How to use Do, Does, and Did in Negative sentences – With link to online exercises

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Leftover from the last lesson. I promised we were also going to talk about how to make negative sentences with “do,” “does” and “did.”

Negative Sentences with Do and Does

You already know you should use “do” and “does” in the present tense (present simple).

You also know that you use “do” with I, you, we, and they.

And that you use “does” with the other pronouns: he, she, and it.

For negative sentences you also add “not.”

Here are some examples:

I don’t want too drink too much.

You don’t read enough.

Eli doesn’t wash the dishes well.

Malika doesn’t play the piano.

The canary bird doesn’t sing anymore.

We don’t have a car.

Our neighbours don’t take care of their garden.

Michael Sonnabend

Canary in a Coal Mine

“Canaries were once regularly used in coal mining as an early warning system. Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and methane in the mine would kill the bird before affecting the miners. Because canaries tend to sing much of the time, they would stop singing prior to succumbing to the gas therefore alerting miners to the danger.” (Wikipedia) Around the former coal mine “Zollverein” in Essen you can find 10 or 12 larger than life canaries that remind of this miner’s practice.

Exercise 1:

You can do this exercise online here:

Change the following affirmative sentences to negative sentences:

Example:

Mia and Gabriel ride their bikes in the park.

Answer:

Mia and Gabriel don’t ride their bikes in the park.

1 I work hard all week.

2 On Friday afternoon I work less.

3 At 4.30 the team stops working.

4 The manager asks his assistant to help with the drinks.

5 We raise our glasses, eat some nuts, and chat.

6 Then we go home for the weekend.

Negative sentences with Did

Same thing here: just put “did” and “not” in your sentence to make a negative sentence.

You use “did” when you want to make a negative sentence in the past tense (past simple).

You can use “did” for all the pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).

Check out these examples:

I didn’t see the sign.

You didn’t fly to Rio de Janeiro.

He didn’t go to work yesterday.

She didn’t feel well.

The program didn’t finish at 8 o’clock.

We didn’t have rice with our dinner.

They didn’t wear their hats.

Note: An important rule is that when you use “do,” “does,” and “did” you don’t need to change the verb. That means that in sentences with “do,” “does” and “did” you’re using the infinitive (the most basic form of the verb).