Make is a common verb meaning to create, produce, build, or cause something to happen. It is irregular in the past and past participle: make, made, made. Use it for results you create, decisions you cause, and things you prepare.

Use make for present time with I, you, we, they, and after modal verbs like can, will, and must. It also appears after to in the infinitive: to make. The base form talks about habits, facts, and future meanings with helpers.

Use made for finished actions in the past. It does not change by subject, so every subject uses made. It often appears with clear past-time words like yesterday, last week, or in 2020.

Made is also the past participle, used with helper verbs like have, has, had, and with passive voice forms like is made or was made. The past participle connects the action to another tense or structure. It is the form you need for perfect tenses and many passive statements.

Make changes to makes only with he, she, it in the present simple. All other present forms stay make. Past simple and past participle are always made.

Subject	Form	Example
I	make	I make coffee at home.
you	make	You make good points.
he	makes	He makes lunch for us.
she	makes	She makes a plan.
it	makes	It makes a big difference.
we	make	We make mistakes sometimes.
they	make	They make videos.

Use have made, has made, and had made to connect the action to a time frame or result. Present perfect focuses on life experience, recent results, or unfinished time periods. Past perfect shows one past action happening before another past action.

Subject	Form	Example
I	have made	I have made a decision.
you	have made	You have made real progress.
he	has made	He has made a mistake.
she	has made	She has made a reservation.
it	has made	It has made the process faster.
we	have made	We have made changes.
they	have made	They have made an offer.

Use be made to focus on what is produced rather than who produces it. Present passive is is made or are made, and past passive is was made or were made. Add by plus the agent only when the doer is important.

Rule	Example
Use is made or are made for general facts and processes	This cheese is made from milk.
Use was made or were made for completed production in the past	The mistake was made yesterday.
Use by only when the creator matters	The film was made by a small team.

Make often means create something new, prepare something, or cause a result. The meaning is usually clear from the object that follows make. Many everyday uses rely on fixed patterns like make a decision or make progress.

Word/Phrase	Definition	Example
make something	create or produce something	They made a new app.
make food	prepare food or a meal	I made pasta.
make a decision	choose after thinking	We made a decision quickly.
make progress	improve over time	She made progress this month.
make someone happy	cause an emotion or reaction	That news made him happy.

Make is frequently followed by an object plus an adjective or noun to show a result. Object plus adjective describes a change in state, and object plus noun creates a role or label. These patterns are common in everyday speaking and writing.

Rule	Example
Use make plus object plus adjective to show a change	The joke made the room quiet.
Use make plus object plus noun to assign a role or label	The win made her a champion.
Use make it plus adjective for a general result	That makes it easier.

Make has a long vowel sound and a silent final e. Made rhymes with paid and has the same vowel sound as make. The third person form makes adds an s sound at the end.

Rule	Description	Notation	Example
Final e	The final e is silent and makes the vowel long	make /meɪk/	I make tea.
Past form vowel	Made keeps the same long vowel sound	made /meɪd/	She made a plan.
Third person ending	Makes ends with /s/ after /k/	makes /meɪks/	He makes a list.