Basic English – How and when to use DO, DOES, and DID

Hi. I'm Gill from www.engvid.com, and today, we're going to look at the verb "to do", looking

at "do", "does", and "did", and the way it's used, not all within a positive sentence or

statement, but the way it often needs to be included in a negative statement, and also

how it has to be used in a question. Okay?

So, I've just got an example here to show you what... What I mean. Okay? So, just a

simple sentence: "You walk." Okay? "You walk." So, we've got the pronoun "you", the person.

"P" for pronoun, "p" for person. Okay? And the verb: to walk. "You walk." Okay? But,

what happens? Now this is in the present tense, and what happens is in some tenses, you have

to use "do", but in other tenses you don't need it. So we're going to see the different

types of sentence with different tenses to show when to use it and when not to use it,

and also how to use it. Okay?

So: "You walk." Simple present tense. If you turn that into the negative, it's:

"You do not walk." or "You don't walk."

You can't just say: "You not walk". You have to use:

"You do not walk." And so, because "do" is also a verb, the way it's used here is to

sort of help the meaning and that means it's called an auxiliary verb. Okay? So, I'll just

put "aux", auxiliary verb. And the "not" is the negative. Okay? So: "You do not walk."

or "You don't walk." In speech, when we're speaking, we say: "You don't". Maybe if you're

writing a formal essay for an exam, it's best not to use contractions, abbreviations, like

"don't". It's better to use "do not". Okay? So: "You do not walk." That's the negative.

Okay? And then, again, if we turn it into a question and you're asking the person, it's:

"Do" again. "Do...? Do you walk?" So: "You walk", "Do you walk?" Okay? So "do" is the

auxiliary; "you" is the person, the pronoun; and "walk" is the verb. Okay? So: "You walk.",

"You don't walk.", "Do you walk?" Okay. So, there, in the simple present tense for the

negative and for the question, you need to use "do" as an extra and as an auxiliary verb.

Okay?

Right, so now I've got some little exercises to give you a chance to see if you can do

them yourself before I say what they should be. Okay? So, we've got this one here: "I

swim every day." Very healthy. I don't, actually, but some people do. Swim, swimming in a swimming

pool. "I swim every day." Okay? So, if you are going to turn that into the negative...

I just said it probably, without realizing. I hope you've forgotten what I've said now

when I gave you the negative. [Laughs]. I'm not going to do that every time, don't worry.

"Don't worry." Okay, so: "I swim every day." What would be the negative?

"I ____ ____ _____ ___."

Just have a think before I tell you what it should be: "I", then we have to use

"do not"/"don't", "I don't", and then it's the same. We've got "walk" there and "walk"

there, so it's just: "I don't swim every day." Okay? So you just have to put "don't" in there:

"I don't swim every day." Okay? And then, again, for the question version of it:

"I swim every day." And then somebody asks or I ask...

I don't know why I would ask that

question. I should know the answer, but: "Do",

what should it be?

"Do I swim every day?" So, "swim every

day", "walk", "walk", "swim every day". "Do I swim every day?" Okay. So, it's always "Do"

at the beginning of the question, and then you just use the same words.

Okay, so let's try the next one. I hope by now that you understand what I'm explaining

about the verb "to do". "You understand." Okay? Now, what if it's still negative? I'm

not going to say it this time; I'll leave it for you to think: How would you say the

negative of this? "You __ ___ understand." Okay? So, it's: "You", like this one here,

"don't"... Sorry about my writing. "You don't" and then "understand" again. Okay? "You understand.",

"You don't understand." Right? And then the question version, I've already started it

with: "Do", so if I'm asking you yes or no: "Do you understand?" Okay? So: "Do you understand?"

And the question mark, of course, at the end. Always remember the question mark. Right.

Okay. So I hope that's clear so far.

Now, let's try this one. This is still present tense, simple present tense. Okay?

"He smokes cigarettes." Very bad habit.

