English · A1 · verb · 4 minutes
Make: present tense
Use make/makes for creating, preparing, and causing results.
Understand the choice
Make and do split English action vocabulary. Learn collocations: make breakfast, make a plan, make a mistake; do homework, do work, do the shopping.
Core rule: Make adds -s with third-person singular and often refers to creating a result; do often refers to tasks/activities.
Notice it in context
I make breakfast, and my father makes coffee.
Preparo el desayuno y mi padre hace café.
Make agrees with I; makes with singular father; two preparation results follow.
Do you make dinner every day?
Is preparing dinner your daily activity?
Auxiliary do starts the question; make stays base.
They make a plan and do the work.
They create a plan, then perform the work.
Make and do contrast result creation with task execution.
What to remember
- Make a decision and make a mistake are fixed collocations.
- Make someone happy uses object + adjective result.
Common trap: Do not translate every general do/make action with make.