How to Use Do, Did, Does (Irregular Verb Conjugations)

What's the past tense of "do"?

When is it correct to use do, does, did, or done? Phrased differently, what's the past tense of the verb do? Let's go ahead and do our best to learn the proper usage of this particularly irregular verb form.

Definition of do

To define the word, when you do something, this means you "perform, take part in, or achieve something: that was a really silly thing for me to do".

• The past tense of do is did.
• The past participle of do is done.

Verb forms of 'do'

Is "do" a regular or irregular verb?

Do is an irregular verb since its past tense conjugations do not end in the standard "-ed" that regular verbs take on. Additionally, do changes depending on whether the subject is in the first-person singular or third-person singular. We use does for all third-person present singular subjects, such as the pronouns he, she, and it; e.g., She does the shopping on Wednesdays. We use do, on the other hand, for all first-person singular subjects: I'm about to do the laundry.

When to use do, did, or done

Did and does are simply two different tenses that we use to denote either the past or present time. The simple past tense of do is did for all subjects. The past participle form is done, also for all subjects.

He does his schoolwork when he gets home from school.

He did his schoolwork when he got home from school.

The verb do uses different forms for both simple past tense and present or past perfect), it requires an auxiliary verb like have, has, or had. The simple past doesn't use a helper verb since it's a complete tense, so did can stand alone in sentences, whereas participles require an auxiliary verb.

Similar irregular verbs

Sentence examples: do, did, done

'Do' as an auxiliary verb

To do is one of the three auxiliary verbs, along with to be and to have (not including modal auxiliaries). When 'do' is used in sentences with another verb, it's probably taking on an auxiliary role:

We use do to make negatives (do + not), to make question forms, and to make the verb more emphatic.

I didn't see you at the concert tonight.

Do you know if the store is open yet?

Contractions with "do"

Common contractions of "do" include don't (do not), doesn't (does not), and didn't (did not). Here are examples of each:

Origin of the verb do

"To perform, execute, achieve, carry out, bring to pass by procedure of any kind," etc., Middle English do, first person singular of Old English don "make, act, perform, cause; to put, to place," from West Germanic *doanan.

Practice: Do, did, does, done

FAQs

Sources

1. Etymology Online, origin of do.
2. Oxford Learner's Dictionary, do.