do in English – auxiliary and main verb

Is do an auxiliary or a main verb?

The verb do can be an auxiliary verb or a main verb in English.

Pronouns	Affirmative sentences	Negative sentences	Questions
I	I do the cleaning.	I do not do the cleaning.*	Do I do the cleaning?*
you	You do the cleaning.	You do not do the cleaning.*	Do you do the cleaning?*
he, she, it	He does the cleaning.	He does not do the cleaning.*	Does he do the cleaning?*
we, you, they	They do the cleaning.	They do not do the cleaning.*	Do they do the cleaning?*

Pronouns	Affirmative sentences	Negative sentences	Questions
I, he, she, it, we, you, they	She did the cleaning.	She did not do the cleaning.**	Did she do the cleaning?**

Pronouns	Affirmative sentences	Negative sentences	Questions
I, you, we, you, they	We have done the work.	We have not done the work.	Have we done the work?
he, she, it	He has done the work.	He has not done the work.	Has he done the work?

affirmative	negative
I am doing the cleaning.	I am not doing the cleaning.
Doing the cleaning is my job.	Not doing the cleaning get me in trouble.
I saw Susan doing the cleaning.	I didn’t see Susan doing the cleaning.

I don’t do the cleaning in the mornings.*

I didn’t do the cleaning yesterday morning.**

Do you like football? – Does he like football?

When do you play football? When does he play football?

Did you phone Susan last night?

When did you last see her?

Don’t drop rubbish here.

* Here we use do in the negative sentence as an auxiliary verb and do as a main verb.

** Here we use did in the negative sentence as an auxiliary verb and do as a main verb.