Make or Do? Fix the Mistakes Arabic Speakers Make

Why make and do confuse Arabic speakers

In Arabic, one very common verb, عمل, can cover many ideas: doing homework, making a mistake, making coffee, making a call. English divides these ideas between two verbs, make and do, and each verb has words it usually goes with. These natural word partners are called collocations. When you translate word for word, you get sentences like I did a mistake. The correct sentence is I made a mistake.

In this article you will see a simple guide, a two-column list, common mistakes with corrections, and some tips for remembering the pairs.

A simple guide, not a perfect rule

This idea helps at the beginning:

• make often means to create, produce, or decide something: make a cake, make a plan.
• do often means to perform an activity, a task, or a job: do the dishes, do homework.

There are exceptions, so the best method is to learn the verb and noun together as one chunk. Do not learn homework alone. Learn do homework.

The two-column list: make and do

Both columns need to be memorised as ready-made chunks. Neither side is easier than the other.

make in natural sentences

• I made a mistake in the email.
• We need to make a decision today.
• She makes breakfast for her children every morning.
• He wants to make more money.
• Please don’t make so much noise.
• You are making good progress in English.
• I want to make an appointment with the dentist.

Notice that in most of these sentences something is produced or decided: a mistake, a decision, breakfast, noise, progress.

do in natural sentences

• I do my homework after dinner.
• He does the dishes every evening.
• Can you do me a favour?
• They do a lot of business with Turkey.
• I do exercise three times a week.
• Just do your best.
• She is doing research for her course.

Here we talk about tasks, activities, and familiar kinds of work: homework, dishes, exercise, research.

Common mistakes from word-for-word translation

Many learners write the wrong sentences in the left column because Arabic uses one verb for both ideas.

Say the correct sentence aloud two or three times. Your ear will get used to the right chunk, and the wrong one will start to sound strange.

A quick way to choose

1. Am I creating something, producing something, or deciding something? Try make.
2. Am I performing a task, an activity, or a routine job? Try do.
3. Still not sure? Check the two-column list, then copy the whole chunk into your notebook.

For example, you want to book a time with a doctor. Nothing is being physically made, but English still says make an appointment. This is a fixed collocation, so just learn it as it is.

British and American English

Most make and do pairs are the same in both varieties. One small difference is spelling: favour in British English and favor in American English, so do me a favour or do me a favor. For dishes, British speakers often say do the washing-up, while do the dishes is very common in American English and is understood in Britain too.

Do as a helper verb is a different job

In questions and negatives, do is also a helper verb: Do you make mistakes? Here do is the helper and make is the main verb. In I don’t do the shopping on Fridays, don’t contains the helper, and do is the main verb with the shopping. The question What do you do? means What is your job?

Quick review

Remember three things. First, do not translate عمل word for word; choose make or do from the word that follows. Second, learn whole chunks, such as make a mistake and do homework. Third, check the list and the mistakes table before you write an email or speak. After some days of paying attention, you will begin to choose the right verb more naturally.