What is the negative form of "I used to be"? I often hear "I didn't used to be" but that sounds awfully wrong in my ears. Here is a question that has been nagging me for a few years: Which is the right usage: "Didn't used to" or "didn't use to?" Examples: We lived on the coast for years but we didn't use to go … I am trying to find out if this question is correct.

Context Explanation

Did Wang Bo used to be awkward? Should I write "use to be" instead of "used to be," or is "used to be" correct in this sentence? If "used to" is a set idiomatic phrase (i.e. not a tense), then why would it change its form from "use to" to "used to" for the sentence as it does in the positive?

Insight Material

In the sentence given though, help is quite definitely a verb, and used in an affirmative context, so it would be best to have either a plain infinitival or to -infinitival following it. The animals were frequently used as a model organism in the 19th and 20th centuries, resulting in the epithet "guinea pig" for a test subject, but have since been largely replaced by other … There's so many people in here! There's so much people here! Which one should be used, and why? What's the negation of "I used to be"?

Final Conclusion

Surely not "I didn't used to be"?