JI’m Jason. Here’s a quick check for you — when you’re telling a friend about someone else’s daily habit, do you say ‘he go to the gym every day’ or ‘he goes to the gym every day’?我是Jason。先問你一個問題——如果你要跟朋友聊另一個人的日常習慣，你會說『he go to the gym every day』還是『he goes to the gym every day』？
MI’m Mary. And I bet almost everyone hesitates for a second there, because in your head both versions probably sound fine. That little pause is exactly the problem we’re digging into today.我是Mary。我猜大部分人聽到這兩句都會愣一下，因為兩個聽起來好像都可以。那個猶豫的瞬間，就是我們今天要拆解的重點。
JRight, it’s such a small sound — just one little -s — but it trips up so many learners, especially when you’re talking fast and just want to get your sentence out.對啊，就差那麼一個小小的-s，可是超多學英文的人都會在這裡跌倒，尤其講話講得比較快、只想趕快把句子說完的時候。
MToday we’re breaking down the third-person singular -s, why Mandarin speakers especially struggle with it, and how to fix it for good, covering have, does, negatives, and questions along the way.今天我們要來搞懂第三人稱單數（third-person singular）的-s，為什麼台灣人特別容易講錯，還有have、does、否定句跟疑問句要怎麼修正。
JLet’s start with the real reason this happens. In Mandarin, verbs never change at all — the same verb form works whether you’re talking about yourself, your friend, or someone else entirely.先講真正的原因。中文的動詞是不會變的——不管主詞是誰，那個動詞的樣子都一樣，完全不會因為是「我」「你」還是「他」而改變。
MExactly, so there’s no built-in habit of changing a verb based on who’s doing the action. English does something different — it adds an -s when the subject is he, she, or it, one single person or thing.對，所以我們腦袋裡根本沒有『動詞要依主詞變化』這個習慣。但英文不一樣，只要主詞是he、she、it，也就是單一個第三人，動詞後面就要加-s。
JSo for regular verbs it’s simple. Go becomes goes, like becomes likes, work becomes works, play becomes plays. Just tack on that -s whenever you’re talking about a single third person.一般動詞很單純，go變goes、like變likes、work變works、play變plays，講到單一個第三人的時候，動詞後面補上-s就對了。
MFor example, ‘I go to work by train, but he goes by bike.’ Or ‘We like spicy food, but she likes it mild.’ Same verb, just that one extra letter for he, she, or it.舉例來說，『I go to work by train, but he goes by bike.』或是『We like spicy food, but she likes it mild.』動詞一樣，只是多了那個-s而已。
JNow here’s a wrinkle to watch out for — some verbs need -es instead of just a plain -s. That happens whenever the verb ends in the letter o, s, sh, ch, or x.接下來有個小地雷——有些動詞不是加-s，是要加-es。這發生在動詞結尾是o、s、sh、ch、x的時候。
MRight, so go becomes goes, not ‘gos.’ Watch becomes watches, and teach becomes teaches. Basically, if adding just -s would be hard to pronounce smoothly, English adds an extra -es to keep it flowing.對，所以go變goes，不是『gos』；watch變watches；teach變teaches。基本上如果直接加-s會很難唸，英文就會多加一個-es讓發音順一點。
JThink about it with real sentences — ‘He watches the news every morning,’ or ‘She teaches English at a local school.’ Say those out loud and you’ll hear why the -es fits so naturally there.用真的句子感受一下——『He watches the news every morning.』或『She teaches English at a local school.』唸出來你就會發現，加-es是為了唸起來順。
MNow let’s talk about the two irregular verbs that trip people up the most — have and do. These don’t just add -s, they actually change their form completely into something new.接下來講兩個最容易搞混的不規則動詞——have跟do，它們不是單純加-s，而是整個字形都會變。
JHave becomes has, not ‘haves’ — that’s a very common mistake. So you’d say, ‘My sister has two cats,’ never ‘my sister haves two cats.’ That one really sounds strange to a native speaker’s ear.have會變成has，不是『haves』喔。要說『My sister has two cats.』絕對不會說『my sister haves two cats』，這樣講母語人士聽了會覺得很怪。
MAnd do becomes does. ‘He does the dishes every night’ — not ‘he do the dishes.’ These two are easy to memorize once you notice how often they show up in daily conversation.do會變成does。『He does the dishes every night.』不是『he do the dishes』。這兩個常常出現在日常對話裡，多聽幾次自然就會記住。
JHere’s where it gets tricky, though — the negative form. You might think you just add doesn’t and keep the -s, but actually doesn’t already carries the -s, so the main verb goes back to its plain form.再來是最容易出錯的否定句。你可能會以為加了doesn’t還要保留動詞的-s，但其實doesn’t本身已經帶著那個-s了，所以後面動詞要還原成原形。
