Negatives with Do, Does, and Did
In the Simple Present and Simple Past tenses, positive sentences with action verbs (verbal sentences) do not have an auxiliary verb. For example: She likes apples or They visited Paris.
To make these sentences negative, we must introduce the helping verb do, does, or did, followed by not and the base form of the verb (Verb 1).
1. Simple Present Negatives: Do Not / Does Not
In the Simple Present tense, we choose between do not (don’t) and does not (doesn’t) depending on the subject.
Formula: Subject + do/does + not + Verb 1 (Base Form) + ...
- Use do not or don’t with I, you, we, they, and plural nouns.
- Use does not or doesn’t with he, she, it, and singular nouns.
Examples:
- Positive: They speak Spanish.
Negative: They do not speak Spanish.
Contracted: They don’t speak Spanish. - Positive: She likes coffee.
Negative: She does not like coffee.
Contracted: She doesn’t like coffee.
WARNING The Base Verb Rule: When using does not, the main verb loses its -s/-es ending and reverts to the base form.
- Correct: She doesn’t like coffee.
- Incorrect: She doesn’t likes coffee.
2. Simple Past Negatives: Did Not
In the Simple Past tense, we use did not (didn’t) for all subjects, regardless of whether they are singular or plural.
Formula: Subject + did + not + Verb 1 (Base Form) + ...
- Use did not or didn’t for I, you, he, she, it, we, they.
Examples:
- Positive: We watched a movie.
Negative: We did not watch a movie.
Contracted: We didn’t watch a movie. - Positive: He went to school.
Negative: He did not go to school.
Contracted: He didn’t go to school.
WARNING Revert to Verb 1: When you use did not, the main verb must change back from Verb 2 to Verb 1.
- Correct: He didn’t go to school.
- Incorrect: He didn’t went to school.
3. Summary Table: Simple Present vs. Past Negatives
| Tense | Subject | Positive | Negative (Full) | Negative (Contracted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Present | I, you, we, they | I play | I do not play | I don’t play |
| Simple Present | he, she, it | He plays | He does not play | He doesn’t play |
| Simple Past | All subjects | They played | They did not play | They didn’t play |
Next, we will explore Negatives in Compound Tenses to learn how to negate sentences containing auxiliary chains (like is running, has been working, will have finished).