Bring vs take
The short answer
Bring moves something towards where the speaker is or will be; take moves it away. The object is irrelevant: what decides is where you are standing. Bring it here, take it there. The same logic governs come and go, which is why the four are best learned as a pair of pairs.
At a glance
Bring or Take?
| Compare | BringTowards the speaker. Pairs with come. | TakeAway from the speaker. Pairs with go. |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Towards where you are | Away from where you are |
| Partner verb | come | go |
| To a party you are attending | bring a bottle | Not used |
| To a party you are not attending | Not used | take a bottle |
| Past forms | brought | took, taken |
| Fixed uses | bring up a child, bring about change | take a photo, take time, take a bus |
How to choose
Ask these, in order
- 1
Is the thing moving towards where you are now?
Bring.
Could you bring me the file?
Towards the speaker.
- 2
Is it moving away from where you are?
Take.
Take these to the post office.
Away from the speaker.
- 3
Will you be at the destination?
Bring, even though you are not there yet. The speaker’s future position counts.
I’ll bring dessert on Saturday.
You will be at the dinner.
NBIf you are not going, it becomes take: I’ll take it round tomorrow.
- 4
Would you say come or go about the same journey?
Come goes with bring; go goes with take.
Are you coming? Bring a coat. / Are you going? Take a coat.
The pairs travel together.
Side by side
Each one, in full
When to use bring
Towards the speaker. Pairs with come.
Bring moves something towards the speaker’s position: where you are now, or where you will be when the action happens. Bring it here, bring it with you when you come, don’t forget to bring your passport.
It has a large family of phrasal and idiomatic uses that no longer involve movement at all: bring up a child, bring up a topic, bring about a change, bring something to an end. These are worth learning as vocabulary.
Bring your laptop to the meeting.
The speaker will be at the meeting.
What brings you here?
Movement towards the speaker, figuratively.
She was brought up in Glasgow.
Idiomatic, raised.
When to use take
Away from the speaker. Pairs with go.
Take moves something away from the speaker, to somewhere neither of you is: take it upstairs, take the dog out, take these files to accounts.
It also carries a very large set of fixed expressions where the movement is metaphorical or absent: take a photo, take a break, take the bus, take an exam, take time, take care. Several of these are places where other languages use make or do, which is why they cause trouble.
Take an umbrella, it’s going to rain.
Away with you.
It takes about forty minutes.
Idiomatic, duration.
Can you take a photo of us?
Not make a photo, a very common error.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
I’ll take a bottle to your party.
I’ll bring a bottle to your party.
You will be at the party, so the destination counts as where you are. Take would imply you are dropping it off and leaving, which is correct English for a different situation.
Can you bring these papers to the other office?
Can you take these papers to the other office?
The papers are moving away from where the speaker is. Bring would only work if the speaker were already at the other office, which the sentence rules out.
Can you make a photo of us?
Can you take a photo of us?
Photos are taken in English. Make is the natural choice in French, German and Spanish, so this transfers directly and is one of the most frequent errors involving take.
Don’t forget to bring me at the station.
Don’t forget to take me to the station.
Two errors: the direction is away from the speaker, and take a person somewhere uses to, not at. Bring me to the station would only work if you were phoning from the station.
Questions
Asked and answered
- Do native speakers always keep them apart?
- In careful use, yes, but American English in particular allows bring in some contexts where British English expects take. The perspective rule is the one that will always be understood, and it is what exams test.
- How does this relate to come and go?
- Directly. They are the same distinction without an object. Come moves towards the speaker, go moves away; bring and take add a thing being carried. If you know which of come and go fits, the other pair follows automatically.
- Why do so many take expressions exist?
- Because take became a general-purpose light verb in English, the way faire did in French. Take a photo, take a break, take a bus, take an exam have almost nothing in common semantically, which is why they resist rules and simply have to be collected.