Get to you and give to you

Question

HiI thought that the words:  'Get' and 'Give' have opposite meanings.So what is the difference between "I'll give to you" and "I'll get to you".Does that really mean the same thing?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

arferHiI thought that the words: 'Get' and 'Give' have opposite meanings.So what is the difference between "I'll give to you" and "I'll get to you".Does that really mean the same thing?

It doesn't work that way. give to and get from is what you want. Don't forget to say what you're giving or getting -- a book, money, ...

I'll give the book to you.
You will get the book from me.
If Jerry gives the keys to Lucy, Lucy gets the keys from Jerry.
If I give the money to you, you get the money from me.

CJ

Avangi · Answer

"I'll get to" you is (I suppose) an idiom, meaning "I'll get around to helping you as soon as possible."

Arfer · Answer

You will laugh...

Maybe its funny but I'm trying to connect learning english with something enjoyable and translating songs that I'm listening. As Grammar Geek said so in my last topic (I forgot to log in) "songs would not model proper grammar" but here we have different situation.

In the song Bromance (Tim Berg) they are using 'get to you' and 'give to you' interchangeably.

I’ll get to you the love you seek and more
Your what I’m waiting for you
I will give to you The love you seek and more/

Why are they doing it if this is not correct?

CalifJim · Answer

arferI’ll get to you the love you seek

This is a different usage of "get". Be aware that dictionaries usually list more than 50 definitions of "get"!

I'll get to you the love you seek
=
I will arrange to have [delivered / sent / given] to you the love you seek.

In this sense, give is "direct" and "immediate", and get is "indirect", "remote", "eventual". get, to my ear, implies more time and effort.

Compare:

I can't give the documents to you now because I haven't finished my work with them, but I'll get them to you by next Tuesday. (The speaker may personally deliver the documents later, or he may have someone else deliver them.)

CJ

Arfer · Answer

You gave example of using 'get to you' in the sense of 'give' but in your first post you said that it isnt correct. So I understand that using 'get to you' instead of 'give' is not common in regular english?

CalifJim · Answer

You have to understand that you gave me very little context by which to make a judgment.

You basically asked:

Do "I'll give to you" and "I'll get to you" mean the same?

It is a typical mistake for students to confuse prepositions, so I thought I should tell you about "give to" and "get from".

Now it turns out that that wasn't your question. You wanted to know the difference between giving a thing to someone and getting a thing to someone, as in that clip of the song. That's what I explained later.

arferSo I understand that using 'get to you' instead of 'give' is not common in regular English?

That's correct. They have slightly different meanings, as I explained in a previous post. Typically, if you "get a thing to somebody" it's not direct or immediate.

CJ

Arfer · Answer

Thanks for all. I understood.

Regards

Get to you and give to you

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