Welcome to Lesson 8: The Verb “To Do.”
In Lessons 6 and 7, you learned about the verbs to be and to have.
Now you will learn another very important English verb: to do.
Use Google Translate if you need help.
What Does “To Do” Mean?
The verb to do can mean to perform or complete an action, activity, job, or task.
Examples
I do my homework.
She does the dishes.
We do our work.
He does a good job.
But do has another very important job in English.
We also use do and does to help us make many questions and negative statements.
Present Tense of “To Do”
In the present tense, we use do or does.
| Subject | To Do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | do | I do my homework. |
| you | do | You do a good job. |
| he | does | He does his homework. |
| she | does | She does the dishes. |
| it | does | It does the job. |
| we | do | We do our work. |
| they | do | They do their homework. |
Remember:
I / you / we / they → do
he / she / it → does
“Do” as the Main Verb
Sometimes do is the main verb in the sentence.
It tells us what someone does.
Examples
I do my homework every night.
She does the dishes after dinner.
He does a good job.
We do our exercises in class.
They do their work every day.
“Do” as a Helping Verb
Do and does can also be helping verbs.
A helping verb helps another verb make a question or negative statement.
Look at this positive statement:
You like coffee.
To make a question:
Do you like coffee?
To make a negative:
You do not like coffee.
The main verb is like.
Do helps us make the question and negative statement.
Questions with “Do” and “Does”
Use:
Do + I/you/we/they + main verb…?
Does + he/she/it + main verb…?
Examples
Do you study English?
Do they work every day?
Does he like coffee?
Does she live in California?
Does it work?
Notice what happens after does:
Does she like coffee? ✓
Does she likes coffee? ✗
After does, use the base form of the main verb.
Negative Statements
For negative statements, use:
I / you / we / they + do not + main verb
he / she / it + does not + main verb
Examples
I do not work on Sunday.
You do not need a book.
He does not like coffee.
She does not drive to work.
They do not live here.
Again, after does not, use the base form:
She does not like coffee. ✓
She does not likes coffee. ✗
Contractions
In everyday English, we usually use contractions:
do not → don’t
does not → doesn’t
Examples
I don’t work on Sunday.
We don’t live there.
He doesn’t like coffee.
She doesn’t drive to work.
Short Answers
We also use do and does in short answers.
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Do you study English? | Yes, I do. | No, I don’t. |
| Does he work here? | Yes, he does. | No, he doesn’t. |
| Does she drive? | Yes, she does. | No, she doesn’t. |
| Do they live here? | Yes, they do. | No, they don’t. |
Statement → Question → Negative
Look at how one idea changes.
I / You / We / They
Statement: They study English.
Question: Do they study English?
Negative: They don’t study English.
He / She / It
Statement: She studies English.
Question: Does she study English?
Negative: She doesn’t study English.
Notice:
studies → does she study
studies → doesn’t study
After does or doesn’t, the main verb returns to its base form.
When “Do” Is Both Verbs
Sometimes do appears twice in the same question or negative sentence.
This is correct.
Example
Statement: She does her homework.
Question: Does she do her homework?
The first does is the helping verb.
The second do is the main verb.
Another Example
Statement: He does the dishes.
Negative: He doesn’t do the dishes.
Doesn’t is the helping verb.
Do is the main verb.
Practice
Choose do or does.
- I ______ my homework every day.
- She ______ the dishes after dinner.
- They ______ their work in class.
- He ______ a good job.
- We ______ our exercises every morning.
- My teacher ______ a lot of work.
Now choose do or does to make questions.
- ______ you study English?
- ______ she work every day?
- ______ they live nearby?
- ______ he like coffee?
- ______ your teacher speak English?
- ______ your friends have class today?
Remember
When to do is the main verb:
I / you / we / they → do
he / she / it → does
We also use do and does as helping verbs to make many present-tense questions and negative statements.
Question: Do you work?
Negative: I don’t work.
Question: Does she work?
Negative: She doesn’t work.
After does or doesn’t, use the base form of the main verb.
Goal
After completing this lesson, you should be able to:
- Choose do or does for the correct subject.
- Use do as a main verb.
- Recognize do and does as helping verbs.
- Ask questions with do and does.
- Make negative statements with don’t and doesn’t.
- Give short answers using do and does.
- Use the base form of a verb after does and doesn’t.