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What is the difference between "did you find the paper" and "did you found the paper"? Which one is correct? If both are correct, when to use did+find and when to use did+found?

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closed as general reference by RegDwighт♦ Jun 24 '12 at 13:23

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

The sentence "Did you find the paper?" is correct. The form did+verb is known as intensive past and requires the basic form of the verb.

On the other hand, there is another verb "to found" that means "to establish". So these two sentences are both correct and have different meanings:

Did you find the organisation? (Response: Yes, I know where it is now.)

Did you found the organisation? (Response: Yes, I cofounded it with Mark Zuckerberg.)

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Note: The "did" is only intensive/emphatic for positive statements such as "I did go to the store". For a question ("Did you go the store?") or a negative statement ("I did not go to the store."), the word "did" does not add emphasis. – Mitch Schwartz Dec 23 '10 at 7:29
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Also note that while a context can be invented in which "did found" is grammatical, it is almost certainly not what the OP intended to say. For the usual definition of find, "did found" is incorrect. – Marthaª Dec 23 '10 at 8:18
@Martha: Yes; the only way I can think of to make "Did you found the paper?" make sense is to take "paper" to mean "newspaper", as in newspaper company, but I figured the OP would work out those details based on an understanding of principles. – Mitch Schwartz Dec 23 '10 at 18:32
up vote 3 down vote

Did you find the paper?

is correct as the sentence is in Simple Past tense. When you're forming a question in simple past tense, you must always use the infinitive verb, which is "find" in your case.

In your example, "found" is the simple past/past participle of "find". You can also ask your question in Present Perfect tense:

Have you found the paper?

Here, "found" is the past participle of "find".

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up vote -2 down vote

'to + find' is correct and also 'to + found' is correct if both of them use the verbs find and found as verb infinitives. (because the past of find is found; and there is also other verb found (basic form) with a meaning of "to establish", it is hard to guess what the verb 'found' is meant by in the third question (If both are correct .... ). But remember that only verb infinitive (inflected form of a verb) can be used after to. Did + find and *Did + found*are used in making questions (Yes/No Questions). (and in this case, find and found are considered to be verb infinitives.)

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