Bring, take

On this page

• “Bring” vs. “take”
• Bring
  • Use with “come”
• Take
• Additional information

“Bring” vs. “take”

The verbs bring and take have similar meanings and can be easily confused. They both mean to carry something or accompany someone from one place to another.

But these two verbs are not interchangeable. One indicates movement toward, and the other movement away from, a given location.

Bring

The verb bring indicates movement toward a place.

Bring can indicate movement toward the speaker’s location:

• June brings pie with her whenever she visits me.
  [June comes to the speaker’s home.]
• I’ve brought a casserole for the potluck.
  [The casserole has travelled with me (the speaker) from my home to the potluck (my present location).]

Bring can also indicate movement toward the listener’s location:

• We’d love to come to dinner! Should I bring anything?
  [I’m coming to the listener’s home.]
• I hope Mitri brought back the book you loaned him.
  [Mitri brought the book to the listener.]

Bring can even indicate movement toward a third person’s location (as seen from the perspective of the third person):

• I asked Marie-France if we should bring anything, and she asked us to bring some wine.
  [From Marie-France’s perspective, we’re coming to her home and bringing some wine with us.]

Use with “come”

Note that the verb bring is similar to the verb come: they both indicate movement toward a location.

In combination with come, we use bring:

• We’ll bring some wine when we come to your home.
  [not We’ll take some wine when we come to your home.]

Take

The verb take indicates movement away from a place.

Take can indicate movement away from the speaker’s location:

• I told Greg to take his pet tarantula someplace else!
  [Greg needs to move his tarantula away from the speaker’s location.]
• I think I’ll take a casserole to the potluck.
  [I (the speaker) will be moving away from my present location.]

Take can also indicate movement away from the listener’s location:

• Phone conversation: Don’t forget to take your swimsuit to the pool party.
  [The listener will be going away from their present location.]
• I’d like to take you out for lunch when I’m in town.
  [In going out for lunch, the listener will be moving away from their present location.]

Take can even indicate movement away from a third person’s location (as seen from the perspective of the third person):

• Cleo forgot to take a swimsuit to the pool party.
  [From Cleo’s perspective, she went away from home without a swimsuit.]

Additional information

• Confusable words: “Bring” or “take”? [quiz]