Make or Do

2) “Make” versus “do”

 Portuguese has the handy word “fazer”. In English, “fazer” might be translated as either “make” or “do”. But in English, “make” and “do” are not interchangeable, so you should learn when to use which.

 The general rules are:  

·          Use the verb “do” to express daily activities or routines. Usually these are activities that produce no physical object. For example, we “do housework” and we “do the dishes”.

·         We also “do homework” (or should!), even though you could argue that a physical product is produced. Think of homework as a routine.

·          We also use “do” when speaking of activities vaguely: “What are you doing later?” “I’m not doing anything.” “Want to do something?”

Use the verb “make” when something physical is produced:

·         “Volkswagen makes cars.”

·         “Would you like me to make some coffee?”

The biggest problem when choosing whether to use “do” or “make” is that many standard expressions use “make” when according to the general rules above you might expect to use “do”. You should learn these expressions. A few of the more common ones are:

·          make plans or arrangements

·          make an exception

·          make a telephone call

·          make a decision or make up your mind

·          make a mistake

 Special note: A Brazilian “faz uma prova”. In English, should you use “do” or “make”? Neither. In the US, we “take a test”.