do
You may think I don't do much, but I do do a lot around here.
The sentence emphasizes that the speaker performs many tasks despite appearances to the contrary.
Meanings (pronounced /duː/)
used to add emphasis, form questions, or stand in for another verb to avoid repetition
- I do believe you.
- Do you have a moment?
to perform, carry out, or accomplish an action or task
- What do you do for a living?
- She does her homework every evening.
Word origin
From Old English dōn ('to make, perform'), from Proto-Germanic *dōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ('to put, place'). The same root produces Latin facere and Greek tithenai. 'Do' is one of the most ancient and frequent verbs in English, and its dual role as auxiliary (for emphasis or questions) and main verb (to perform) is unusual cross-linguistically.
Fun fact
English's use of 'do' as an auxiliary in negatives and questions ('I don't know', 'Do you know?') is unusual among Indo-European languages. Most languages use simple word order or particles for these functions; English instead recruits a meaningless 'do' to carry the inflection — a feature linguists call 'do-support'.