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Questions & Answers about Er macht es.
Why is the verb spelled macht here instead of mache?
The verb ending changes based on who is doing the action. Since the subject is er (he) - which is a third-person singular pronoun - you take the verb stem mach- and add -t. If the subject were ich (I), the sentence would be Ich mache es.
The English translation says "is doing", but where is the German word for "is"?
German does not have a continuous "-ing" tense. A simple present verb like macht covers both "does" and "is doing". You never need a helper word like "is" to say someone is currently doing something in German!
Doesn't the verb machen usually mean "to make"?
Yes, but it also frequently means "to do"! German does have another verb specifically for "to do" (tun), but machen is highly versatile and is used all the time in everyday speech for both "making" and "doing" things.
How does this sentence show the basic German word order rules?
This sentence is a perfect, simple example of the "V2 rule" for main clauses. The conjugated verb (macht) must sit in the exact second position. The subject (er) takes position one, and the object (es) comes right after the verb.