Imagine your grandmother closing her eyes and saying, “We used to gather under the olive tree every evening. My mother would tell stories until the stars came out.” In that one sentence she has painted a whole world — a world that existed before, that shaped who she is, and that she carries inside her still.
Palestinian families are masters of this kind of storytelling. Their oral tradition, called hikaye, has been recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage precisely because it keeps living memory alive across generations. And the grammar they reach for, when they speak in English, is exactly what we are studying tonight: used to, would, and when to simply use the past simple instead.
These three structures all talk about the past, but they do very different jobs. By the end of this lesson you will know exactly which one to use — and you will have a whole landscape of Palestinian culture to practise with.
What are “used to” and “would”?
Both used to and would describe things that happened regularly in the past but are no longer happening now. They carry a gentle sense of nostalgia — life was like this, and now it has changed.
The past simple describes a single completed action at a specific moment. It does not imply repetition.
Formation at a glance
| Structure | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Used to | used to + infinitive |
She used to make bread every morning. |
| Would | would + infinitive |
She would knead the dough before sunrise. |
| Negative (used to) | didn't use to + infinitive |
They didn’t use to buy rice — wheat was everything. |
| Question (used to) | Did you use to + infinitive? |
Did your family use to grow olives? |
| Past simple | verb + -ed / irregular |
She baked bread on Tuesday. |
The big difference: states vs. habits
Here is the rule that trips everyone up:
✅ Used to works for both past habits (repeated actions) AND past states (situations that were true for a long time).
✅ Would works only for past habits — repeated actions, NOT states.
✅ Past simple describes a single event at a known or implied time.
State verbs (love, know, believe, have, be, feel, want) cannot go with would for past habits. Use used to instead.
Palestine: a land of deep-rooted traditions
Palestine is one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions on earth. Before 1948, the country had around 1,300 villages devoted primarily to agriculture — wheat fields, citrus groves, and above all, olive trees. Some of those olive trees are still alive today, estimated to be over a thousand years old and still producing fruit. Olive cultivation in Palestine dates back more than 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest olive-growing regions on the planet.
All of this history makes Palestine a perfect backdrop for practising used to and would. These are structures built for exactly this kind of storytelling — lives that were lived, rhythms that were real, and memories that refuse to disappear.
Taboon bread and olive oil
Until around the mid-twentieth century, the main ingredients in rural Palestinian cooking were remarkably simple: olive oil, oregano, and bread baked in a clay oven called a taboon. Every morning in a Palestinian village, families would light the taboon before dawn, and women used to bake the day’s bread while the rest of the household slept. Wheat — not rice — used to be the foundation of the Palestinian diet; rice only became widely available during the British Mandate period.
Tatreez: the language of embroidery
Palestinian tatreez (cross-stitch embroidery) is a centuries-old art form recognised by UNESCO in 2021. Traditionally, mothers used to teach their daughters every stitch from childhood, and each motif carried meaning — a cypress tree, a carnation, a wheat ear. Women would embroider together in courtyards, and a young woman’s skill used to tell the story of her village and her family. Each region of historic Palestine developed its own distinct colour palette and pattern, so a trained eye could read where a woman came from simply by looking at her dress.
Dabke and the roof
Perhaps no tradition better illustrates the communal spirit of Palestinian village life than dabke. Today it is known as a powerful folk dance performed at weddings and celebrations, but it began as something far more practical. When a new home was built, neighbours used to come together to pack the mud roof — and they would stamp their feet in unison to flatten and strengthen it. The whole community would link arms and pound the ground, singing as they worked. Over generations, that collective stamping became a dance, a celebration, and eventually a symbol of resilience inscribed on UNESCO’s heritage list in 2023.
Hikaye: the storytelling tradition
Before television and smartphones, Palestinian families used to gather in the evenings to listen to hikaye — oral stories, often featuring clever heroes, supernatural beings, and everyday moral dilemmas. Grandmothers and aunts would take turns telling these tales, and children would sit in silence, wide-eyed. UNESCO inscribed Palestinian hikaye in 2008, but the tradition is far older. These stories were how communities used to pass down values, humour, and identity from one generation to the next.
