to have tea or to drink tea | WordReference Forums

Hello! I've heard that it's much more correct to say "have tea" instead of "drink tea". I wonder if it's true and if it applies to all cases ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. tohaveteaortodrinktea Threadstarter Day&Night Startdate Sep11,2009 D Day&Night SeniorMember Moscow,Russia Russian Hello!I'veheardthatit'smuchmorecorrecttosay"havetea"insteadof"drinktea".Iwonderifit'strueandifitappliestoallcases.Thankyouverymuchinadvance.   entangledbank SeniorMember London English-South-EastEngland Notassimpleasthat:we'dhavetoexaminethevarioussituationsthey'reusedin. Doyoudrinktea?(somepeopledon'tdrinkteaatall) Doyoudrinkteaorcoffee?(whichoneofthetwodoyouusuallydrink?) Doyouhaveteaorcoffee?(I'mofferingyouonenow-youcanchoose) Ihaveteaatbreakfast.(morelikelythan'drink',perhaps,butwecansaythattoo) Ihaveteawithtwosugars.(muchmorelikelythan'drink') Hedrankhisteaslowly.(thisreferstotheactionofdrinking,soithastobe'drink') ThisisjustasampleofsituationsIcanquicklythinkof.   loladamore SeniorMember Zacatecas,México EnglishUK InmanypartsoftheUK"tohavetea"alsomeanstoeatyoureveningmeal.Itdoesn'tnecessarilyinvolvedrinkingtea,butitmaydo.   Tegs Módarlíne English(Ireland) loladamoresaid: InmanypartsoftheUK"tohavetea"alsomeanstoeatyoureveningmeal.Itdoesn'tnecessarilyinvolvedrinkingtea,butitmaydo. Clicktoexpand... Youwouldgenerallyputinapossessivepronouninthiscase: He'shavinghistea I'mabouttohavemytea   A AnnO'Rack SeniorMember UK UKEnglish IfI'mtalkingaboutthewetstuffwithmilk(nosugar,thanks!)Iwouldtalkabouthavingacupoftea,notjusthavingtea. Wouldyoulikeacupoftea? Wouldyoulikesometea? Ithinkyou'dusetheword"drink"ifyouwantedtomakeapointofstressingtheactionofdrinking,butotherwise"have"isprobablymorecommon.   M manon33 SeniorMember English-England(Yorkshire) AnnO'Racksaid: Ithinkyou'dusetheword"drink"ifyouwantedtomakeapointofstressingtheactionofdrinking,butotherwise"have"isprobablymorecommon. Clicktoexpand... You'dalsouse'drink'ifyouwereaskingwhethersomeonelikedteaornot:Doyoudrinktea? Youalsohear'taketea'incertainsocialgroups:'Weusuallytaketeaatfour'althoughitisbeginningtosoundabitJaneAusten-ishthesedays.   srtachicken SeniorMember California USEnglish Exceptwhenpeopleask"Howdoyoutakeyourtea?"--that'sprettycommon.   A AnnO'Rack SeniorMember UK UKEnglish srtachickensaid: Exceptwhenpeopleask"Howdoyoutakeyourtea?"--that'sprettycommon. Clicktoexpand... Goodpoint.Theanswertothequestionwouldbe"black,twosugars,please"or"white,nosugarplease"(muchnicer!)andthenyouwouldexpectsomeonetogiveyouacupofteawithoutmilkandwithtwoteaspoonsofsugarin,oracupofteawithmilkbutnosugar.   Brioche SeniorMember Adelaide AustraliaEnglish Tegssaid: Youwouldgenerallyputinapossessivepronouninthiscase: He'shavinghistea I'mabouttohavemytea Clicktoexpand... ButinAustralia,wedon'taddapossessive.   D Day&Night SeniorMember Moscow,Russia Russian Oh,thankyouallverymuch!Ididn'teventhinkthere'ssomuchthatcanbesaidonthistopic!   A AnnO'Rack SeniorMember UK UKEnglish TheEnglishwillalwaysfindsomethingtosayabouttea! (IthinkI'llgoandhaveacuppanow.) (Cuppa=cupof[tea],awell-recognisedexpressionintheUK-welldefinitelyinthesouthofEnglandanyhow.)   M manon33 SeniorMember English-England(Yorkshire) AnnO'Racksaid: TheEnglishwillalwaysfindsomethingtosayabouttea! (IthinkI'llgoandhaveacuppanow.) (Cuppa=cupof[tea],awell-recognisedexpressionintheUK-welldefinitelyinthesouthofEnglandanyhow.) Clicktoexpand... Unlikeusroughlotup'ereint'frozennorth,wotdrinkusdregsoutofapan.   M manon33 SeniorMember English-England(Yorkshire) Briochesaid: ButinAustralia,wedon'taddapossessive. Clicktoexpand... Ifyou'rehavingyourtea,itmeansthemeal. Ifyou'rehaving(some)tea,itcouldbethedrinkorthemeal.   H hhtt SeniorMember Turkish entangledbanksaid: we'dhavetoexaminethevarioussituationsthey'reusedin. Clicktoexpand... Wouldsomebodyexplainthepart"we'd"above?What'sthemeaningofit?Whyis'dpreferred? Thankyou.   SparkyMalarky Moderator Indiana English-US hhttsaid: Wouldsomebodyexplainthepart"we'd"above?What'sthemeaningofit?Whyis'dpreferred? Thankyou. Clicktoexpand... Subjunctivemood. Ifweweretoanswerthequestion,wewould(we'd)havetoexaminethevarioussituations.   H hhtt SeniorMember Turkish SparkyMalarkysaid: Subjunctivemood. Ifweweretoanswerthequestion,wewould(we'd)havetoexaminethevarioussituations. Clicktoexpand... Thankyoubuthowdidyouunderstandit'sthesecondconditionalorwhydidthepart"ifweweretoanswerthequestion"isintroducedfrankly?   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top