Make vs do

This a a doubt that many people learning English have. When do we use DO? When do we use MAKE?

Sometimes it is not clear which one to use. Maybe your language only has one verb but in English there are two.

Let’s have a look at when we use MAKE and when we use DO.

We use ‘do’ + the/some + noun/-ing to talk about repeated activities like you do at work or home.

Look at the example sentences:

Yesterday I went to the supermarket and did the shopping.

I regularly do exercise to try and keep fit.

My mother was never happy because she had to do all the cooking and cleaning at home.

John is one of the laziest people I know. He has never done any hard work in his life.

We can also use do + something/nothing + for/to/about to talk about taking action.

Examples:

We must do something about the broken tap.

You are so lazy. You have done nothing all day.

What have you done to your arm? I hate tattoos.

We can also use ‘do’ in fixed expressions:

do well, do exercise, do housework, do homework, do a favour

We use make + object + adjective/verb when one thing causes another thing to happen.

Examples:

He’s a funny guy. He makes me laugh.

The stories about his youth make me sad.

There were too many people on the boat that made it sink.

We can also use ‘make’ in fixed expressions that mean ‘create‘:

make money, make an appointment, make time, make plans, make a cup of coffee.

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