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Question

Can I use used to and would for recent habits? For example, if I want to say that last year I had a habit of smoking and now I don't, can I say:

I used to /would smoke last year

Or should I use them with habits that were long time ago?

Answer 1

Practical English Usage, Michael Swan, second edition (1995); § 577
4 when used to… is not used
Used to refers to things that happened at an earlier stage of one's life and are now finished: there is an idea that circumstances have changed. It is not used simply to say what happened at a past time, or how long it took, or how many times it happened.

• I worked very hard last month. (NOT I used to work very hard last month.)
• I went to France seven times last year. (NOT I used to go seven times to France last year.)

Practical English Usage, Michael Swan, second edition (1995). § 604
8 would and used to
Both would and used to can refer to repeated actions and events in the past, but only used to can refer to past states. Compare:

• When we were children we would/used to go skating every winter.
• I used to have an old Rolls Royce.
  (BUT NOT I would have an old Rolls Royce.)

"Would" is not a good choice if you are talking of the habit of smoking on a permanent basis for a given period of time; this situation can be assimilated to a state, that of being a smoker.

• I used to smoke while I was in my last year of school, but I soon got out of this habit.

"Would" is the proper choice if no idea of a state can be associated to the circupmstances at hand.

• In those days, I would smoke, sometimes, in the evening, after a nice meal.

I would smoke

Answer 2

rogermue's answer at 'would' vs 'used to' needs to be appreciated;

• I would smoke last year is very unidiomatic.

It needs padding like

• I would smoke after a hard interview before I became more confident.

I wouldn't recommend

• I used to smoke last year

either ... it doesn't seem to work with fairly recent (but now in the past) habitual actions. 'I used to smoke in my teens' does work, though ... but if the speaker has just turned twenty, they're being tongue-in-cheek.

Most people would say here 'I gave up smoking [just] last year / only this year' or 'I recently stopped smoking.'

Answer 3

The time adjunct, if there is one (no adjunct is required), should not refer to a specific chronological span of time, but to a stage of one's life, or to a situation.

We used to go the beach in the summer when I was a kid.

I used to smoke.

I used to smoke when I was nervous.

Chronological time periods are not idiomatic, and the more specific and finite the time adjunct, the clumsier it gets:

I used to go that restaurant last year. ^unidiomatic

I used to date her in the summer of 2020. ^unidiomatic

We used to see each other before she got a job overseas in the summer of 2020.

Answer 4

The time adjunct, if there is one (no adjunct is required), should not refer to a specific chronological span of time, but to a stage of one's life, or to a situation.

We used to go the beach in the summer when I was a kid.

I used to smoke.

I used to smoke when I was nervous.

Chronological time periods are not idiomatic, and the more specific and finite the time adjunct, the clumsier it gets:

I used to go that restaurant last year. ^unidiomatic

We used to date in the spring of 2020. ^unidiomatic

versus

I used to go that restaurant when I was working for Smith Smith & Smith a few years ago. ^idiomatic

We used to date before she got a job overseas in the summer of 2020.^idiomatic