colorado for summer vacation, and we use it to highlight.
85. 11:53Neutral facts about the past. As in my childhood, best friend always called me Annie Banana.
86. 12:01I never liked it, and she was the only person who was allowed to call me that.
87. 12:06Now, just like I did with Used Two and Wood, I've got many more examples of how to use this structure in my fall lesson over at my Speak Confident English website. And again,
88. 12:17I'll leave a link in the notes below. Okay, now you've seen each individual structure on its own, but in real everyday conversations,
89. 12:27English speakers don't just use one, we use all three.
90. 12:32And I want to show you what that sounds like in natural storytelling.
91. 12:36So in this one, I want you to imagine that you're talking to your mother and she starts telling you about her very first job in that storytelling,
92. 12:46she might use all three structures together like this.
93. 12:50I used to work at a small bookstore downtown.
94. 12:53It was my first real job out of college. Every Saturday morning, my manager would bring fresh croissants for the whole team and we would gather together in the back room before opening.
95. 13:06I always arrived at 8:30 AM even though my shift started at nine, honestly, I used to think I would work there forever.
96. 13:16It was really my dream job. But then at some point, the lease ended, the owner retired and the building became a phone store.
97. 13:26Okay?
98. 13:27Not only did that story use all three structures that we've just talked about, but you may have noticed it also felt a little nostalgic, a little bit happy, and a little bit sad at the same time.
99. 13:39So how do you create that feeling when telling your own stories?
100. 13:44We highlighted the word wood earlier, but that word alone doesn't create that nostalgic feeling.
101. 13:51If I used that same structure in a totally different context, it doesn't mean that I have that nostalgia. For example,
102. 14:00every Sunday my dad would check his email and pay the bills before lunch. That's not a very nostalgic story,
103. 14:09but we're still using the same form of wood plus the base form of a verb. So what exactly made that bookstore story feel different?
104. 14:18There were four things that were happening. First, the sensory details.
105. 14:23These are the things that you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch, like the fresh croissants, the backroom with your coworkers.
106. 14:32The 8:30 AM arrival in the empty store.
107. 14:35Nostalgia comes from these specific physical details, not general statements.
108. 14:42The second thing was named people and places as in the manager, the bookstore downtown, the phone store. At the end.
109. 14:51End, the more specific you get, the more real that memory feels.
110. 14:57The third key element was the signal of time and distance.
111. 15:02As in the sentence, it was my first real job out of college.
112. 15:06This kind of frame or sentence prepares your listener to feel that gap between then and now. Without it, you're just describing a routine from the past,
113. 15:19not remembering one fondly.
114. 15:21And then the fourth key element is a moment in the story that highlights what is gone and this one matters the most. We had that sentence,
115. 15:31but then at some point the lease ended, the owner retired, and the building became a phone store.
116. 15:38That ending is where the story tips into nostalgia. It tells the listener, this isn't here anymore,
117. 15:48although I wish it was. So if when you're talking about your past, you want your stories to have that nostalgic feel, wood is a good start,
118. 15:58but you have to fill the sentences with all those details.
119. 16:03So now to quickly recap, here's what I want you to keep in mind.
120. 16:07When you want to tell stories about your past, one, use two signals a change. Something is no longer true.
121. 16:17Wood brings a repeated routine to life inside a specific time in the past. In the past, simple with frequency.
122. 16:26Adverbs state the facts.
123. 16:29So now let's go back to the sentence from the beginning of this lesson.
124. 16:33When I was a kid, I always, I want you to try again, and this time try telling a 32nd story using all three
125. 16:43structures that we've learned. Pick a memory, a childhood routine, an old job that you loved, a place where you used to live,
126. 16:52or a person you used to spend a lot of time with. Try telling that story.
127. 16:57And if you want to, you can share your story with me in the comments below.
128. 17:02As always, if you found this lesson helpful, don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you're watching or listening from today. Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to next time.