And in those four languages (French, Spanish, Haitian and Thai) they combine two English words in one.
make, do=hacer faire fè ทำ
Today we were trying to explain the difference between these two words. Generally it seems fairly simple. Do is usually used with work or activity. Make is usually used with things and intangibles, such as "make peace." But it doesn't always seem so cut and dry. Even we can mix it up a bit:
What did you do today?
I made a list of things to do.
Did you do anything on the list you made?
No, but I made an attempt at some of them.
I even made an appointment to do some of them.
And then there are other subtle nuances.
Making a bed has a much different connotation than making the bed.
(I didn't try to confuse them with that one today.)
Then if you combine the two words, you get something else altogether: I'll make do with what I have. (The Haitian language has a wonderful word with connotations similar to make do: Dégajè is such a handy word, it was hard to get used to not having it when we left Haiti.)
It was great to have a large group of teenagers in our house today for the class. Even though there were more people than we expected, we made do and had a good time. It was even hard to get them to leave when we were done.
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