Which tense is used with did

This is because it can be used in a variety of ways and tenses. One thing to note here is that "did" is used for positive sentences in the past tense and that the main verb is in its base form. Do you want to be contacted to receive more information? Fill out the form, a member of our staff will contact you by phone. I do my laundry on Saturdays.

They do their homework when they arrive home from school. He does nothing all day. She does her best every day at work. The past participle of "do" is "done". Resources for learning English.

Test your English. Simple past tense Definition of the simple past tense The simple past tense, sometimes called the preterite, is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Examples John Cabot sailed to America in My father died last year. He lived in Fiji in We crossed the Channel yesterday. Be Careful: The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but the meaning may be different.

You walked You didn't walk Did you walk? He walked He didn't walk Did he walk? We walked We didn't walk Did we walk? You will see that we add DO at the beginning of the affirmative sentence to change it into a question.

We use Do when the subject is I , you , we or they. When the subject is he , she or it , we add DOES at the beginning to make the affirmative sentence a question. Notice that the letter S at the end of the verb in the affirmative sentence because it is in third person disappears in the question. To make a question in the Past Tense in English we normally put the auxiliary DID at the beginning of the question or before the main subject.

Both Do and Does in present tense questions become Did in past tense questions. Compare the following:. Present: Do they live in Spain? Past: Did they live in Spain? The main verb live in the example above is in its base form of the infinitive. The auxiliary DID shows that the question is in the past tense. NOTICE: The only difference between a question in the present tense and a question in the past tense is the change in the auxiliary verb.