Could someone translate these words into German for me please?

Question

I'm teaching myself German but I still don't know how to say "did" and "didn't" in German, so if anyone can translate them for me please.

thank you

Answer 1

It depends on the context. If you mean 'did' as an auxillary verb - use 'haben' or 'waren'. If you mean 'did' as to do something, use 'gemacht haben'.

But note that verb in German changes according to person. In English is "I did, you did, he did, she did, it did, we did, you did, they did", but in German it goes:

ich habe gemacht = I did (I made)
du hast gemacht = you did
er/sie/es hat gemacht = he/she/it did
Sie haben gemacht = you did (polite)
wir haben gemacht = we did
ihr hatt gemacht = you did (plural)
sie haben gemacht = they did

If you want to say like "did you do that?" and you say "I did/I didn't" it is:
Q: hast du ... getan (gemacht)?
A: ich habe / ich habe nicht
But as an answer to a question, where English speakers would use 'did/did't' as the answer, German speakers prefer to use 'ja' (yes) or 'nein' (no) or 'doch', which is a negation of an assumption.

Example of 'doch':
"du hast es nicht gemacht" (you didn't do it)
"doch" (I did)

It would be better if you specified in what context you want to use 'did/didn't'.

Answer 2

Well, that's a bit hard.
"to do" often translates to "tun"--actually I can't remember the past for that, but if I had to guess I'd say it's a few things depending on the person.
"To do" also sometimes translates to "machen" (although "machen" is usually "to make")--don't know the past there either.

But a lot of time "did" doesn't really mean much in English, and "didn't" even more often, they're just used to make statements into questions, which in German you just do by putting the verb first, then the subject. "Didn't" also makes positive statements into negative statements, for that in German you just stick a "nicht" after the main verb.

Answer 3

Do you mean "did", in the sense of "made" ? The simple past in English can be translated by either the present perfect or the preterite in German. You can use either "tun" or "machen". The translation would also depend on the subject. Using "machen" and with the preterite in brackets:
I did = Ich habe gemacht (Ich machte);
You (singular) did = Du hast gemacht (Du machtest);
He/she/it (or any singular noun) did = Er (etc.) hat gemacht (Er (etc.) machte);
We did = Wir haben gemacht (Wir machten);
You (plural) did = Ihr habt gemacht (Ihr machtet);
They (or any plural noun) did = Sie (etc.) haben gemacht (Sie machten).

For "didn't" you simply insert "nicht" before "gemacht" (or after the verb if using the preterite).

However, in English, "did" and "didn't" are often used as auxiliary verbs, as in "Did you finish it ?" or "Didn't they arrive yesterday ?" In that case, it would be rendered simply by using the appropriate part of the verb "haben" (or "sein", if the verb conjugates with "sein"):
Hast du es abgefertigt ?
Sind sie nicht gestern angekommen ?
(or Sind sie gestern nicht angekommen ?)

"Did" and "didn't" can also be used in English as an emphatic positive, e.g. "He didn't eat the cheese, did he ?" "He DID eat it !" In that case, you would translate the emphasis by using a word such as "wohl" or "doch":
Er hat es WOHL gegessen.
Er hat es DOCH gegessen.

(Strictly speaking, since Käse (cheese) is masculine, a purist would write "Er hat ihn wohl gegessen.")

Answer 4

did = ich habe gemacht / ich habe getan. or ich habe abge(verb in the infinitive)

if u wanna say didnt the easiest way to do it is just I didn't do the washing-up = Ich habe nicht abgewaschen. not ich habe nicht das Abwaschen getan. WRONG!!!
trust me I am from Germany...

Answer 5

As with most languages they weren't made from English (most latin) so there probably isn't a direct translation.

Like in Chinese there is no direct translation for yes or no.

Try this for help

www.google.co.uk/translate_t

Answer 6

did = Ich tat es
didn't = Ich nicht

what a clever person you are to be teaching yourself a language!! GOOD LUCK XXXXXX

Answer 7

did = hat gemacht
didn't = hat nicht gemacht

However, if your sentence is something like "I did work yesterday." you wouldn't say "Ich habe gemacht" since did+infinitiv means that the infinitv is actually past.

E.g.
"I worked yesterday" = "I did work yesterday"
- "ich habe gestern gearbeitet."

"I didn't pay"
- "Ich habe nicht gezahlt."

But
"I didn't do my homework."
- "Ich habe meine Hausaufgaben nicht gemacht."

Answer 8

did = Hat gemacht

didn't = Hat nicht gemacht

Answer 9

AQ has given a good answer, but sadly he should look again at his second person plural illustration.

Answer 10

nicht = not