Take versus bring

Question

HI!I know it will certainly sound silly, but, while I was writing to a British friend of mine to confirm a meeting, I was confused on a sentence:A) OK! I'll be there, can I bring some coffee in?B) OK! I'll be there, can I take any coffee there?I'd like your advice,many thanksMowen

Rconard · Accepted Answer

They both mean pretty much the same thing, just worded differently.

A) OK! I'll be there, can I bring some coffee in?
This indicates that you want to bring coffee to, most likely, the inside of a building.

B) OK! I'll be there, can I take any coffee there?
This indicates that you want to take some coffee, most likely, to a specific location, wherever "there" is.

If a man is standing in the middle of a field, you wouldn't say "Can I bring some coffee in?" You would say "Can I bring some coffee there?"

Typically the word "bring" means to carry in your possession. The word "take" means to remove something from someone else's possession.

CalifJim · Answer

Welcome to English Forums!

If a person is coming somewhere carrying something, he is bringing it.
If a person is going somewhere carrying something, he is taking it.

That said, even native speakers can confuse bring and take, and I have to confess that I am one of them!

Come to my party Saturday night! And bring your friends with you!
Go away! And take your friends with you!
Go to the pharmacy, and take this prescription with you. Then come back, and bring me the medications.

In English, when someone calls you (to come to dinner, say) "Peter! Come to dinner!" you answer "Coming!", not "Going!". Therefore, when you are invited to attend an event somewhere -- asked to be there, you are, in effect, saying "Coming!", so you bring things with you to the event. In general, it seems that any contribution you make to some sort of gathering is considered brought.

Sandy is having a pot-luck dinner Thursday night. What are you bringing? A salad? That's good. I'm bringing a dessert, and Louise is bringing a crab dip and crackers.

So I would say A. I'm coming there to where you are, and I want to know if I can bring some coffee.

When you leave somewhere to go somewhere else, you sometimes take things with you.

Let's go for a walk. Do you think it will rain? Should we take umbrellas?
We're going shopping now. OK. Don't forget to take your wallet.
I'm going downtown. Great! Please take these books back to the library while you're at it.

The use of bring and take shown above can lead to the following kinds of choices.

When I leave my house to go to Sandy's pot-luck dinner, I take the dessert with me. I don't want to forget to take the dessert with me when I leave. But, thinking about myself arriving at Sandy's, I say that I am bringing a dessert to Sandy. I'm bringing something to offer to Sandy.

In the first case (taking), I'm thinking about my movement away from my own house. In the second case (bringing), I'm thinking about my movement into Sandy's house. It often depends on how you're thinking about it -- it's all in your head!

come ~ arrive ~ bring
go ~ leave ~ take

Others may have different opinions.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

hello..
hope you don't mind if i ask something..
how about carry??

Nona the brit · Answer

Hi Morween - this was a very good question, not a silly one at all! It's hard to grasp the difference sometimes and as CJ said, you'll find native speakers mixing them up in some contexts too.

Anon - no, carry doesn't really have the same meaning as bring/take. Although you will often have to carry whatever it is that you are bringing/taking, it's a separate issue. Carry relates to how you are moving something. I could bring/take a car somewhere, but I could never carry one.

Take versus bring

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