English Grammar: Should you use DO or BE?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Should you say "Where do you from?" or "Where are you from?" Is the correct question "What do you do?" or "What are you do?" Are both forms correct, or is one of them completely wrong? In this lesson, I will erase your doubts about this common problem English learners have when they start forming questions. Are you ready? Do you want to improve your English grammar? Are you going to watch the lesson?
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TRANSCRIPT
Hi, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this beginner lesson on questions with "do" and "be". This is a very common problem, a very common question that students, who are learning English for the first time, ask. "When do I use 'be' and when do I use 'do'? Especially when I'm asking questions."
So, first, what I'm going to do is actually just to go through these with you, and see what your natural instinct tells you, and afterwards, I'm going to explain the rules which are behind me, and we'll explain why, you know, these answers are the answers that we gave.
For example, number one:
"Where _______ you from?"
Do we say: "Where are you from?" or "Where do you from?" - "Where are you from". That's one of the most common questions, so you probably knew that one.
"What _______ you do?"
"What are you do?", "What do you do?" - "What do you do". Not: "What are you do".
"_______ you want to go?"
"Do you want to go?", "Are you want to go?" Okay? "Do you".
"How old _______ he?"
"How old does he?", "How old is he?" - "How old is he". Okay?
"_______ she a student?"
"Does she a student?", "Is she a student?" - "Is she a student". Okay?
"_______ you happy?"
"Do you happy?" or "Are you happy?" - "Are you happy".
"Where _______ you going?"
"Where do you going?" or "Where are you going?" - "Where are you going".
And finally:
"_______ he here?"
"Is he here?" or "Does he here?" - "Is he here". "Is he here?"
Okay, so do you notice anything common about some of these questions when we use "do" and when we use "be"? The ones with "be" are a little more complicated, so let's look at the two examples we have with "do", and you can tell me what is the same; what is common to these two questions.
"What do you do?", "Do you want to go?" Number one: one is an open question; one is a yes or no question. But they still have something in common. Specifically, they both use a verb: "do" and "want". So, here, you see: "What do you do?" Base verb. "Do" is a base verb. "Do you want to go?", "want" is a base verb. So, this is the basic, basic rule when you're using questions with "do" or "did" if you're speaking in the past. If you want to ask a question that uses an action, a base action, always use "do" or "did", if you're speaking in the past. "Where did you go?", "What do you do?", "Who did you see?", "What do you want?" These types of questions where you have an action, a base verb, always use "do" or "did".
Now, "be" can be used in many more situations than "do". It's much more versatile in that way. So, let's look at the rules. Like I said, for "do", you can ask the question word, "do" or "did" plus the subject, plus the base verb. And we can say "do" is only for actions. Only use it with actions, only with base verbs.
Now, "be", you have your question, you have the verb "to be", which can be "am", "is", "are", "was", "were", "will be" even. You have your subject: "I", "you", "he", "she", "it", "we", "they", and then you have a number of different parts of speech and functions that you can use. So, you can ask a question about age with the verb "to be": How old are you? "I am", whatever your age is. You can use actions with the questions with the verb "be", but they can only be continuous actions. So: "Where are you going?" Right? "What are you doing?" So you can add verb+ing, present continuous.
You can ask questions with adjectives: "Are you happy?" You can ask questions with nouns or jobs, for example: "Is he a student?", "Are you a teacher?" I am... You don't say "I do", but you would say: "I am an engineer", for example.
And finally, you can use "be" with prepositions and adverbs. And when I say adverbs and prepositions, sometimes they relate to locations, adverbs specifically. So: "Is he here?" And again, "here" is an adverb, and it refers to a space, a location. So you don't say: "Do you here?" or "Does he here?" but: "Is he here?", "Are you here?" And same with prepositions. So, in the first question: "Where are you from?", "from" is, again, a preposition, so you would use the verb "to be" in this situation.
So let's look at these. We have "from", which is a preposition. "How old is he?" Here, we're asking about age. "Is she a student?", "student" is a noun. "Are you happy?", "happy" is an adjective. "Where are you going?" This is verb+ing, "going". And: "Is he here?", "here" is an adverb.
If you like this video, check out my channel and don’t forget to subscribe! If you want more grammar videos, I recommend checking this one out: ua-cam.com/video/YfztVj5Qwqk/v-deo.html
You can also check out FREE quizzes for all of my videos on our main website: www.engvid.com
Finally, if you’d like a free audio book to practice your listening, sign up for a free 30-day trial with Audible. Check it out here: audibletrial.com/engvidalex
Thanks for studying with me and with EngVid!
