In saying do, doing, does and did, what is the difference?

Question

What is the difference in translating do, does, doing, and did to spanish?

Answer 1

to do = infinitive
do = present indicative for everyone except the 3rd person singular
does = present indicative 3rd person singular
doing = present participle (used in the progessive) and gerund (used as a noun)
did = simple past
done = past participle

Note that to do is both a regular verb and an auxilliary.

That just about covers it. - ian-hill, May 5, 2011

:) - FELIZ77, May 5, 2011

Answer 2

The verb do and its forms doing, does and did, when it is used as an auxiliary, it has no counterpart into any language I have ever come across (or any I can think of right now). In other words, "did" in the sentence "what did you do?" cannot be translated.

Yes, very true :) - FELIZ77, May 5, 2011

Answer 3

Hi, 96smiles!

Welcome to SD!

The verb do and its forms can be used both as verbs but also as auxiliary verbs- they are used to "help" us form questions and negatives in Simple Tenses - Present and Past, and cannot be translated literally to Spanish.

I hope this helped.

Answer 4

"To do" translates to "hacer" which also translates to "to make"

The main difference is that "to make" is used mainly to indicate that something new has been created that did not exist before.

Example:

I do my homework every day.

to do your homework - hacer los deberes

to do a test/an exam - hacer un examen

to do research - investigar

to do an English course - hacer un curso de inglés

to do accountancy - estudiar contabilidad

I make a cake every week.

to make a mistake - cometer un error

to make an excuse - poner una excusa

to make progress - hacer progresos

to make a comment/claim - hacer un comentario/afirmar

to make a point/rule - señalar un punto/dictar una regla

to make a noise - hacer (un) ruido

There are many Spanish verbs that can express the same thing.

Excellent answer Ian :) - FELIZ77, May 5, 2011