Bring means to carry or take something or someone towards the speaker or to a specific place that is the focus of the conversation. It is an irregular verb: bring / brought / brought.
What Does Bring Mean?
Bring comes from the Old English bringan, which has been in continuous use for over a thousand years. At its core, it describes movement in the direction of the speaker or a shared destination. The key question to ask is: does the object travel towards the speaker or a reference point? If yes, use bring.
The verb is irregular: simple past and past participle are both brought (rhymes with sort). A very common learner error is to write bringed — this form does not exist in standard English.
Bring is also the base of a rich family of phrasal verbs: bring about (cause), bring up (raise a child; mention a topic), bring in (introduce; earn), bring out (publish; reveal), bring forward (reschedule earlier), and bring together (unite). Mastering these phrases will dramatically improve your fluency.
Example Sentences
| Sentence | Level | Usage note |
|---|---|---|
| Please bring a pen and notebook to the lesson. | A2 | basic imperative — carry something here |
| Can you bring me a glass of water? | A2 | bring + indirect object + direct object |
| She brought her younger brother to the party. | B1 | simple past — irregular form brought |
| The warm weather brought large crowds to the park. | B1 | bring used figuratively — cause people to move |
| The charity campaign brought together volunteers from across the country. | B2 | phrasal verb bring together — unite people |
| Years of research finally brought about a breakthrough in cancer treatment. | C1 | bring about — cause a significant change |
Collocations
| Collocation | Meaning / Example |
|---|---|
| bring about | cause something to happen — The reforms brought about lasting change. |
| bring up | raise a child; mention a topic — She was brought up in Edinburgh. He brought up a difficult subject. |
| bring in | introduce a rule; earn money — The new policy was brought in last year. The shop brings in £5,000 a week. |
| bring out | publish or release; reveal a quality — The band brought out a new album. Stress brings out the worst in people. |
| bring forward | move to an earlier time — The meeting has been brought forward to Tuesday. |
| bring together | unite people or things — Sport can bring communities together. |
| bring back | return something; revive a memory — Can you bring back my umbrella? That song brings back happy memories. |
| bring down | reduce; cause to fall or fail — The government wants to bring down inflation. The scandal brought down the minister. |
| bring to light | reveal something previously unknown — The investigation brought serious problems to light. |
| bring to mind | cause someone to think of something — The smell of freshly baked bread always brings home to mind. |
Usage Notes
Bring vs take: This is the single most important distinction. Bring indicates movement towards the speaker or the current focus of attention. Take indicates movement away. If you are at home and ask a friend to come over, you say "Can you bring a bottle of wine?" If you are leaving and plan to hand something to someone elsewhere, you say "I will take the wine to the party." A useful memory trick: bring = come with it; take = go with it.
Bring vs fetch: In British English, fetch emphasises going to get something and returning with it: "Could you fetch my bag from upstairs?" Bring focuses simply on the arrival with the object. Fetch is more formal and slightly old-fashioned in many contexts.
Followed by an object: Bring almost always requires a direct object. The structure is often bring + someone + something or bring + something + to + place: "Bring me the report." / "Bring the car to the garage."
Common Mistakes
Watch Out For
She bringed her lunch to school.
She brought her lunch to school. (brought is the irregular past tense — bringed does not exist)
I will bring this letter to the post office tomorrow.
I will take this letter to the post office tomorrow. (movement away from the speaker = take, not bring)
Can you bring me to the airport?
Can you take me to the airport? (transporting a person away from here = take; however, "Can you bring your car to pick me up?" is fine as the car moves towards you)