Being both non-natives, I had some discussion today about the following situation: suppose you're at a party and you want to take/bring your drunk buddy home.
I believe that:
- "I'll take you home" means come, I'll bring you away and then I'll go back or go to my place. This is going away from the party.
- "I'll bring you home" means come with me and we both go home. We probably both live at that place or it is our end stop. This is coming to home.
She believes that:
- "I'll take you home" means either of the above, because you're both in the same room when you ask and you're going away from.
- "I'll bring you home" is an invalid construct in that situation, or actually is always invalid. I was opposing to that that I actually remember to have heard the phrase quite often.
I know the general meaning and differences between bring and take. However, I somehow couldn't get my head around this. Any native speaker that can shed some light here? There's an extra beer at stake!