Does anyone have a really simple way of explaining to someone about how to know when to say 'do' or 'did'?

[OhioOhioOhio]

A really simple way. Please.

??

Did is historic as in past tense. Do is current ( or instructional, as in " this is what I do"..)

Present and past tense.

DO is present perfect tense. Something happening now or generally happens. I do walk my dog.
DID is past tense. Something that already happened. I did walk my dog.

Thank you everyone. My question hasn't loaded properly.

I want to explain how to easily know when it's appropriate to say did or done.

As in 'I did it.' Or, 'I done it'.

Do is NOT present perfect tense, that would be 'have done'.
Do is present tense

I don't understand your question - Do is present, Did is past. What are you looking for? Where's your confusion?

You never say I done it.
I have done it

I have done/I did. Never I done. He has done/He did.

You never say "I done it." It's never correct.

You might say "I have done it."

"I done it" is never correct.

I have done it. I did do it. Did you? Yes I did.

Cross post sorry!

Done is "have done" while did can be "did". The meaning is similar but done needs a have. Did implies past, have done implies past but continuing to present. I think!

Do you mean when we use them in questions, negatives and short answers as an auxiliary (helping) verb or when we use them to give emphasis or contradict ('oh, I do love you', 'I did tell you I was going to be late'?

Has it been done?
Yes I did it.
Or
yes, I have done it.

Okay. So my xh says 'done' instead of 'did' regularly in conversation. My young kids have picked up on this and are copying his bad example. It makes me shudder. I'm correcting my kids but they want to know how to know when to use 'did' and when to use 'done'. I'm struggling to explain in a way that an 8 year old can understand.

I did
We did... subject the person(s) who carried out the action

It was done... subject the action - what happened.

OK, 'done' needs something else to go with it. I have done, she has done, we have done etc. It was done, those things were done. It's never on its own.

It is used that way in dialect, though. 'I done it' is dialect in quite a few places over the UK.

It's probably important that your kids should understand the difference between dialect and standard English, eg that in school they'll need to write standard English, and there are lots of circumstances where they'll need to speak it. It's perfectly possible to use both depending on the circumstances but they need to know in which situations they should probably avoid dialect.

Ah, past simple vs present perfect. Takes me back to CELTA.

Key point is that present perfect refers to an action that is still relevant now, or is part of your general life experience. Past simple is just something that happened in the past and usually has a reference to a specific time.

So:

I did the shopping last week. (past simple - statement of fact, no implication about present availability of food / loo roll / etc in the house. Possible implication that it's your turn, depending on context).

I've done the shopping. (present perfect - still relevant to the present, implies I went to the shop recently enough to mean that nobody else needs to for a few days)

Alternative example:

When I was at school, I did homework every night. (past simple - refers to distant past, not all that relevant to now).

I've done my homework, so can I go out now Dad? (present perfect - completed action (implicitly recent) with relevance to the presence as I need a new excuse to keep the little brat indoors).

I've done enough homework, ask your Mum. (present perfect - life experience at an unspecified earlier time, trotted out when another pile of French grammar is put hopefully in front of me when the football's on I'm busy).

Oops cross post. As others have said, we only use the past participle 'done' in conjunction with 'have' 'Have you done it? He hasn't done it? I've done it' (present perfect) 'Had they done all their work when you got there? I'd done everything he asked but he still wasn' t happy. ' (past perfect)

Simple way to explain:
NEVER say 'I done it'. It's wrong.

Stolen from another site but the easiest explanation that makes sense to me :

"Have done" is used when you say you've done something before at a unspecified time, as in "I have done that before", "I have been there before"

"did" is used when talking about a specific point in the past "I did that yesterday" "I did that when I went to X".

It annoys me massively when people mix up done and did but actually it seems quite complicated to explain, I've just taken it for granted because I must have learnt the difference early in life! So lessons for me : 1. Cut ppl some slack when they get it wrong, and 2. Correct your kids so they grow up with knowing it :)

People don't necessarily get it "wrong" - it is a non-standard variation in some parts of the UK. (Think Frankie Boyle or Danny Dyer for example.)