Helps me vs Help me?

[Andyg0515]

Wondering what is the right sentence? Is it...

"How does Agile helps me?" or "How does Agile help me?" is the correct sentence.

 

[tedmc]

I am not sure it is helpful to explain to bare beginners using terms like 'bare infinitive' and 'auxiliary'.
I don't think I learned those terms when I started.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Andy:

I have noticed that many students are very confused regarding the correct form of the verb in questions.

Please remember that after any form of "do," you must use the so-called "base form" of the verb. The base form is the form of the verb that you look for in a dictionary.

For example, when you open a dictionary, you look for the word "eat" -- NOT "eats" or "ate" or "eating."

Another word for the base form is -- as a teacher reminded us -- the "bare infinitive" (the infinitive with NO "to").

I have made up a few examples for you to study:

Does Agile live in an apartment?
Did Agile drink coffee yesterday?
Does Agile like broccoli?
Did Agile go to school yesterday?
Agile does not have a computer.
Agile did not drive yesterday.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I would simply post a link like the one below, but I am not a teacher.
http://www.grammaring.com/do-does-did-bare-infinitive

 

[Polyester]

How does she help me?
How is she helping me?
What's the difference between two sentences?

 

[tedmc]

How does she help me?
How is she helping me?
What's the difference between two sentences?

The lst is in the simple present tense (regular action) while the second is in the present continuous tense (action happening now).

 

[Polyester]

Sorry, I made you confused, tedmc.
I meant the meaning.

 

[Polyester]

You are confused too.
I don't understand what the word "is" and "do" meaning here.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I advise you to read the following explanations, which are in your native language, but I am not a teacher.
http://www.hosenglish.com/newbook/HC_3-7.pdf

 

[TheParser]

I don't understand what the word ... "do" mean here.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

You have already received excellent answers from Tedmac and Michael Wai.

I am probably wrong, but are you asking what the word "do" means in your question?

If you do, then I believe that the answer is: nothing.

Many years ago, the English people made a question by JUST reversing the subject and the verb.

Here is an example that I found: "Why hidest [verb] thou [subject. 'Thou' is older English for singular 'you'] the keyes?" [older spelling of "keys"]

Starting hundreds of years ago, the English people then gradually decided NOT to reverse the subject and verb. Instead, they gradually started to put the word "do" in front of the subject.

So today, we say "Why do you hide the keys?"

As you can see, "do" means nothing. If you asked a native speaker, "Why you hide the keys?," that native speaker would understand that you are a learner and that you forgot to use "do" after "why."

Although "do" means nothing, it does tell us the tense: Why do / did you hide the keys?"

*****

P.S. Of course, "do" does mean something in "I always do my homework." In questions, however, "do" is only an auxiliary / helping verb.

"Did you do your homework last night?" (The first "do" is to indicate that a question is coming; the second "do" is a verb that means "to work on your homework.")


Credit for that older form of question goes to Maggie Tallerman in her 2014 book Understanding Syntax. (Accessed through the "books" section of Google.)

 

[MikeNewYork]

English stopped inverting the subject and main verb in questions, but it continues to invert the subject and auxiliary verb in questions.