Expressing 'used to'

Rei Yahya · 17 Dec 2011

I feel like I should already know this: how does one express that they used to do something? When I try to think in Japanese/translate English sentences into Japanese, I find 'used to' comes up a lot yet I don't know how to express it, such as:

I used to play video games all the time.
私はビデオゲームを遊びまくっている。the thing that is missing from this is any indication of 'used to'.

よろしくお願いします！

Mike Cash · 17 Dec 2011

And what is "used to" but an expression of past action? (Hint hint hint).

Rei Yahya · 17 Dec 2011

Mike Cash said:
And what is "used to" but an expression of past action? (Hint hint hint).

Hmm...so it is as simple as:

私はビデオゲームを遊びまくっていた。

Or, he used to go to the library? 彼は図書館へ行っていました。

Toritoribe · 17 Dec 2011

テレビゲームで

another hint: adverb

Actually, this is not so simple. For instance, why did you choose 行っていました instead of 行きました?;-)

Rei Yahya · 17 Dec 2011

Toritoribe said:
テレビゲームで

another hint: adverb

Actually, this is not so simple. For instance, why did you choose 行っていました instead of 行きました?;-)

Ahh, why use de instead of o I'm this case though? :? And itte imashita was an admittedly poor choice seeing as progressive past for iku is more akin to 'had gone' and not 'was going'.

Mike Cash · 17 Dec 2011

Another hint: some expression of time or indication of a period in the past.

子供の頃
若い頃
小学生の頃
昔
結婚する前
去年
先月
Etc etc etc

To indicate that something was done frequently, add something like よく

独身の頃、友達と飲みに行くことがいつでも気軽にできた。

"When I was single, I used to be able to go drinking with my friends any time I felt like it"

園児の頃はとなりの子のうちによく遊びに行きました。

"When I was in kindergarten I used to go play with the kid next door a lot"

あの薬を飲み始めるまで痛みのあまりで夜寝られないことが多かった。

Until I started taking that medicine, I used to have many nights that I couldn't sleep because of the pain I had

Now, those could be phrased equally well without using "used to" specifically, but you see that the essence of "used to" is that it is a completed act or no longer operant condition, expressed with some term or phrase delineating the time or period of time.

Rei Yahya · 17 Dec 2011

Ahh, that helps a lot! So, I always ought to use an indication of time in the sense that the action is completed/not happening now?

Mike Cash · 17 Dec 2011

To convey the "used to", yes.

Toritoribe · 17 Dec 2011

Rei Yahya said:
Ahh, why use de instead of o I'm this case though?

ゲームを遊ぶ is acceptable, but ゲームで遊ぶ is far more common. で indicates "means" in this case. (を can have different nuance)

Rei Yahya said:
And itte imashita was an admittedly poor choice seeing as progressive past for iku is more akin to 'had gone' and not 'was going'.

Your translation is correct. ～ている form can express the present habit(e.g. 大学に通っている), so 行っていました is a good choice.

Expressing 'used to'

Rei Yahya

ぺらぺらになりたい生徒

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Rei Yahya

ぺらぺらになりたい生徒

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Rei Yahya

ぺらぺらになりたい生徒

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Rei Yahya

ぺらぺらになりたい生徒

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

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