Bring and take

Bring and take

<---------- bring

----------> take


Knowing when to say bring and when to say take can be tricky.
The dictionary definitions are:

bring — come with somebody or something
take — carry or move something from one place to another

Here, bring is used for a movement towards the person who is speaking:

• "Can you bring me another glass of water, please?"

When the speaker and the listener are in two different places, bring is used for movements both towards the speaker and towards the listener (when the listener is in the location to which the item is being brought).


The speaker is sitting on the balcony and is speaking to a person in the kitchen:

• "Could you bring the sugar, please?"
— "Shall I bring you some biscuits, too?"


Also, the speaker can use bring for movement towards a place where he or she was or will be:

• "Henry brought this amazing cake with him to work yesterday."
• "I'll bring that DVD I promised you to the restaurant tonight."


Take is used for movements in other directions; away from the current location of the speaker:

• "You forgot to take your umbrella. I'll bring it tomorrow."
• "Can you take the rubbish out with you?"