when we use if or elif we say:
x = 1
if x == 1:
print('x is 1')
elif x == 2:
print('x is 2')
Instead of == why cant we just use = to check for assignment instead.
Answer
This behavior is inherited from C. In C, the = operator is just like any other operator. An assignment statement is not special, so it is legal to say, for example:
if( (x = y) > 9 )
which assigns y to x then tests its value. Because of that, it was necessary to use a different symbol for the "equals" comparison. They chose "==", and most programming languages since then have followed suit.
Also consider the following valid Python code:
isequal = x == y
which assigns a boolean value. I think you can see it is necessary to use a different symbol.