Thanks my dear Teachre...
Can you teatche us a question with " have"
Thanks you
Very nice thank you sir I am proud of you.
Thanks, this was my question
this is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!
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good
ok
Thank you sir 💖
English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) so I want you give me homework after each lesson
English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid
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Was trying to explain this to my husband, however it's been a long time since i've studied English and the only thing i came up with was "using do/does only in questions regarding some actions". I've looked for other explanations, as he was still confused, and came across your video. Your way of teaching and explaining is admirable! Thanks a lot for helping us both! Will definitely subscribe to your channel!
I’m so glad I could help you and your husband! Cheers from Canada! 😃
Cheers from Bulgaria! :) We're already big fans of yours.
You are one of a few teachers who explain this topic in a completely way! Right now a get it. Thanks so much
Terrific lesson as always Alex. ANY level of student would benefit from revising the formation of questions!
+Cleona Patterson (eFluentEnglish) Precisely. :) Thank you!
Look forward to more videos, keep up the good work!
7 years old but still gold.
I've come here to revise some "intuitive" thing in my mind about English that I had leant years ago :D
How are you doing dear mr. Alex? You are my the likest teacher in the engvid! Your explanations are so clear, suitable and fit for me. Thank you so very much for your useful work!
+Алексей Баринов Not a problem. Thank you very much for your support!
+Алексей Баринов when i am begin to learn english. i was watching video by AlexESLVid. thank for your help( Alex and teacher in Engvid). my life is brilliant when i know other people on the earth talk and share. thank a lot. at the moment, no word can describe my think.:D
+Dong Le "No words can describe my thoughts." :)It's important to feel like you are connected to the language and to the teachers.
+English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) ok. thank you.:D
Thank you so much for this lesson . Really useful , essential . Everything now is clear super thanks again!!! Even I don’t understand “base verb” but I understand “ only use Do for action “
These are the kinds of things people take for granted when they´re studying english. thanks. I really like the way you explain out your lessons. paused and methodical.
+Learn Speaking fast 1 month with Bacitikdaithanh Thank you very much. I agree that many people just take things like this for granted, which is why I wanted to focus on it.
+Learn Speaking fast 1 month with Bacitikdaithanh had confusion regarding this but thanks to you for clarifying it.
I am from Indian and it is the Teachers day here so Happy Teachers Day sir.
Thank you so much again.
+Learn Speaking fast 1 month with Bacitikdaithanh And you speak any foreign language? Please explain why you put the word "do"?
Bonus points if you recognize my t-shirt!
+English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) Please clarify whether to use the following sentence this way or the other?
I understand the difficulties of the students. or
I understand the difficulty of the students.
Any commenter here can reply please if u know. Which one is correct and why?
I think the second one sounds good. Please sir.
+Nahid Ahmed See above. :)
+Nahid Ahmed I think both are correct... one word you are using in the plural form.
Thank you sir.
English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) Thanks a lot sir.
Perfect explanation!
Congratulations, teacher and thanks for sharing your knowledge!
hello mr. Alex! I love all your Inglish classes. I'm Spanish speaking, I love to see your channel every time, thanks so much!
+Mendoza Tapia I'm happy to hear that. Thank you so much for clicking!
My compliments for actually explaining the structures, so many others just do not highlight the differences!
My understanding is if the sentence include the "notional verb" in we can use do/does/did, if no notional verb ,use be "am/is are/was/were.
Thank you sir, i have so many doubts but when i watched your video, it clears all my doubt
Thanks for your video. It's very helpful.
I still have a question. The two sentences below they are pretty much similar, but the auxiliar verbs are different:
- Who is that man? What ______ (he / want)?
- Who is that man? Why ______ (he / look) at us?
Why does that happen?
Thank you
Hi Alex, thank you for your good intention to try to teach English using UA-cam. I don't believe this type of questions is the best. You shoud not recite the wrong anwers. There are strong possiblities for the beginners that they would remember the wrong answers instead of right ones.
sometime questions could be made with Have.... confusing . Thanks anyway Alex your lessons are always clear and easy to understand
present perfect
Hi! I am an english teacher here in Brazil and this video really helped me to prepare a lesson! You're excelent! Thanks ;)
Alex you are the best teacher in the world! Perfect teacher! I wish you God blessing and long life!
+Larisa Jääskeläinen Thank you so much. I truly appreciate it.
