Bring , carry and take

[ROBINDESBOIS]

What ' s the difference between these 3 verbs?

[Elaina]

traer, acarrear, llevar

3 very different words, don't you think?

[wrholt]

"Carry" is a specific method of transport: holding something off the ground or in a vehicle in order to transport it. It is optional to say something about the starting or ending points (the locations where the act of carrying started and/or ended).

"Bring" or "take" are similar in that they always indicate a point of origin and/or a destination, but they do not show anything about the method of transport. In general, "bring" points out the destination AND indicates that the destination is "here" by some interpretation, while "take" can point out either or both endpoints AND either focuses on "here" as the point of origin or on "there" as the destination.

[Awaken]

I am guessing you are talking about when they are used in a similar fashion.

"Carry" is used differently than the other two. As wrholt mentioned, it is focused on the method of transport and/or the object vs. the destinations.

I carried my camera over my shoulder on the trip.

The other two are very similar.

I took my camera on my trip.
I brought my camera on my trip.

"bring" usually has an implied "from" when it is used. "take" can be a little more general in use.

I brought my camera (from home) on my trip.

In most cases, you can interchange "bring" and "take" when used in the manner we are discussing.

Just to be clear, in most other cases, take is a very different word from bring.

I took my medicine.
I took the bus.
I took a detour.

Definitely can not use "bring" in situations like that.

[poli]

LLevar and traer confuse me, and that's like bring and take.
In English bring and take sometimes have the same meaning (take it with you/bring it with you.) I have always assumed it was the same in Spanish. Am I correct?

[Rusty]

In English, you ask people to BRING things to you and to TAKE things to another place.
Remember, the direction of travel is from the speaker's point of reference.

In Spanish, you ask people to TRAER things to you and LLEVAR things to another place.
Again, the direction of travel is from the speaker's point of reference.

So, using the speaker as the point of reference, there should be no difference between English and Spanish usage, but there is.
This is primarily seen in American English usage. The direction of travel gets mixed up a lot. As far as I've heard, this confusion doesn't seem to occur very often in the Spanish-speaking countries I've visited.

From the speaker's point of view:

BRING/TRAER = movement of the item/person is toward the speaker (travel to where the speaker is)
TAKE/LLEVAR = movement of the item/person is away from the speaker (travel to where the speaker is not)

Bring Sue to the party. (The speaker is at the party. You're transporting the person toward the speaker.)
Bring your umbrella. (The speaker is asking you to transport the item to where the speaker is.)

Take Sue to the party. (The speaker is staying behind (not at the party). You are transporting the person away from the speaker.)
Take your umbrella. (You're taking the item to where the speaker is not.)


En español, el punto de referencia es siempre el lugar donde está la persona que habla (yo).

'Ir' significa realizar un movimiento desde el lugar donde está la persona que habla hasta otro lugar. 'Venir' significa realizar un movimiento desde otro lugar hasta el lugar donde está la persona que habla.
'Llevar' implica 'ir'. Significa mover a alguien o algo desde el lugar donde está la persona que habla hasta otro lugar. 'Traer' implica venir. Significa mover a alguien o algo desde otro lugar hasta el lugar donde está el hablante.

References:
Bring / Take
Traer / Llevar

[echorad]

This is just a classic exposition of the differences between llevar, traer, etc. Certain great "aclaraciones" such as this should be required reading for beginners. Thank you.

[poli]

I have a friend from Puerto Rico who obviously knew the difference between traer/llevar in a way that some English speakers don't. She spoke to me about an associate of her's from El Salvador who "confused" the two terms. Apparently llévalo contigo and traígalo became synomymous as bring and take sometimes does in English, and this bothered my friend.