The phrase "did not" is used to form the negative past tense of a verb. In English, it combines with the base form of the verb to indicate that an action did not occur in the past. For example:
- "I did not eat."
- "She did not go."
In these examples, "did" is the auxiliary verb used to create the negative, while "not" negates the action of the base verb ("eat" or "go").
It is important to note that "did not" always precedes the base form of the verb, and you should not use it with other past tense forms or participles. For instance, you should not say "I did not ate" or "She did not gone," because "ate" and "gone" are not in their base form. Instead, always use the base form of the verb after "did not."