Reference · module 3
What you do
Everything this module explains, on one page.
I work, he works
Say what you do, and what somebody else does.
- The present tense in English is the verb, unchanged: I work, you work, we work, they work. Four subjects and nothing to learn.
- Then he, she and it add an s: he works, she lives, it costs. One letter, one form, and it is the single most forgotten thing in the language.
- The spelling shifts a little: go becomes goes, watch becomes watches, study becomes studies. The sound is what drives every one of those.
The mistake you are about to make
He work here.
He works here.
One ending, on one person, in one tense — small enough to feel optional. It is the single most noticed mistake in the language.
Do you…?
Ask a question about what somebody does.
- To ask about an ordinary verb, English adds a helper at the front: Do you speak English? Does he live here?
- does already carries the s, so the main verb gives it up: Does he live here, never does he lives. The s appears once and only once.
- The short answer repeats the helper: Yes, I do. No, he doesn't. Answering with just yes sounds abrupt, and the helper is what softens it.
The mistake you are about to make
You speak English?
Do you speak English?
A rising tone is enough to ask a question in most languages. English wants the word as well: do in front. Without it the sentence reads as surprise.
I don't
Say what you do not do.
- The same helper does the negative: I don't smoke. He doesn't drive. The main verb stays plain, exactly as in a question.
- be is the exception and needs no helper: I'm not tired. She isn't here. If the sentence already has am, is or are, not simply follows it.
- English allows one negative per sentence. I don't know nothing means the opposite of what a Russian speaker intends by it.
The mistake you are about to make
I don't know nothing.
I don't know anything.
Many languages require the negative twice — once on the verb and once on the word. English allows one per sentence, and two of them cancel out.
Every day
Describe your day in order.
- get up, have breakfast, go to work, come home, go to bed. Five phrases and a whole day is covered.
- always, usually, often, sometimes, never. These go before the main verb: I always get up at seven. But after be: I am always late.
- never is already negative, so it takes no don't. I never drink coffee, never I don't never drink coffee.
The mistake you are about to make
I get up always at seven.
I always get up at seven.
Frequency words drift towards the end in many languages. English pins them in front of the main verb, and behind be: I am always late.