Bring take carry

Posted by Pak Guru on November 17th, 2017 | 0 comments | collocation, Indo English, membawa, vocabulary

You can also use Gojek if you don’t bring much luggage.

 This is another common Indonesian translation that results in ugly collocation.
As a general rule, when you use take and bring then you’re usually also talking about places. But you also need to think about where you are at the time of speaking, and where the thing is that is being taken or brought.
If you say “I took my lunchbox to work and brought it home again,” then at the time of speaking:

• You are at home.
• Your lunchbox is at home.
• You took it from here to there. (not bring from here to there)
• Brought it (back) from there to here. (not take from there to here)

Let’s look again at the opening example:

• You can also use Gojek if you don’t bring, much luggage.

Here the writer uses bring but does not mention any place, and it’s difficult to imagine a specific space. The Gojek ride can begin anywhere and end anywhere.
If you use bring or take then you need to mention either a start or a finish location, or both!

• If you have a lot of luggage then you cannot bring it home by Gojek.
  • you are at home
  • bring from there to here (home = finish location)
• If you have a lot of luggage then you cannot take it to the airport by Gojek.
  • you are at home
  • take from here to there (home = start location)
• If you have a lot of luggage then you cannot take it from home to the airport by Gojek.
  • you are at home
  • take from here to there (home = start location)
• etc.

If you don’t mention start or finish locations and it is difficult to imagine one, you probably need  carry:

You can also use Gojek if you don’t carry much luggage.