Is there a name for the tense when using the word "do"?

Question

As in, eg, DO you want to do this. I mean a general word like how future is "I will do it", conditional is "I would do it".

Answer 1

I think it's present tense.

Answer 2

The 'do' at the beginning of 'Do you want to do this?' is not the same as the 'do' in 'I would do it' or 'I will do it'. The 'do' in the question is called a 'dummy auxiliary verb' because it only has a grammatical function (i.e. it turns a statement into a question), but does not express any meaning. It also happens to be in the present tense, although it can also be used in the past tense (did you..?).


The following information from Wikipedia may help you:

Dummy Auxiliary Verb
Because, aside from the verbs to be and to have, only auxiliaries can be inverted to form questions and only auxiliaries can take negation directly, a dummy auxiliary do is used for questions and negatives when only a full verb exists in the positive statement (i.e. there are no auxiliaries in the positive, non-interrogative form). The same dummy do is used for emphasis in the positive statement form. This is known as do-insertion.

For example, if the positive statement form is:

I know the way.
the interrogative, negative and emphatic forms are respectively:

Do you know the way?
I don't know the way.
I do know the way.
Compare this with:

I should know the way.
Should I know the way?
I shouldn't know the way.
(and the emphatic form has to be marked by intonation or punctuation).

The tenses for the verb 'to do' (the one that expresses meaning) are:
I do - present simple
I am doing - present continuous
I have done - perfect
I did - imperfect
I had done - pluperfect
I will do - future
I would do - conditional (technically a 'mood', not a 'tense')

Answer 3

In this context it's an auxiliary verb and the sentence itself is in the present simple. We use do/does for questions and negatives: do you like jam? he doesn't like jam. In the future simple, we use "will", and in the past simple, "did", which is the same auxiliary verb in a different tense. But you're not using the word "do" as a main verb, so just call it auxiliary and that's OK.

Answer 4

Present tense

Answer 5

It is simply the present tense. If it wasn't a question, you would be saying: "You do want to do this." Just because it is a question doesn't mean that the actual tense is changing.

Answer 6

that's Present Tense

Answer 7

Using the auxiliary 'do' doesn't change the tense.

So 'I went' and 'did I go?' are both past simple.
'You love me' and 'Do you love me?' and 'You don't love me' are all present simple.

Note as well that there's no conditional tense - there's a conditional mood.

Answer 8

Present Indefinite.

Answer 9

I will do - is the future tense.
I am doing - is the present tense
I have done it - is the past tense.

Answer 10

do is an auxiliary verb for present tense Present Simple(Indefinite)