🎯 Why This Matters
Foundation for constructing 90% of English sentences.
Ability to ask questions and build negations.
🇪🇸 The Challenge
The 'Do/Did' support. Romance languages (Spanish/Italian) usually conjugate the main verb directly for questions. English requires an auxiliary (Do you go? vs ¿Vas?).
🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 Missing the auxiliary
Problem: Spanish forms questions with intonation alone
Watch out: Saying 'You speak English?' instead of 'Do you speak English?'
✅ Fix: For questions without be/have/modal, always start with DO/DOES/DID
🧠 Mental Note: Every question needs either: IS/ARE/WAS/WERE, HAVE/HAS/HAD, CAN/WILL/etc., or DO/DOES/DID
🇪🇸 Double marking the past
Problem: Wanting to show past tense on both auxiliary AND main verb
Watch out: Saying 'Did you went?' instead of 'Did you go?'
✅ Fix: DID already carries past tense. Main verb stays in base form.
🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)
The Helper Robot
No robot, no question! If there's no be/have/modal, you MUST use do/does/did.
🗣️ Pronunciation Guide
How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:
Contractions are natural
Spanish Habit: Pronouncing 'do not' as two separate words
English Reality: Native speakers almost always use contractions: don't, doesn't, didn't
Examples:
- don't → /doʊnt/ (one syllable)
- doesn't → /ˈdʌznt/ (sounds like 'duznt')
- didn't → /ˈdɪdnt/ (sounds like 'didnt')
Practice: Using full forms 'do not' sounds overly formal or emphatic
📖 How It Works
Teacher Recommendation: Teacher strongly recommended
Time Investment: 5 hours
🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)
These words/phrases appear with this structure:
| English | Spanish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| do/does | (auxiliary for present) | Do you work here? / Does she speak Spanish? |
| did | (auxiliary for past) | Did you see that? / ¿Viste eso? |
| don't/doesn't | no (+ verbo) | I don't know / No sé |
| didn't | no (+ verbo pasado) | She didn't come / Ella no vino |
💬 Real Examples
Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:
Example 1: Question formation
✅ CORRECT: "Do you like pizza?"
🇪🇸 Translation: "¿Te gusta la pizza?"
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "You like pizza? / Like you pizza?"
Why wrong? English requires DO for questions with regular verbs
Example 2: Negative formation
✅ CORRECT: "I don't understand."
🇪🇸 Translation: "No entiendo."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "I no understand. / I understand not."
Why wrong? English uses DO + NOT (don't), not just 'no' before the verb
Example 3: Past tense with DID
✅ CORRECT: "Did you go to the party?"
🇪🇸 Translation: "¿Fuiste a la fiesta?"
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "Did you went to the party?"
Why wrong? DID already carries the past tense. The main verb must stay in base form (go, not went)
✏️ Practice Exercises
Ready to test your understanding? Let's practice!