Ah. "He smokes cigarettes" now, and then he gives up smoking;

he quits smoking. He stops. Very sensible. So, it's now the negative situation. No more

cigarettes. So: "He", now something funny happens here, because we're talking about

"he", we have to change the verb. If it was, for example: "I smoke", "you smoke", we don't

have the "s" on the end, but because we've got "He smokes", this is where we put the

"s" on the end of the verb; "he", "she", "it smokes", so that affects what happens here.

Okay? And instead of "don't", we have to use "doesn't" or "does not". Okay? So it's either

"does not", "d-o-e-s not", or "d-o-e-s-n'"-apostrophe-"t".

"He does not", "He doesn't". Ah, and then something else happens. Because we've

got an "s" now in "does", we've got an "s" here, we no longer need the "s" there. So

we say: "He doesn't smoke cigarettes." Okay? "He doesn't smoke cigarettes", because we've

already used the "s" in the "does" part of the sentence. That's a bit confusing, but

the more you practice it, the more it will get easier. Okay. And similarly, with the

question, then. How...? See if you can think what the question wording would be, starting

with "Does" with the "s": "Does he smoke", without the "s": "Does he smoke cigarettes?"

Okay. All right?

Let's practice that again with this one, because this sentence is "she". "He", "she", and "it",

they're all the third person singular, and that's why this "s" happens with the verb.

So: "She speaks French." So, how would you put the negative? See if you can work that

out by comparing it with the "he" above. "She does not" or "doesn't speak French." "She

doesn't speak"-without an "s"-"French". So let's have a look at what happens with the

question, then, and it's going to be very similar to what happened with the previous

line. So, we've had: "She speaks French.", "She doesn't speak French.", and now: "Does",

do you want to complete it before I say? "Does

she speak"-without the "s"-French"?

"Does she speak French?" Question mark. Don't forget the question mark. Right.

And one final example of where the "do" word is needed... So we have now: "The girl went

shopping." So, "went" that's a clue that we're in the past tense now, so we've changed tenses.

We've gone from the present to the past. "The girl yesterday, the girl went shopping". Okay?

So, what happens next? With the negative, we still need to use the "do" verb, but it's

now going to be in the past tense. So: "The girl", what do you think it might be? What's

the past tense of "do"? Okay. I'm going to write it. "The girl did", "did not" or "didn't",

okay? "The girl didn't", and then because we've got the past tense of "do": "didn't",

we have to change this to "go shopping". "The girl didn't go shopping." Right? "Go". So

"go" comes from the "to go", the verb "to go". So you have to go back to the base verb,

the main verb from the infinitive "to go". So: "The girl didn't go shopping." Okay? So

that's another complication. Sorry about that, but I don't make the rules. Okay, let's try

it with a question. "Did", so can you think? "Did", it's going to be "the girl", so: "Did

the girl", what do you think it would be? "Did the girl went shopping"? Probably not.

No, because we've got "did" already as the past tense of "do": "did". So it's:

"Did the girl go shopping?"

Go shopping, just like here. "The girl didn't go shopping.",

"Did the girl go shopping?"

Okay, so that's a few of the tenses where you have to use "do" or "did", but I've put

a little line here to show that these three examples are different. In these tenses, we

don't have to use "do", because this one, for example, is the present continuous.

"I am swimming."

So, to do the negative of that all you have to do is say: "I am ___ swimming.",

"I am not swimming." Just the negative word "not". "I am not swimming. Okay? And, for

the question at the end, you start with: "Am", and you just reverse the words. You go:

"Am I swimming?" Question mark. "Am I swimming?"

Okay? Nice and simple. So we don't need "do"

with the present continuous. Right?

Similarly: "The girl was going shopping." We're in the past continuous tense, now. That's

present continuous, this is past continuous. "The girl was going shopping." What do you

think the negative might be? "The girl was

not going shopping.", "The girl was not".

So, all you're going is putting "not" in for the negative. "Not".

"The girl was not going shopping." And then for the question,

we just change the word order:

"Was the girl going shopping?", "Was the girl going shopping?"

No need to add any "do" or "does" or "did".

