Hi everyone and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast.

My name is Mandy, and this is our 97th episode.

Today's topic is the little phrase used to.

Used to describes a past habit or regular activity.

Examples include, I used to drive to work, but now I take the bus.

She used to drink coffee, but now she drinks tea.

Before I go further, let's talk about the two different words spelled U-S.E.

There's the verb, to use, and the noun, a use.

Do you hear the difference?

To use a use. To use is pronounced with a Z sound. A use is pronounced with an S sound.

To use as in, I use my computer for many things. A use, as in, I no longer have a use for my typewriter.

The phrase used to, to describe a past habit or activity, is used very frequently by native speakers.

Like many words and phrases that occur frequently,

the pronunciation has changed over time. This particular phrase seems to have gone through

more transformation than most. Even for native English speakers, three consecutive consonants is difficult to pronounce.

In the phrase used to, we have the Z sound of the word used, then the D sound of the E-D-ending of the word used,

then the link into the T sound of the word two.

Fully pronounced, it is used to.

Few native speakers attempt to say all of those sounds in casual speech.

For this phrase, first the D sound in the middle gets dropped.

Used to becomes used to.

Then, to simplify further, the Z sound becomes unvoiced.

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