What is the hardest thing for English learners? Ask anyone, and they will answer you - times. But what exactly is wrong in these times - there is no answer to this question. And the chest just opens.
Reasons for the difficulty of learning tenses in English
Firstly, there are many tenses, especially the tenses of the verb do cause problems. After Russian, where there are only three tenses, the abundance of verb forms is a real shock. Incorrectly presented material can forever discourage a person from learning English. Secondly, after the first shock, it is difficult for people to match the Russian tenses and verb forms with the corresponding verb forms in English. Hence the phrase: “Why did the British come up with so many times?” Especially often such questions are asked by young children when they are just starting to learn a language.
Verbs do(does) in Present simple
As a rule, difficulties begin already when studying the first tense - Present simple. Here the pitfalls are in the auxiliary verbs. Not only do they not exist in the Russian and Ukrainian languages, it is also unclear why they are inEnglish language. No matter how paradoxical it may sound, they are needed in order not to get confused in times. The fact is that in English words do not change either by gender, or by numbers, or by cases. How can you tell what tense a sentence is in? By auxiliary verb. For example, if we see the verb do (does) in a sentence, we can safely say that we have Present simple (simple present tense). Consider below the cases of its use.
Using the verb do and does
Is this a terrible verb, without which it is impossible to make a sentence in the present tense? The English verb do (does) is the most used. It can be both semantic and auxiliary. As the main verb, the verb do/does is used in its original meaning - to do. For example, we have a sentence
Masha likes to do lessons and doesn't like to be disturbed. That is why she does homework alone. - Masha likes to do her homework and really doesn't like being distracted. Therefore, she does her homework alone
As you can see, here the verb do acts both as a semantic and as an auxiliary one. In particular, in the part "Masha likes to do lessons" and "That is why she does homework alone" does just semantic, and in the part "doesn't like to be disturbed" - auxiliary.
Another example:
"My mom likes to do shopping, but i don't, because she bies only things for her, not for me", - little Tony says to Jane. - My mom love to go outsideshopping, but I don't, because she only buys things for herself, says little Tommy Jane
Here, too, in the part "My mom likes to do shopping" do - semantic. Another thing is that in translation it does not appear in speech. The fact is that the expression "do shopping" is consonant with our phrase "make purchases". But when translating, the construction "go shopping" is more often used. In the part "but i don't, because she bies only things for her, not for me" do just acts as an auxiliary.
Do you know her? She is so pretty. - Do you know her? She's so pretty
Thus, do/does acts as a semantic verb in the same place where we use the verb "to do" in Russian. As an auxiliary - in negative sentences, as can be seen from the examples above. Let's take a closer look at this point.
Why do they walk so slowly? - I don't know, maybe they have a lot of time and don't have to hurry. - Why do they go so slowly? - I don't know, maybe they have plenty of time and don't need to rush
Are auxiliary mistakes harmless?
In this case, the verb do acts as an auxiliary in a negative and interrogative sentence. Note that without this verb it is impossible to correctly build a negative sentence in Present Simple, as well as ask a question. No, you can of course miss the verb do / does, but this is for an English-speaking personwill sound like "My go to the forest, shoot the squirrel." It seems that all the words are clear, and even the meaning is captured. But how seriously will a person who talks like that be taken? Will he be taken seriously and treated as an equal? Unlikely. Our people love to make fun of immigrants who don't speak the language well. But they do not think that in the eyes of the British they themselves look also ridiculous and ridiculous. Here we come to another important point. Everything is clear with the verb do.
What to do with the verb does?
What is it for? Why are there two? How to understand when a verb is put? Guessing, trying to get your finger into the sky? Not worth it. In English, as in any language, there are quite clearly defined grammatical rules, according to which the use of do / does verbs is clearly limited. So, we write does in interrogative and negative sentences only if the subject can be conditionally referred to the 3rd person singular. For example, in the example "That is why she does homework alone" we talked about Masha, who likes to do her homework alone. Masha is a 3rd person singular noun, which is why this does appeared here. Otherwise, we put do. Another important point that is often forgotten. If the sentence already has does as an auxiliary verb, then the ending s is not added to the main semantic verb in the sentence. If the subject is a noun in the 3rd person singular, then we add the ending s to the main verb. This will also serve as a markerpresent.
