tun vs machen

Can someone explain to me the difference with "tun" and "machen". One of my instruction CD's always uses "tun" (zum Beispiel: "ich will heute es nicht tun" oder "es ist heute nicht möglich es zu tun".

Another program for learning German, the Pimsleur series, always uses "machen" - "was haben Sie gemacht?"

I asked an online german friend, and he could not explain it to me - he only said that "machen" makes more sense in the example I gave him. For the example, I asked him which is better for the translation of "I could not do it without you yesterday".

1) "ich konnte es nicht gestern ohne Sie tun."
oder
2) "ich konnte es gestern ohne Sie nicht tun."

He replied, "ich konnte es gestern ohne dich nicht machen"

Vielen Dank!
Brian

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Posted by choppy Jan 29, 2010
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Liebe Choppy,

wir können es so sagen;
Tun ist auf English "Do"
Machen ist auf English "Make"

Slcan7091

Feb 24, 2010

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Lieber Choppy musste ich schreiben. Entschuldigen Sie bitte

Slcan7091

Feb 24, 2010

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ok. und, "was machen Sie hier?" ist "what are you doing here?", nicht "What are you making here", nicht wahr?

Some online friends have told me that "tun" is childish or uneducated - and that their parents always corrected them if they used it. They told them to use "machen". Yet, "ich habe im Büro zu tun" is acceptable.

choppy

Feb 25, 2010

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You are right. But as you know, you cannot match or translate complately Languages to eachother.

I think that is the best way to learn it, as it is. Lots of German are using like reflex. They dont think about it. They have lernt as it is :)

I have readen the same topic in an other topic and want to send link. Maybe you can understand better.
http://deutschlich.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/tun-oder-machen-das-ist-hier-die-frage/

Slcan7091