Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sabrinawaiz]

Dear teachers,

Recently, I was visiting a friend in the hospital who fell down from a height and got severely injured.

When I asked her "How did you fell down?", one of my friend corrected me by saying "How did you fall down?"

Can anyone tell me which of the above sentences are correct? A short explanation of past tense related grammar in this context will be much appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance.

Sabrina.

[erik19283]

To make it very simple, just keep in mind that if you have did in a question or sentence, the verb following did is in the infinitive form; it's basic form. Why? Because did carries the meaning of the past.

The same thing goes for does in the simple present. When talking about the third person singular in the simple present, the verb takes an s or es but not if you have does.


Here are some examples:

Where did you go? (Not good to say: Where did you went?)
How did she find out? (Not good to say: How did she found out?)
Who did you see there? (Not good to say: Who did you saw there?)
What did you do? (Not good to say: What did you did?)
When did you learn about it? (Not good to say: When did you learned/learnt about it?)
Did you finish? (Not good to say: Did you finished?)

Does he like chocolate? (Not good to say: Does he likes chocolate?)
Does it run fast? (Not good to say: Does it runs fast?)
Does she want any? (Not good to say: Does she wants any?)

Usually, you will have did or does in questions, but you can find them in sentences as well when one wants to emphazise the verb.

For example:

Really! Believe me, I was there. I did see it with my own eyes.
(Here the person wants to emphasize the fact that he/she saw something. Because of did the verb is see not saw.)

Look! Don't you think this man looks a lot like your dad?
Oh, my God! You're right. He does look like my father.
(Here the person wants to emphasize that actually the man he is looking at truly looks a lot like his father. Because of does, the verb is look not looks)

[sabrinawaiz]

Thank you Erik for your elaboration on this particular grammar topic.
Your well explained answer cleared my doubts and I am no longer confused over this issue.