I tink that EngVid is the most important and most useful channel in youtube. So thank you guys soooo much for your job and your help! :)
+Hovhannes Stepanyan Any time! Thanks for clicking!
+Hovhannes Stepanyan before start to learn english. i have been met lots of problem. i want to give up,when i see few video on youtube. i am glad to say that youtube channel is a good way to do it. Thanks
By coincidence, I saw this video this morning, when making my lesson plan. Then, in the evening, I decided to see how good my new mic is, by doing some tongue twisters.... and surprise, surprise, guess who made a list of 50? (though honestly, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream." is not really a tongue twister, but 50 was a big promise, so whatever.)
Good job Alex, you gave me the info that nobody seemed to plainly say
With no doubt! I think this was one of the most important video for me. Thanks a lot, Alex!
No problem, Marcio! Thanks for watching!
Sometimes I really get confused, with all these verbs and so forth. For instance, when you are including slangs or dialects etc., where someone is saying "Where is you from?" instead of "Where are you from?", because if you re-think this sentence construction, "is" represents singular where the "are" is for "plurale". The same goes with continuing in simple past with "didn't", like "Why didn't you go(ne) to school?", that is some confusion about the english formulation and building progress of a sentence. Nonetheless, "are" is also present tense, but at the same time it is very confusing for non-native english speakers.
Also, what has confused me is "You good" instead of "You are good", why would there be an "are" in the first place? I reckon there are just grammatical and both correct(?)
Another important point that "like" is less formal than "for example/instance" using instead, this is something I need to adjust in the future.
you are a really good teacher!sigh, I always forget "a" and "the"
+Patricia Wong It's a common mistake. :)
Man, tanks you a lot! It's verry clean to understand. I seek it many years..... for my self.... The Best regards for you and your family!
Thank you so much teacher I was so confused how to use them. But now, I could understand because of your clear explanation.
Thanks to you Alex and EngVid , I found this lesson too easy for me.
+Amrani Class Easy is sometimes good. :) This video is meant for beginner students.
thank you very very much
I struggled to find a rule for this question. You explained it really nicely. Thank you
Awesome! Exactly what I was looking for.
I'm glad you found it! Thanks for checking out the video, Artur.
age
noun
adjectives
job
place
preposition
verb with (ing)
Dear Alex, could you please clarify my doubt through your next lessons.(1,The two candidates were to be outgoing,2,legislation would need to be put.3,money to be carried out.)I have mentioned three sentences here.My doubt is which tenses are these. The sentence TO+be + ing, after the auxiliary verb.the second after the verb TO+BE,and final one is, to+ be +PP.how can differentiate the changes of meaning.and how to use to+be Thank you very much
+Libin Joseph 2 and 3 are passive sentences, while 1 is a formal structure. For example: The ideal candidate is to be confident, competent, and experienced.
Thank you very much, Alex! I was thinking about it for all day)))
+Azizjan Ayupov That's great to hear! Keep on studying!
Perfect. I watched many videos in Spanish but I didn’t understand in my language. And I understood it with your explanation in English. Thank you so much.
That's such a nice compliment! Thank you, Gabriela. I'm glad it's clear. :)
I am so happy, I am learning what I did not understand in class, you have taught me, thank you brother
Thanks for the lesson teacher..
But I have a question..
What should I use if I want to say where I was born
Were you born in the US?
or
Did you born in the US?
Which one is correct and why?
I am an arabic person and I understood the lesson clearly thank you mr. Alex
Thanks for this video. I suggest that you add the level of each video in the title. This is for beginners, so, you can add this to the title. Thanks!
+Mohamed Farouk This is true. I usually try to mention if a lesson is meant for beginners at the start of the video. But I still hear these mistakes at the intermediate and advanced levels, so I thought it was useful for everyone.
+English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) Good point!
+English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid)
You did mention 'beginners' Alex.
Hello! Thank's a lot for lessons!
I didn't understand why in the sentence: Are you eat the skin of a fig? // real example, we use Are not Do, cause it is an action, it's should be Do. Maybe it's a mistake in the book.
Thanks for explaining
surely this lesson erase my long time doubt sir,before that i am very confusing for whichone is used do/be verbs,but now my problem sloved,thank u so much sir
Thanks a lot Alex! Very usefull lesson for me. Really I thought I never figure out when use do or be. I always used my intuition but turn out unbelivable you show us a rule in Englisg!! Wow!
+Xloy GR This video made my day!
+Xloy GR I'm really happy to hear that! :) That's the whole reason I make these videos.
