Learn English: MAKE or DO?

"Stop making mistakes" or "stop doing mistakes? "Do" and "make" are some of the most used verbs in English, but they are regularly confused by English learners. I'm going to teach you the logic of when to use "make" and when to use "do". Watch this lesson and you'll understand how to use these verbs correctly. You'll also learn collocations: words that often go with "make" and "do", like "do the dishes", "do your homework", "make dinner", "make a call", and many more. Learning to use these two simple words correctly will make you sound much more fluent to native English speakers, so don't miss out!

TRANSCRIPT

"To be or not to be?" that is the qu-... No, it's not the question. You are here to learn a lesson. Hi. I'm James from engVid, and today's lesson is going to be on "do" or "make". Well, why am I doing this lesson? Many students make a mistake with these two verbs. Okay? And the problem is native speakers almost never make this mistake, and as soon as you make this mistake we will know that you are just learning English or low-level English. So this lesson will help you fully understand how to use it so that you can start speaking like a native speaker right away.

Now, in order to do that we have to clearly know what the difference is between "do" and "make", and then give examples of how we use them. I'll also give you collocations. Collocations are words that go with "do" and "make" regularly so you know even if you're having a difficult time, when you say something like: "cake", you're going to say "do" or "make". Let's find out in five seconds, shall we? Let's go to the board where I'll break down what "do" is and give you examples; what "make" is, give you examples; then I'll give you those collocations and a short quiz. All right.

E, what is it, "do" or "make"? When I makes me a cake, do I do me a cake or make me a cake? Well, let's find out. If an action is repetitive, something you do on a regular basis, we're going to use the verb "do". Now, I should note very quickly here I am not going to talk on the auxiliary, like: "Do you like that?" I'm not going to ask these questions. We have other videos, so please go to engVid, go check them out, and they'll clearly do... Do, [laughs]. Show you the uses of "do" as the auxiliary. Okay? This is specifically how you understand it.

If something is done repetitively, we use "do", which is true for most simple present verbs. When we talk in the simple present it's about repeated actions. So, "do" is no different from that. Okay? Obligation. An obligation might be something like I do homework every night. It's a thing I must do. Okay? So we use it for obligation. Multiple actions. Now, listen to me carefully. "I do the dishes." I'll give you a visual representation or a visual picture of it in a second, but I want you to understand the concept.

A lot of times in English we use what's called "shorthand". Instead of saying every verb that I'm going to do, what I do is I use... Or I even said it here, replacing verbs. We put the verb "do" in and it talks about several actions in one go. Here's an example for you: When I do the dishes, I wash them, I dry them, I put them away. Notice there are three verbs. I don't want to say when someone says, like E goes: "Did you do the dishes?" Go: "Yes, I wash the dishes, I dry the dishes, I put the dishes away." They'll go: -"You new to Canada, correct?" -"Yes, very correct." Okay, so I said: "I'll do the dishes" or "I do the dishes". So, even under obligation I said: "I do the dishes every night", that's my obligation. And it's these actions I'm talking about. Repetitive because I do it every night, I repeat it. Okay? Multiple actions, so I've just went through, and replacement of verbs. This is similar to multiple actions, but you can use the verb "to do" to replace one verb, like: "Hey, man. I got to do my hair tonight." That means "fix", that might be cut my hair, it might be wash my hair, but when I got to do my hair, I got to do my hair, and do my nails. That means cut and clean. It's not saying multiple verbs. It's just replacing one verb, but we can put "do" in there and it replaces that verb, and we understand what it means. Is there something you have to do? Okay, I've killed that. Right? So why don't we go to "make"?

"Make". "Make" is create, when you create something. Creation comes from it didn't exist and now it does. You create. That's making. And when I say "create", there's a big difference between the two. Okay? Notice when we talked about "do" we talked about repetitive, obligation, multiple actions, dah-dah-dah-dah. It's a verb of action and so is "make", but the difference is this: When I talk about "do", you can't see it. Sorry, you can see it, but you can't touch it. You can see me washing, but you can't touch me washing the dishes. It doesn't make sense.

[ertulka]

I'm a teacher myself . I watch James to learn how to teach :) Great job, James !

[creedchan]

a humorous man with a good teaching way!

[jonatan]

Thanks James, you are a great teacher and I really appreciate what you do, because your lessons are very interesting, easy to undestand and they help me a lot to improve my english .... Thanks again, James :)

[jessicalt]

I don’t know how I came upon this teacher but I continue to learn from him, even though I am an English speaker, born and raised in Ohio. Many people I know, including myself, make these errors so this is a good review.
The Obama’s! I miss their grace, class and genuine care for disadvantaged Americans citizens.

[InteractiveEng]

Great video James! We have a MAKE vs DO video coming out in the near future, but you beat us to it. 😆 It'll be different, but you gave some solid explanations & examples. Nice job! 👍

[marianhinlero]

I love the way he always makes an example while discussing, even though he is making jokes he's still focused on the lesson. I like your way of teaching. A big THANK YOU from Philippines 🇵🇭💖

[PamelaPalmaM]

I finished the advanced phase many years ago and now I'm about to take the CAE exam in november and this kind of videos are excellent and useful to refresh your memory on grammar. Besides, James is such a good teacher! 👍

[mamzosilym]

Who are still learning this video in 2019 ? I loved I your lessons it helpful and useful appreciate
you are a good teacher💪🏾👍

[lucasdias]

What a superb teacher!!! I can't get tired of watching his classes. Amazing!

[almayprietoenhomewithalma]

Hi James, I’m from Mexico 🇲🇽 speak Spanish of course. However English is my second language and i can’t believe I am learning so much from you, really more than from my teachers at adult school. You’re awesome thank you so much for your knowledge and sharing it with us. 🤗

[moyalekawtar]

Hi, I am from morocco .teacher rellĺlly if we had had a teacher like you, we could have understood every things

[maximk]

Thanks, man! It was very helpful and useful

[ataaita]

Thanks James for such a superb work. I wished all english teachers would be like you, and make such an amazing lesson.

[nancyruiz]

Thank you so so much James!! I' really love your classes, I learn a lot every time I' see them.

[marinaschwabauer]

I like this man! I've never seen an explanation about "make/do" better than this! Thanks!

[wandersonandrade]

I am an English language student (a beginner) but listening to your class is like you are speaking in Portuguese with me. the explanation is so good that I understand it very well!

[griselescalante]

Thanks ....James l learn write, read, speak English you great teacher.😊

[behappy]

Thank you for explaining the defference between do and make, I appreciate that

[FacaMarko]

you are the best, thank you very much for your help!

[kokiandsusu]

Thanks James ..This lesson is really useful .. you are the best 😁