⚠️ Common mistakes for Spanish speakers
❌ I am used to live in a village.
✅ I used to live in a village. (past habit — no longer true)
✅ I am used to living in a village. (I am accustomed to it — present state, needs a gerund)
Spanish speakers sometimes treat soler as a perfect match for would, but English state verbs (love, know, own, believe) cannot use would this way.
❌ My grandmother would love olive oil more than anything.
✅ My grandmother used to love olive oil more than anything.
Used to always implies repetition. It cannot replace the past simple for a one-off action.
❌ She used to visit Jaffa last summer.
✅ She visited Jaffa last summer.
The word to is part of the structure — it is easy to drop in speech.
❌ They used grow olives near the village.
✅ They used to grow olives near the village.
In practice, would is mainly used in affirmative sentences for past habits. Negatives and questions almost always use used to or the past simple.
❌ Wouldn’t they do tatreez every evening? (awkward, rare)
✅ Didn’t they use to do tatreez every evening?
Example bank: used to, would & the past in Palestine
- Families used to gather around the taboon every morning to bake the day’s bread. (past habit)
- Grandmothers would tell hikaye stories until the children fell asleep. (repeated past action)
- Olive oil used to be the main source of fat in every Palestinian kitchen. (past state — “would be” is wrong here)
- Mothers used to teach their daughters tatreez from a very young age. (past habit)
- The whole village would stamp the earth together when a new roof was needed. (repeated past action)
- Palestinians didn’t use to cook much rice — wheat was the staple grain. (negative past habit)
- Musicians would play the oud at every wedding celebration. (past habit)
- Did your grandparents use to grow olives on their land? (question about past habit)
- The marketplace in Nablus used to be famous for its handmade soap. (past state)
- Children would play in the olive groves after school while the adults harvested. (past habit)
- My grandfather used to know the name of every tree in the grove. (past state — “would know” is wrong)
- Women would embroider together in the courtyard on cool afternoons. (repeated past action)
- The wedding procession used to last three full days in traditional villages. (past state / habit)
- Zajaleen — travelling storytellers — would move from village to village sharing news and tales. (past habit)
- The taboon oven used to be the heart of every home. (past state)
- Young men used to learn the dabke steps from their fathers and uncles. (past habit)
Quick practice quiz
- Complete the sentence. Choose the correct form: “Palestinian grandmothers _____ (tell) hikaye stories every evening.”
a) used to tell b) would tell c) Both a and b are correct - Which sentence is wrong? Why?
a) She used to love olive oil.
b) She would love olive oil.
c) She loved olive oil. - Rewrite this sentence using “used to”: “Before 1950, families in Palestinian villages ate bread made in a taboon every day.”
- Choose the best option: “They _____ grow wheat, but today most farmers have switched to other crops.”
a) are used to b) used to c) would - True or false? You can use would in a negative sentence to describe a past habit that did not happen regularly. Give an example to support your answer.
Show answer key ▾
- c) Both a and b are correct. “Tell” is an action verb, so both used to tell and would tell work for a repeated past action.
- b) “She would love olive oil” is wrong. “Love” is a state verb. State verbs cannot use would for past habits. Use used to love instead.
- Families in Palestinian villages used to eat bread made in a taboon every day.
- b) used to. This describes a past state (ongoing situation). Are used to means “be accustomed to” and would doesn’t typically work for states.
- False. In practice, would is almost never used in negative sentences for past habits. Instead, use didn’t use to: “They didn’t use to buy rice from the market.”
There is something quietly powerful about these structures. When a Palestinian elder says “We used to walk through the olive groves at harvest time — my grandmother would sing the whole way,” they are not just describing a habit. They are keeping something alive. Language and memory are inseparable, and used to and would are the tools we reach for when the heart wants to hold onto the past.
Practise these structures with stories from your own life — your family, your neighbourhood, your childhood. The grammar will stick far more quickly when it is carrying something real.
🌱 Ready to go deeper? The B2 guide to used to, would and was/were used to builds on this foundation — covering state verb rules, the accustomed-to structures, and vivid examples from Egypt.
Once you are confident with “used to” and “would,” try the second conditional — another important structure that uses “would” to talk about imaginary situations.