Thanks for your lessons, man! Very simple and understandable! From Russia with love!
I was confused between do and be and suddenly i found your video which made my day.Thanks to u teacher to solve my problem.
Thank you Mr.Alex
+Gadeed Mofeed Any time.
hey ! Alex I need a lesson about direct /indirect speech please !!!! ( reported speech )
+Mustapha Bakhti I think we already have a lesson on this on engVid, but I'll keep it in mind for a future lesson.
okay !!
Me also want direct and indirect speech
thank u Alex! ..You are a good teacher!
De una maneta más simple podríamos decir que el verbo To Be es el infinitivo ser o estar, por lo que en el caso de "WANT", no diríamos "Estas tu quieres ir" ni diríamos "Eres tu quieres ir", sino que usuraríamos, "DO", el Do puede interpretarse en muchos casos como auxiliar sin ningún significado en especifico, lo que permitiría que este se convierta en "Tu quieres ir"
Wonderful lesson! I really appreciate your channel. You've been helping me a lot, because it's always good to get more knowledge. Thanks for this great lesson and keep up the awesome work.
+Adriano Adkins Not a problem. As always, thanks for watching! I'm glad you're learning from these videos. :)
k ha
Laila Noor Mohammad Noor Mohammad public
This is a very important lesson for the beginer
Parabéns, Alex!
Você fala bem devagar, bem pausado.
Entendi quase tudo!!!
Great explanation! I'm brazilian and I'm learning English. Your videos are awesome!! Thank you.
You are the best in the world, thanks for helping me, I never have had a good explanation like this. Thank
I’m happy to hear this has helped you. Keep learning!
What do you think is the moral lesson of the story? ( do - think - is ) can you please explain the structure of the sentence?
Excellent class! Thank you!
Amazing! Thank you!
thank you, I've been searching an explanation for months. It's earier than I thought
Awesome! It's not as bad as some people think. :)
this is really nice finally I found best way learn and improve my English Alex.
That's awesome to read! Welcome to my channel, nima.
Could you please explain what is the difference between It Is Over , It Is Run Out and it is finished and how each one is used. I would appreciate your help. Thank you
very clear explanation. THANK SO MUCH
sir very informative classes thank you, best teacher one of them i have in my career,
sir how i make out line from the question and solutions suggestions etc please guide us
thank you it was a wonderful lesson....really grateful..
Thank you the nice explanation! Somehow I did not know the rule, however I continued to use the wrong "do" for everything. It makes sence! Thank you!
No problem! I'm glad I could help.
Thank you very much for the explanation, I was really confused about using BE or Do in a question.
It's a better explain i have encountered, that's easy and your pacienty is great, i will learning with your channel, Thanks!
Welcome to my channel! :) I'm glad you thought this video was useful. Good luck with your studies.
I love this lesson. Thanks teacher!
Short and useful, thanks a million 🌹
Excellent! This is perfect for my class - and an excellent listening exercise too.
He do be spittin straight facts
you are a awesome teacher... I understood... thank you so much...
love your channel!keep going!you are really good teacher!
Hi Alex, thank you for amazing explanation.
Hi, my name is Christian. I’m also an English Teacher on UA-cam, I think you are very clear.
I love you, you saved my life! Or at least, my class from confusion.
Hii
Thank you! It was very helpful! I'm not a native speaker but I teach young students and I couldn't find the reason for this rule so thank you for the clear explanation:)
Simple and very, very useful. I asked myself, is there any specific and practical way to explain a hard topic like this to a student?. I have found the answer thanks to you teacher Alex.
+Rodrigo Holguín Palacios That's great! It took me at least 2 years of teaching before I was able to figure out how to explain this clearly to students.
Sure teacher, as I was listening the lesson, I was getting understanding that it's a hard and methodical work. I have put it on my play list and I have saved on my computer, too
English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) thank you so much teacher
as a french speaker it helped me a lot
How do you do?
How are you celebrating?
How do you celebrate?
What is the difference between them both have the same meaning?
Thank you for your lesson. This video helps me to learn English.
+edison drh I'm happy to hear that! Thanks for clicking.
Please clarify whether to use the following sentence this way or the other?
I understand the difficulties of the students. or
I understand the difficulty of the students.
Any commenter here can reply please if u know. Which one is correct and why?
I think the second one sounds good.
how should it be?
+Nahid Ahmed Both sentences are correct but could have different meanings.
"I understand the difficulties of the students" - I understand their various problems.
