Take

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

• Can you take this to the post office for me, Neil? (Neither the speaker nor the listener is at the post office.)

See also

• Bring, take and fetch

Take: other meanings

Take can mean ‘remove without permission’:

• Four valuable paintings were taken in the burglary and some of my mother’s gold jewellery. (The paintings were stolen.)

Take can mean ‘accept’:

• Does the restaurant take credit cards?

We can use take to mean ‘have’ when we talk about things we add to our food:

• I take two sugars in my coffee but none in my tea.

warning

We don’t use take when we talk about having a meal or a drink:

• After the cinema we usually go for a pizza.
• Not: After the cinema we usually take a pizza.
• Why don’t we have a coffee together tomorrow?
• Not: Why don’t we take a coffee together tomorrow?

We use take to talk about time and duration:

• It takes less than two hours to get to Rome from here.
• It took us a week to paint the house.

Phrases with take

We use take in a lot of phrases, especially with nouns. In these cases, the meaning of take depends on the noun:

• take advantage (of something)
• take (someone’s) advice (about something)
• take care (of something)
• take charge (of something)
• take an interest (in something)
• take notice (of something)
• take ownership (of something)
• take part (in something)
• take responsibility (for something)
• take time (to do something)

take a booking/reservation	take a holiday	take a risk
take a break	take a job	take a test
take a bus	take a look	take a train
take a chance	take a photograph	take a trip
take an exam	take a plane	take a walk

The concert took place in a 17th-century church.

Twelve hours later the medicine took effect and she felt much better.

We use take with different particles:

take after	take on
take apart	take out … on
take away	take over
take from	take up
take in	take to
take off

Steve really took to San Francisco. (= liked)

I think I shall take up jogging in the mornings. (= begin jogging)

The plane didn’t take off until five o’clock. (= didn’t leave the ground)

A good learner’s dictionary will provide a full list of phrases with take and the particles used with it.

See also

• Verbs: multi-word verbs

Typical errors

We don’t use take when there is movement with something to the speaker or the listener:

• Can you bring me the book from the desk, please?
• Not: Can you take me the book from the desk, please?

We don’t use take when we talk about having a meal or a drink:

• We had lunch together and talked a lot.
• Not: We took lunch together …