Ask a question and say "no"
I can ask someone what they do, give a short answer "yes" or "no", and say what I don't do.
Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.
Grammar
4 minIn English, questions and negatives are made with the helping verb do. The main verb does not change — do does all the work.
| statement | I work in Rio de Janeiro. |
| question | Do you work in Rio de Janeiro? |
| negative | I don't work in Rio de Janeiro. |
| short answer | Yes, I do. / No, I don't. |
don't is the short form of do not; in speech people almost always use the short form.
A short answer repeats the helping verb, not the main verb. To Do you work? you answer Yes, I do, not Yes, I work. This is the most common way to say "yes" in English.
Jobs are said with a or an: I'm a teacher, I'm an engineer.
Common learner errors
written for your languageA question without do
✗ You work in Rio de Janeiro?
✓ Do you work in Rio de Janeiro?
In many languages — Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Arabic and others — a question can be made with the voice alone, so the voice seems enough in English too. In English, without do this is not a question but a statement said with surprise.
A negative without do
✗ I not work
✗ I no work
✓ I don't work
In Spanish (no trabajo), Portuguese (não trabalho), Italian, Chinese, Arabic and many other languages, the word for "not" goes straight before the verb, so learners do the same in English.
A job without an article
✗ I'm teacher
✓ I'm a teacher
Many languages have no a/an at all (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Turkish, Polish), and others have it but drop it before a job (Portuguese sou professor, French je suis professeur, German ich bin Lehrer).
Pronunciation
3 minThe sound /ɜː/ — long, in the middle of the mouth, lips not rounded: work, nurse, first, learn. In work there is no /uː/ and no /ɔː/: the or here is not said like the or in for.
Stress in job names often falls where you do not expect it: en·gi·neer, jour·na·list → journalist, teacher, doctor.
Text
3 minDo you work in Rio de Janeiro?
Yes, I do. I work in a school. I'm a teacher.
Do you like your work?
Yes, I do. I don't work on Sunday.
Do you speak English?
No, I don't. I speak Portuguese and German.
Exercises
8–10 min1. Gap fill.
- you speak English?
- I work on Sunday
- you like your work?
- No, I
Show the answers
2. Transformation.
Make a question and a negative from I work in a school.
Show the answers
3. Multiple choice.
Show the answers
4. Word order.
Tap the words in order.Show the answers
Summary
Covered
- the question with do
- the negative don't
- the short answer
- jobs with an article
Next — lesson 9: the same for the third person, and there you meet the only ending an English verb has.
End of the core
The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.
optional
Vocabulary for your deck
13 words- teacher /ˈtiːtʃə/ a person who teaches at a school
- doctor /ˈdɒktə/ a person who helps people who are ill
- nurse /nɜːs/ a person who looks after ill people in a hospital
- driver /ˈdraɪvə/ a person who drives a car, bus or lorry
- engineer /ˌendʒɪˈnɪə/ a person who designs or builds machines, roads, etc.
- manager /ˈmænɪdʒə/ a person who runs a team, a shop or a company
- shop /ʃɒp/ a place where you buy things
- school /skuːl/ a place where children learn
- hospital /ˈhɒspɪtl/ a place where ill people get help
- company /ˈkʌmpəni/ a business
- job /dʒɒb/ the work you do for money
- first /fɜːst/ number one in order
- learn /lɜːn/ to get new knowledge or a new skill
Writing
Four sentences: what your job is, where you work, what you don't do, what you would ask the other person.
Example
I'm a teacher. I work in a school. I don't work on Sunday. Do you like your job?
Checklist
Practise this lesson in the other sections
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