"I understand the difficulty of the students" - I understand one problem the students have, e.g., adjusting to a new school. This could also mean that you are speaking to someone else about the students, and THE STUDENTS are a problem.
Thank you so much sir. I really appreciate it.
U meant to say I can use sentences like this keeping the meanings in mind. Right sir?
I actually had confusion regarding this but thanks to you for clarifying it.
I am from Indian and it is the Teachers day here so Happy Teachers Day sir.
Thank you so much again.
+Nahid Ahmed You're welcome, and thank you for the wishes!Yes, always keep the context and possible meanings in mind. :)
Dear Alex, i would be very appreciated if you could advise me, is "How do you do" the same meaning to "how are you" or "please to meet you"
"How do you do?" is a more formal way to say "How are you?"
So, in this conversation they mean to how are you, or not?
Hello Jam, this is Mark,
Jam : Hi mark, how do you do?
Mark: How do you do?
and can it mean, please to meet you in this conversation?
Sir..can u please make the video about..when we or how to :
1) WRITE the sentence in Past Tense and Present Tense
Example : when writing the FACT.
2) ASK in Present Tense and Past Tense
Example : DID someone see my my purse? (why the sentence must use DID,why not Does?)
3) Special Case
Example : I wish I WERE milionaire. (why we use were)
4) Past Perfect Tense
Example : I'm TAKEN..
5) Been, Be, Being,Had Been, Have/Has Been
Example : I been there.(why use Been?)
6) When we ask someone
Example : Who CARES ? (why after who must put plural verb)...
7) Why we use VERB+ING for this case
Example : By USING this word (why we use VERB + ING)
8) USE Does not and Is not
Example : The movie is not showing anymore. OR The movie does not show anymore? (which one correct )
I am happy watching ur video sir..Please help me in this grammar problem..
Hi Alex, could you make a video about "Adverb Collocations"?
+Omar Bautista Could you give me some examples of what you mean? Do you simply mean phrases like "run quickly", or something like "before long"?
+English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) For example: "highly probable", " seriously injured", or "downright wrong".
+Omar Bautista Not a bad idea. :) I'll put this on my list of potential lessons.
Great!. At last I understand this matter, simple and useful. Thanks.
Examples and explainations are very clear . thankyou alex
Thank's a lot!!
You're so good to explain...❤❤
Hi, Alex! Thank you for good theme:)
+Anna Verbitskaya No problem. :) Thanks for clicking.
your pronunciation is great,thank you for the lesson
+Anna Mancero You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
Teacher thank you so much, your explanation was awesome, you are the best 👌❤Never before in my life, had I been so clear about the Do and Be as now. Thank you again you are awesome.
Thank you Teacher.Big hug.
basic but it's very important .
peace and love from Egypt
I admire your lesson and I hope it would help many people.
+jebreel jojo Thank you so much. I hope so too!
when and how to use BE after TO and BEING
From Brazil From Marcio
People have these kind of problems cause they don't study enough Grammar Rules. They simply over look.
I was ten years old when I started to study English Grammar. Nowadays, I haven't got this type of problem.
When we learn English in Brazil... we first learn the To Be verb and Auxiliar Verbs as well...over and over again.
One easier way to learn these questions is to listen to them. By doing this, learners will improve a lot.
+AstronoyBrasil I think many schools teach that way, and it's very helpful, but I think the focus is usually on memorizing the conjugation of the verb "to be" and not necessarily the various uses the verb has. I tried to add a little of that into this video to make it a little more engaging.
Good Evening, Teacher. It's two oclock in the morning in Brazil. I agree with you, but, Still the best way of learning is to listen to people talking each other.
+AstronoyBrasil It certainly doesn't hurt. :) Self practice is also essential.
In Russia we have the same problem. When I was young my teacher tried to explain all the tences. Past simple past perfect, future continious etc. That kind of teaching is so compicated. Then I tried to find out common rules of English grammar. Guess what? English is the easiest and full of logic language in the World. I love It.
I like teacher👩🏫
Thanks Alex, your explanation very clear
Very helpful, Alex I would like to request you to explain Have been, has been and had been....
Have/has been are present simple, and had been is past perfect.
I have been
You have been
It has been
He has been
She has been
We have been
They have been
I/You/It/He/She/We/They had been
If you search for the "present perfect" and "past perfect," you'll find your answer. :)
thanks
That's EXACTLY what confuses me when using Do & Be.
Thank you VERY much sir ..
My pleasure! I know this is a question that many students have.