Bring, take and fetch

Bring means moving something or someone. The movement is either from where the listener is to where the speaker is, or from the speaker to the listener.

Bring is an irregular verb. Its past tense and -ed form are both brought.

In both of the following examples, the speakers are seeing things from A’s viewpoint – things will move to the place where A is:

A:

Are you going to the bedroom?

B:

Yes.

A:

Can you bring me my grey sweater? It’s on the bed.

B:

Yeah. (B will return with the sweater to the place where A is.)

Not: Can you take me my grey sweater?

A:

Are you coming to our place on Friday night?

B:

Yes. Do you want me to bring my guitar? (B will carry the guitar to the place where A will be.)

Bring can also mean moving with something or someone from another place to the speaker’s or listener’s location:

[on the telephone]

A:

Did Laura bring you anything for your birthday?

B:

Yes. She brought me some flowers and a CD. (Laura is C, another person, in a different place from A or B. She moved with something to where B, the listener, was.)

Take means movement with something or someone from where the speaker or listener is to a different place:

[university assistant at a central faculty office, speaking to a student]

You have to fill in this form and then take it to the English Department to get it stamped. (the assistant and the student are at the central faculty office – the English Department is a different place)

Not: … and then bring it to the English Department

A:

I can take you to the station tomorrow. What time’s your train? (Neither A nor B is at the station; it is a different place.)

B:

Thanks. It’s eight-thirty.

Fetch means to go to another place to get something or someone and return with the thing or the person. We use it for people and things that are not here but that we need or are due to be here. We can usually use get instead of fetch:

If you’re going to the garage, can you fetch that green bag with the paintbrushes in it? Or Can you get that green bag …

Right. It’s five o’clock. I’d better go and fetch my mother from the station.

• We don’t use take when something is seen from the receiver’s viewpoint:

A:

Are you and Josh coming to our party?

B:

Yeah. Sheila invited us.

A:

Good. Can you bring some CDs? We’re a bit short of music.

Not: Can you take some CDs?

• Brought is the past tense of bring. Bought is the past tense of buy:

Angela was in Morocco and she brought us back a beautiful wooden tray.

Not: and she bought us back …