MSo it’s ‘she doesn’t like coffee,’ not ‘she doesn’t likes coffee.’ That double mistake — keeping both doesn’t and the -s — is honestly one of the most common errors we hear from learners.所以是『she doesn’t like coffee』，不是『she doesn’t likes coffee』。這種doesn’t跟-s一起出現的雙重錯誤，真的是我們最常聽到的地雷之一。
JSame idea applies to questions. You use does, plus the subject, plus the base verb, with no extra -s anywhere in the sentence. ‘Does he work on Saturdays?’ not ‘Does he works on Saturdays?’問句也是同一個邏輯。用does加主詞加動詞原形，動詞絕對不會再加-s。『Does he work on Saturdays?』不是『Does he works on Saturdays?』
MIt feels almost backwards at first, right? The -s moves onto does, and the main verb goes back to its plain, no-s form. Once that clicks, questions get so much easier to build.一開始會覺得怪怪的對吧？那個-s跑到does身上，主要動詞變回最原始、沒有-s的樣子。搞懂這個邏輯之後，問句就會變得超簡單。
JLet’s run through a few more examples to make this stick. ‘My mom drives to work, but my dad doesn’t drive — he takes the train.’ Notice drives has the -s, doesn’t drive does not.我們多練幾個例句讓大家更有感覺。『My mom drives to work, but my dad doesn’t drive — he takes the train.』注意drives有-s，doesn’t drive就沒有。
MOr think about describing a friend’s routine — ‘She washes the dishes every evening and finishes her homework before dinner.’ Washes and finishes both end in -es because of that spelling rule we mentioned earlier.或是想像在形容朋友的日常——『She washes the dishes every evening and finishes her homework before dinner.』washes跟finishes都用-es結尾，就是因為我們剛剛講的拼字規則。
JOne more pattern worth noticing — this -s rule only applies in the present tense. Past tense verbs don’t change at all based on the subject, so you never have to worry about it there.還有一個很值得注意的地方——這個-s規則只發生在現在式。過去式的動詞完全不會因為主詞而改變，這部分完全不用擔心。
MRight, ‘he worked’ and ‘they worked’ look exactly the same. It’s really just this one corner of English grammar, the present tense with he, she, or it, where that extra letter shows up.對，『he worked』跟『they worked』長得一模一樣。真的就只有現在式、主詞是he、she、it的時候，才會多出那個-s。
JA good trick is to picture a single person’s face whenever the subject is he, she, or it, and let that image remind you to add the -s. It sounds simple, but it really does help.有個小技巧——每次主詞是he、she、it的時候，腦中想像一張『單一個人的臉』，提醒自己要補上-s。聽起來很簡單，但真的滿有用的。
MAnd honestly, native speakers barely even notice this rule, because it’s completely automatic for them. For learners, it just takes repetition until your mouth catches up with what your brain already knows.老實說，母語人士根本不會特別注意這個規則，因為對他們來說是反射動作。學英文的人就是要靠不斷重複，讓嘴巴跟上腦袋的反應速度。
JSo to sum up the whole toolkit — regular verbs add -s, verbs ending in o, s, sh, ch, or x add -es, have becomes has, do becomes does, and doesn’t or does always pulls the -s off the main verb.整理一下今天的重點——一般動詞加-s；結尾是o、s、sh、ch、x的加-es；have變has；do變does；只要出現doesn’t或does，後面的動詞都要拿掉-s。
MKeep that toolkit in mind, because we’re about to hear it all play out in a real conversation between two friends, Chloe and Alex, where Chloe keeps dropping the -s without even realizing it.把這些重點記著，因為接下來我們要聽一段Chloe和Alex的真實對話，Chloe會一直不小心漏掉-s，我們來看看你抓不抓得到。
JOkay, we’ve covered a lot of ground already — the regular -s, the -es spelling rule, have and has, do and does, and the doesn’t trap. Let’s do one last thing before we wrap up today’s episode.好，我們講了不少東西——一般動詞加-s、-es拼字規則、have跟has、do跟does，還有doesn’t的陷阱。收尾前再做最後一件事。
MLet’s hear Chloe and Alex’s whole conversation one more time, and this time, listen closely for every single spot where that little -s should actually be there in their sentences.我們再聽一次Chloe和Alex完整的對話，這次仔細聽每一個應該出現-s的地方。
🔁 [DIALOGUE REPLAY] 重播情境對話
JThe second time through you can hear it everywhere — he goes, she likes, he has. One little -s, and it’s the difference between sounding fluent and sounding almost right.第二次聽你就會發現到處都是——he goes、she likes、he has。就差那一個小小的-s，卻是聽起來流利、還是聽起來『差一點點』的關鍵差別。
MNow tell us in the comments — which verb do you always forget to conjugate? Have, does, or something else entirely? We’d love to hear exactly which one keeps tripping you up.留言告訴我們——你最常忘記變化的動詞是哪一個？have、does，還是別的？我們很想知道是哪個字一直讓你卡關。
JThanks for listening — this has been MJ English.今天就到這裡——謝謝收聽MJ English。
MCatch you in the next episode!我們下一集再見！
