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make

meɪk

Coffee, mistakes, and sleepiness all get made

The picture Something that did not exist takes shape under your hands. Coffee in a cup, or a mood in someone's head — same move. MAKE leaves something new behind; DO leaves nothing behind but a finished task.

Core verbs

Where the picture shows up in make

  1. shape it by hand

    Let me make you some coffee.

    let miː meɪk juː səm ˈkɔːfi

    I'll fix you a coffee.

    An empty cup filling with coffee until a whole cup exists that did not a minute ago.

  2. a second one appears

    Can you make a copy of this?

    kən juː meɪk ə ˈkɑːpi əv ðɪs

    Could you copy this for me?

    A fresh sheet sliding out of the copier that was not in the world a second ago.

  3. a mistake comes into being

    She made a mistake on the form.

    ʃiː meɪd ə mɪˈsteɪk ɑːn ðə fɔːrm

    She got something wrong on the form.

    A clean form suddenly carrying a mark that was not on it before.

  4. put someone in a state

    This music makes me sleepy.

    ðɪs ˈmjuːzɪk meɪks miː ˈsliːpi

    This music sends me to sleep.

    Music pouring in and pressing your eyelids down until they are heavy.

    make + person + adjective is you causing them to end up that way.

  5. settle it as that

    Let's make it three o'clock.

    lets meɪk ɪt θriː əˈklɑːk

    Let's say three o'clock.

    An empty slot in the day hardening into a fixed three o'clock.

All of it in one picture

make is the moment something exists that did not. Coffee appears in the cup, so you made it; a second sheet appears, so you made a copy; a mark appears on a clean form, so you made a mistake. Sleepiness appears in someone else, so the music made them sleepy, and three o'clock appears in an empty slot, so you made it three. Wherever make has passed, one new thing is left standing there.

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