Practice
Bring and take: understand the difference
Sign in to saveYou are at home and ask a friend to come over with a book. You ask them to bring the book. Later, your friend leaves with the book to return it to the library. They take the book there. The object moves in both sentences, but the direction changes.
Choose bring or take by deciding whose place, or which destination, is the point of view in the sentence.
Read and practice
Read the examples and try the written questions in this guide. Listening recordings are not available for this lesson yet.
Try the written questions
bring it here / take it there /brɪŋ ɪt hɪə/ /teɪk ɪt ðeə/
The short answer
Use bring for movement toward a person or place that is the destination in the conversation. Use take for movement away from that person or place, usually to a different destination.
Please bring your passport to the desk. Then take these forms to the waiting room.
Why it works: The passport comes to the desk, where the speaker or listener is focused. The forms go from the desk to another place.
5 more examples
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Could you bring your laptop to my office this afternoon?
The laptop moves toward the office that the speaker names as the destination.
Not this:Could you
take this laptop to the repair shopthis afternoon? What changes: The laptop leaves the present place and goes to a different destination, so take fits. -
I will bring some fruit to the picnic.
The picnic is the planned destination and the shared focus of the conversation.
Not this:After the picnic, I will
take the empty containers home. What changes: The containers go away from the picnic site to the speaker's home. -
Please bring your sister with you when you visit us.
The sister will come to the speaker's place, so bring is natural.
Not this:Please
take your sister with youwhen you leave. What changes: The sister leaves the current place with the listener, so take is the usual choice. -
The nurse brought the medicine to the patient's room.
The patient's room is the destination of the medicine in this situation.
Not this:The nurse
took the used cupfrom the patient's room to the kitchen. What changes: The cup moves away from the room to another place. -
Can I bring anything to dinner at your house?
The speaker asks about carrying something to the host's home, which is the destination.
Not this:Can you
take these leftovers to your neighbor? What changes: The leftovers go from the current place to the neighbor's place.
Read the full guide
First, choose the point of view. If the object is coming here, to me, to you, or to the destination we are discussing, use bring. If it is leaving here, me, you, or that point and going elsewhere, use take. The speaker can change the point of view, so look at the whole situation rather than the object alone.
Choose the direction first
Bring and take are both movement verbs. Do not choose by asking who carries the object. Choose by asking where the object is going in relation to the speaker, listener, or destination under discussion. Bring points toward that focus. Take points away from it.
Bring the visitor to my desk, please.
The visitor moves toward the speaker's desk, so bring is the right verb.
Use bring when something comes to the focus
Use bring when the movement ends at the speaker, the listener, a shared event, or a place that the sentence treats as the destination. The destination may be here, to me, to your house, or to the meeting. It can be a future place when everyone is talking about going there.
Bring your notes to the meeting tomorrow.
The meeting is the destination that matters in the conversation. The notes will arrive there with the person who carries them.
Use take when something goes away
Use take when someone or something leaves the current focus and goes to another place. Common destinations are home, work, a shop, a station, or another person's house. The destination does not have to be far away. The important idea is movement away from the starting focus.
Take these documents to the reception desk.
The documents leave the current place and go to the reception desk, so take is appropriate.
Let the speaker's place change the verb
The same journey can use different verbs when the speaker's point of view changes. A person at home talks about school as another destination. A person at school can talk about school as the place where something will arrive. This is why context matters more than a simple rule about one location.
Parent at home: Take your art project to school. Teacher at school: Bring your art project to school tomorrow.
Both speakers mean that the project should travel to school. The parent speaks from home, while the teacher speaks from the school context.
Match bring with come and take with go
Come and bring often point toward the same place. Go and take often point away from it. This pairing can help you make a quick choice, especially in invitations and instructions.
Come to the café and bring your friend.
Go to the café and take this message to the manager.
The first sentence invites someone toward the café. The second sends someone from the current place to the café.
Check the point of view before you speak
You are waiting at the restaurant. Your friend is at home with a birthday card. Which verb fits: Please ___ the card to the restaurant.
Use bring. The card moves toward the restaurant, where the speaker is waiting.
Now imagine you are at the restaurant and give your friend a card for their aunt. You say, Take this card to your aunt. The card leaves the restaurant and goes to another person.
Before you go
Remember this
Use bring when something moves toward the person, place, or event that is the focus. Use take when it moves away from that focus to another place. Before you choose, ask: is it coming here or going there?
Practice with the written examples
You can practice with the written questions in the Learn tab. Each answer includes an explanation.
Try the written questionsListening test not available yet
This lesson does not have the recordings needed for a listening test. Use the written questions in the guide to check your understanding.
Try the written questionsQuestions about "Bring and take: understand the difference"
What is the main difference between bring and take?
Bring describes movement toward the speaker, listener, or destination being discussed. Take describes movement away from that point to another place. For example, bring a bag to my house, but take a bag home from my house.
Could you bring your laptop to my office this afternoon?
Why can two people use different verbs for the same journey?
They may be speaking from different points of view. A parent at home says, Take your project to school. A teacher at school says, Bring your project to school. The project travels to the same place, but the speakers treat different places as the starting focus.
Could you take this laptop to the repair shop this afternoon?
Do bring and take always need a destination?
No. The destination can be understood from the situation. Bring your coat means bring it to the place we are discussing. Take your coat can mean carry it away with you. Add a destination when the listener may not know where the thing is going.
I will bring some fruit to the picnic.
Should I use bring with come and take with go?
That pairing is often helpful. Use come and bring for movement toward the same place: Come over and bring your notes. Use go and take for movement away from the current place: Go to the office and take these notes. Context can still change the point of view.
After the picnic, I will take the empty containers home.
Does take have meanings that are not about carrying something?
Yes. Take appears in many fixed expressions, including take medicine, take a photo, take a break, and take an exam. These uses do not follow the simple movement contrast with bring, so learn each expression as a complete phrase.
Please bring your sister with you when you visit us.