And then, finally: "We have cleaned the kitchen." Aren't we good? Ah, cleaning the kitchen.

Don't you love it? Okay: "We have cleaned the kitchen." But unfortunately, there's a

negative to that. "We have ___ cleaned the kitchen."

Sadly: "We have not cleaned the kitchen." And it's disgusting. Ugh, horrible.

Okay: "We have not cleaned the kitchen." And

the question, just change the word order: "Have we cleaned the kitchen?" Question mark.

Okay? So, there we are, some examples of "do", where it's needed, and examples of places

where it's not needed because of the different tenses. And then we're just going to go on

and look at another couple uses of the verb "to do".

Okay, so let's have a look at two other uses of the verb "to do". All right? First of all,

this, I put "x2", but it means "twice". "Twice" means two times. Two times. Times two. In

the same sentence. So the verb "to do" can appear twice in the same sentence. Okay? Here

it is: "Did you do that?" So "did" past tense of "to do": "Did you do that?" Maybe, I don't

know, a little boy has been playing around and broken something, and his mother comes

and says: "Did you do that?" Did you break that? So, the "do" refers to some action,

like "break". So, the mother could say: "Did you break that?" But you can just use the

verb "to do", meaning to do some action. So: "Did", past tense: "Did you do that?" Did

you break that? Or, you could say: "Did you drink that?", "Did you eat that?" But you

can just say: "Did you do that?" Okay? So that's where "do" can appear twice. And once

as the auxiliary verb, and once as the main verb, the action of the sentence. Okay? And

you could turn it... Oh, well that's already a question.

There's another question: "What did you do?" Okay? So we've got "did" and "do" again. "What

did you do?" If somebody comes with their arm bandaged: "Ah, what did you do?" Meaning:

"How...? What...? What's happened? How did that happen to your arm? What did you do?"

And they say: "Oh, somebody knocked me over, and I fell on my arm and it broke. The bone

is broken." So, you didn't do it, somebody else did, but people still say: "What did

you do to cause that?" So: "What did you do?" Past tense, auxiliary, and main verb "to do".

Okay.

And then, this is rather a fun use, a nice use of the verb "to do", for emphasis. If

you want to put more stress on something, emphasis, emphasis or stress, and you also

stress it with your voice as well. If you say: "Ah, I do like your hair!" I do like.

You can say: "I like your hair. Oh, I like your hair." But if you say: "Oh, I do like

your hair! Ah, isn't it lovely?" And so the "do", you say: "do", your voice goes up and

down: "do". "I do like your hair!" And "hair" goes up and down as well. So that just emphasizes

the fact that you really, really, really do like the person's hair. Okay?

It can be used for a less happy reason as well, of course. "Oh, she does look tired!"

Okay? So we go from "do" to "does", remember, because this is the third person singular.

This is first-person singular. "I do", "She does". "She does look tired! She can't have

slept last night. She does look tired. She's been working so hard. She does look tired."

You can say: "She looks tired." And, of course, that puts an "s" on: "She looks tired." But

when you're using "does", the "s" is there, so you don't need it again here. So:

"She looks tired. Oh, she looks tired today." But: "Oh, she does look tired today! Oh." It just

gives more emphasis. Okay? "She does look tired!"

And then, say you've been on holiday, a nice positive example again. You had a really nice

time, so you could say: "We enjoyed our holiday.", "Oh, yes, we enjoyed our holiday." But:

"Oh, we did enjoy our holiday!" That's the emphasis.

Okay? And you notice again, if you say: "We

enjoyed our holiday." it's "ed". "We enjoyed our holiday." without the "did". But if you

say: "We did enjoy our holiday!" because the past tense is a "did", so you don't need to

put it again here. "We did enjoy our holiday!" Okay?

Right, well, I hope all of that is helpful. And if you go to the website, www.engvid.com,

you will find a quiz on this subject. So please go and try it, and see how many marks you

can get. And on YouTube, if you'd like to subscribe to my channel, that would be great.

Thank you. And hope to see you again soon. Okay, bye.