Ask any schoolchild what is the most difficult thing about the topic "times" (well, except for their number)? Statement of questions. This topic is difficult because teachers rarely give a clear and transparent scheme for constructing a question. If you remember it once and for all, then you can put any question at any time by analogy.
So, general questions and the use of the verb do
To be clear, these are yes/no questions.
Auxiliary verb + subject + semantic verb + what + where + when?
On the example of Present simple it looks like this:
Verbs Do (does) + subject + semantic verb + what + where + when?
So the auxiliary just comes out on top.
Special questions and sentences with the verb do
They are built almost on the same principle. The only difference is that in these questions the so-called question word appears. The pattern then repeats.
Interrogative word + auxiliary verb + subject + semantic verb + what + where + when?
or
- What/where/when + auxiliary verb + subject + semantic verb + what+ where + when?
- What/where/when + verbs do (does) + subject + semantic verb + what + where + when?
Moreover, such a scheme is always preserved, even if we ask banal things:
What spice do you like? - Ginger, of course. - What spice do you like? - Ginger, of course
Where does your sister do her hairdo? - What do you mean? She does it yourself. - Do you really think so? - I'm sure. - Where does your sister do her hair? - What do you mean? She makes them herself. -Do you really think so? - I'm absolutely sure
As you can see, the above example contains both general and specific questions. We also note that, as in the case of negative sentences, if the sentence contains the auxiliary verb does, then we do not add the ending s to the main verb. This creates an interesting picture.
Where does your sister do her hairdo? This sentence contains both do and does. But does is auxiliary, because we are talking about a sister, and do is semantic. The fact is that in English there is a stable phrase - to do smb's hairdo. It means "to do one's hair" in any context.
Verb forms do
The verb to do, like all English verbs, has many forms. Remember that to do is just an infinitive. What happens to this verb, say, in the past tense? In Past Simple, the verb to do changes and takes the form did. This is an irregular verb, so no -ed ending is added to it. It must be learned, like a number of other verbs, according to special tables.
They were walking across the street and the mother told little Janny: "Where did you go?" - "I am not obliged to tell you everything." - "Yes, but i am your mother. I didn't know anything about your things and iwas verry frightened because of that". - They were crossing the road, and the following dialogue took place between mother and little Jenny: - Where did you go? - I am not obliged to report to you about everything! - Yes, but I am your mother. I did not know anything about your plans and it scared me a lot
As we can see from the example above, the auxiliary verb did indicates the past tense here. In parallel with this, in the same sentence, no endings are added to the main verb according to the main rule. This is logical - why add any endings to these unfortunate verbs, if there is already a direct pointer to both the time and the nuances of the semantic meaning of the sentence? That is why such a mistake as adding endings in the past tense in questions seems stupid to the Americans and the British. The same pattern is observed in negative sentences: I didn't know anything about your things and i was verry frightened because of that. Specifically, the "didn't know" part vividly illustrates the rule that was discussed above.
Give some more examples:
What did you want to tell me? - Is it important? You had never listened to me, so why did you ask now? I don't want to tell you anyway. - What did you want to tell me? “Does it matter, since you never listened to me, so why are you asking now?” Anyway, I don't want to tell you anything
Similar to the previous example of the "What did you want to tell me?" and "You had never listened to me, so why did you asknow?" show that in the presence of the auxiliary verb did, no ending is put anywhere. Often people confuse did as a semantic and as an auxiliary verb.
What to do in order not to confuse the cases of using the verbs do (does)?
First, don't be lazy and translate the sentence. Secondly, learn the rules for using verbs and sentence construction patterns. Third, learn tenses. In particular, an educated person should know that if did is at the beginning of a sentence or practically at the beginning, then this will be a question, which means that a second, semantic verb should appear. If there is a negative particle next to did, then this is a negation. Again, there should be another verb nearby, to which nothing needs to be added. If did stands as if separately, then it should be translated in the same way as do.
Be that as it may, these are not all forms of the verb do. Like all verbs, it has the form with the ending ing. This form is used both to designate gerund forms and to form a group of long tenses.
