Roughly, machen is 'to make' and tun is 'to do'. However, machen is used in a number of situations where we would use 'do' in English, and also in some odd little phrases ('that's fun' = 'das macht mir spass' or roughly 'that makes fun for me').
If I remember right, which I might not completely, as it has been Entirely Too Long.
Machen feels more immediate ... tun a little more future orientated
But it's hard to describe, given the German penchant for using the present tense for all tenses - Ich habe es gemacht, ich mache es jetzt, ich mache es morgen
But, if you know what I mean, "Was machen wir also?" has a sort of immediacy about it, whereas "Was tun wir also?" has a sense of the long-term about it
But I'm only really quibbling about niceties here and it's not really a significant difference
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Date: 2004-05-31 08:40 am (UTC)If I remember right, which I might not completely, as it has been Entirely Too Long.
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Date: 2004-05-31 08:52 am (UTC)Although the two are pretty much interchangable on the 'to do' aspect - Was machst du? ... Was tust du?
Machen, however, is the more commonly used one
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Date: 2004-05-31 09:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-31 09:44 am (UTC)But it's hard to describe, given the German penchant for using the present tense for all tenses - Ich habe es gemacht, ich mache es jetzt, ich mache es morgen
But, if you know what I mean, "Was machen wir also?" has a sort of immediacy about it, whereas "Was tun wir also?" has a sense of the long-term about it
But I'm only really quibbling about niceties here and it's not really a significant difference
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-31 10:16 am (UTC)*grin* Best tagline ever. :-)