When to use "Do" and when to use "Have"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Someone said you use “do” with
a) Simple present
b) Simple past
c) with Questions
d) and with negative sentences

I wasn’t aware of a rule for using Do vs. Have. Can anyone help me with this. Thanks in advance.

2

These are some basic rules:

You use ‘do’ or ‘does’ plus the bare infinitive of a verb to form interrogative and negative sentences in the simple present tense. (The verb ‘be’ does not follow this rule.)

  • He goes to the office every day. (affirmative)
  • He does not go to the office every day. (negative)
  • Does he go to the office every day? (interrogative)

You use ‘did’ plus the bare infinitive of a verb to form interrogative and negative sentences in the simple past tense. (The verb ‘be’ does not follow this rule.)

  • He went to the office yesterday. (affirmative)
  • He did not go to the office yesterday. (negative)
  • Did he go to the office yesterday? (interrogative)

You use ‘have’ or ‘has’ plus the past participle of a verb to form affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences in the present perfect.

  • He has already gone to the office. (affirmative)
  • He has not gone to the office yet. (negative)
  • Has he gone to the office yet? (interrogative)

There are more tenses than the three mentioned above, and each tense is formed a certain way.

3

So is one of these sentences incorrect?

I didn’t do my homework.

I haven’t done my homework.

Thanks for your reply. Thanks to all.

4

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Both of those sentences are grammatically correct.
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5

Thank you. I think I understand. I tend to use the perfect tense and so I don’t run into the “do” issue so much. Although people who have learned the rule, and yet don’t speak english as well, get confused about when to use the “Do” and “Have”. I live in Germany and I think they get confused because they have “haben” which I think means have. Unfortunately I don’t speak German or English well enough to straighten them out!

6

Each tense has its own appropriate/correct usage. It’s not simply a question of preferring ‘do’ or ‘have’.

If you happen to live in southwestern Germany, you’ll probably run into lots and lots of Germans who never use the simple past tense in English (and therefore make endless mistakes in English). Part of the reason is that Germans from that area almost never use the simple past tense in German either. :lol: They tend to do direct translations of the way they speak German – which means they use the present perfect far too often.
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