How to use 'to take' | Learn English with Lucy

- How many times have you asked someone

to take a coffee

or to take a drink with you?

Well, you're actually using,

in that situation,

to take, in the incorrect way.

In this video I'm going to talk to you about

why take is such a special verb,

the nouns that you can use it with,

and then I'm going to go through

the phrasal verbs that have take in them.

So let's get started.

Ah!

Before we start,

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Okay so what makes the verb, to take, so special?

Well the answer is,

it's what we call a light verb.

It's also known as a delexical verb as well.

And other verbs in the light verb group are

have, give, make, do, and go.

You might remember that I've already done a video

on make and do.

And light verbs are verbs that

when used on their own they have very little meaning,

but when partnered with another noun,

they have much more meaning.

And there are specific nouns

that go with specific light verbs.

So today I'm going to talk you through

all of the nouns and situations

that take can be used with.

Okay so to take can go with

washing nouns and resting nouns.

To take a shower.

To take a bath.

To take a rest.

To take a nap.

And to take a break.

A couple of examples,

I need to take a shower before we go.

And why don't you take a break?

Now these nouns are not strictly confined to to take.

You can often use have in many of these situations,

but knowing that these verbs go with to take

will certainly help you with your writing,

and also when it comes to understanding native speakers.

Okay so now we've got some more examples

of how we can use take.

We can use to take with care,

and this has two meanings in this case.

We can say, "Can you take care of my cat?"

And this means can you look after my cat.

Or take care when walking alone at night!

And this means be careful when walking alone at night.

Then we have a photo.

I often hear, "Can you make a photo?"

or "Can you make me a photo?"

Make would be create with my hands.

So we use take.

Can you take a photo,

can you take a picture?

We took loads of great photos!

And a risk, so again we don't make a risk.

We take a risk.

I'll take a risk and tell her I love her.

That's a big risk.

Always think twice before doing that.

Okay then a look.

Take a look at my new iPhone.

That's what you use

when you're showing something to somebody.

A walk, we took a walk in the park.

Nice thing to do after lunch.

And then finally to take advantage of.

Let's take advantage of the good weather

and go to the beach.

Now please remember that to take advantage of

can be both positive and negative.

Sometimes you're taking advantage of something

in an unfair way.

So an example would be,

don't take advantage of my generosity.

Don't use my generosity to your advantage.

Okay now we're on to our beloved phrasal verbs.

Note this is just a list of

what I consider to be the most important ones.

If I went through all of the options

it would take hours,

so I'm not going to put you through that.

So the first one is to take off.

This has two meanings,

so I'm hot, I'll take off my jacket.

I'm hot, I'll remove my jacket.

The plane takes off in 45 minutes.

The plane goes into the air in 45 minutes.

Okay.

Then we have take up,

which is to start a hobby or sometimes a habit as well.

So I've recently taken up skiing.

Or I've recently taken up smoking.

The opposite of that would be to give up.

I've given up smoking.

I've given up skiing.

Okay, then we have to take over.

Let me take over - you're doing it wrong.

This means to get control,

to take control.

Let me take over, let me take control.

Okay, to take after.

This is something that gets said to me rather a lot.

Many people say that I take after my mother.

This can mean that I resemble my mother

in either character or appearance or sometimes both.

Okay, take away.

She took my phone away from me.

Okay and this again means removed,

but in this case she removes it

and puts it in another place.

Take out.

He took me out for dinner.

Now when we say to take out,

it often means to take someone to a restaurant or a bar,

and you invite them,

and you pay for it normally.

Normally, not always.

Ah, well, that's the end of my take lesson.

I hope you learned something.

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Right!

Now I'm off to the pub.

Where else?

It's a Tuesday.

(blabbering sounds)

(sniffs)