Практическая грамматика

Note. – It should be borne in mind that this use of the Present Indefinite occurs only in adverbial clauses of time and condition. In object and attributive clauses introduced by when the Future Indefinite is used.
I wonder when he will give us an answer.
We are impatiently awaiting the day when our friends will return.
b) with verbs of motion, such as to go, to come, to leave and aspect verbs such as to begin, to finish etc. to speak about fixed future events (timetables, calendar):
The train leaves at 10 to-morrow.
The World Cup begins in two weeks.


The Past Indefinite


§ 2. The use of the Past Indefinite.
The Past Indefinite denotes an action performed within a period of time, which is already over. The action is cut off from the present. The time of the action may be indicated by adverbials of past time, such as yesterday, a week ago, last year, etc.
The sun came out a moment ago.
Miss Helstone stayed the whole evening. (Ch.Bronte)
The Past Indefinite can correspond to the Russian past perfective and past imperfective (совершенный и несовершенный вид глагола).
He smoked a cigarette and left the room.
He smoked in silence for a few minutes.
The translation depends on the context and the lexical character of the verb.
The Past Indefinite is used to denote:
a) an action performed in the past.
Shakespeare died in 1616.
We went to the theatre last night.
When did she come?
b) a succession of past actions.
In this case the Past Indefinite is rendered in Russian by the past perfective.
He threw down his spade and entered the house. (Ch. Bronte)
Он бросил лопату и вошел в дом
c) repeated actions in the past.
In this case the Past Indefinite is rendered in Russian by the past imperfective.
He made an entry in his diary every night. (Bennett)
Каждый вечер он делал запись в дневнике.
Note. –Repeated actions are often expressed by used to+ Infinitive and would+ Infinitive. Used to is more colloquial and would is more literary.
Sometimes used to denotes actions characterizing a person or action and states which lasted a long time.
I used to play tennis a lot but I don't play very often now.
Diane used to travel a lot. These days she doesn't go away so often.
Do you go to the cinema very often?' 'Not now, but I used to. (= I used to go...)
This building is now a furniture shop. It used to be a cinema.
I used to think he was unfriendly but now I realize he's a very nice person.
I've started drinking coffee recently. I never used to like it before.
Janet used to have very long hair when she was a child.
Used to do something is past. There is no present form. You cannot say I use to do. To talk about the present, use the Present Indefinite (I do).
We used to live in a small village but now we live in London.
There used to be four cinemas in the town. Now there is only one.