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- "Мы привыкли много работать в…
"Мы привыкли много работать весной."
Translation:We are used to working a lot in spring.
27 Comments
There are to very different expressions that use "used to," which you've combined. (I used to teach English, so i know it's difficult.)
I used to do something= In the past I did something regularly, but not now. This is French imparfait. Used to is the unchanging helping verb. I used to get up at 6 every morning
I am used to doing something=I am accustomed to doing something. It's my habit to do it. Notice that this is always used with the helping verb to be. Americans aren't used to eating with their fork in their left hand.
You can say this in different tenses by changing the am. I think you could even say I used to be used to doing that, but not any more.
263
To my native English ear, your solution is ungrammatical. I was marked wrong for "We got used to a lot of work ....", which I think fixes your English sentence. But as I think about it, I like this better: "We got used to -having- a lot of work..."
You say in a post below that Russian always requires the infinitive after "Мы привыкли". I was going to say that English requires a gerund, but that isn't right - I can get used to a thing: "We got used to the dog."
Is my variant totally ungrammatical or just not less probable, but still possible? As I thought about it, I didn't find any grammatical mistake, but since you are a native speaker, your decision is the one, that matters, thank you for your comment.
In my post below I wrote about using verbs after "привыкли", as you can see. Though you're right, it is possible to get used to a thing in Russian too, of course.
263
The problem is the modifier "a lot". "We used to work a lot" is fine, but "We got used to work a lot" is different. "We got used to work in the spring." is correct, but "a lot" can't modify "work" here because it is a noun. "We got used to a lot -of- work" makes better sense.
These all sound fine to me: "We got used to having a lot of work..." ("having" is optional) "We got used to having to work a lot..." "We got used to working a lot..."
I see your variants, they are nice, thank you. When I wrote my variant, I thought, that "work" in "We got used to work a lot in spring" is a verb. But since yoiu say it's a noun, I see, that would be strange to use a noun in this construction, that would sound really weird. So now I'm up to a different question, will it be correct with some other verb, say, "eat"? Is "We got used to eat a lot in spring" possible or not?
263
"We got used to -eating- a lot in the spring" - "-ing" here is absolutely necessary. English is my first language, I am university educated, and I read a great deal, so I have a very good idea of what is right and wrong - but not always a good idea WHY it is right or wrong, so I am not going to be able to give you a sound, technical reason. I think the verb here is acting as a noun - "We got used to -the act of eating-"
After "привыкли" you can use only infinitive, there is no other form of a verb possible in this construction. About "are used to" — the construction "привыкли работать" means "several last weeks/months/years we worked a lot every day, worked and worked and worked, and now our mind has changed, so now we are used to do it". Despite of the past tense of "привыкли" we say "Я привык что-то делать" meaning our present condition and attitude to the action we speak about. I'm sorry I can't explain it less vaguely, I hope, that helps you a bit — or somebody will answer better.