English · Ancient Civilizations
Past habits & modal-past substitutes — used to / had to / was able to
used to, had to and was able to: three ways English narrates a way of life now gone
6 minutes
The academic content is in Arabic, as at the BAC and as in the app.
What the syllabus expects from you
- used to + base verb (past habits/states, no longer true)
- had to / was able to (past obligation/ability substitutes for must/can)
- past simple of 'to be' inside these narrations
The method
- Contrast a one-off past action (Simple Past) with a repeated past habit (used to) before drilling
The common mistakes
- Using 'used to' for a single past action instead of a habit
- had to / was able to confused with mustn't/couldn't (wrong polarity)
From the lesson
Alexandria used to have one of the greatest libraries in the ancient world, a building that once held hundreds of thousands of scrolls.
The vocabulary
- used to (كان ... يعتاد)
- was able to (كان قادرا على)
- had to (كان مضطرا إلى)
What is not on the syllabus
- Simple Past for single completed actions (previous concept)