meaning - I'll take you home / I'll bring you home

Being both non-natives, I had some discussion today about the following situation: suppose you're at a party and you want to take/bring your drunk buddy home.

I believe that:

• "I'll take you home" means come, I'll bring you away and then I'll go back or go to my place. This is going away from the party.


• "I'll bring you home" means come with me and we both go home. We probably both live at that place or it is our end stop. This is coming to home.

She believes that:

• "I'll take you home" means either of the above, because you're both in the same room when you ask and you're going away from.


• "I'll bring you home" is an invalid construct in that situation, or actually is always invalid. I was opposing to that that I actually remember to have heard the phrase quite often.

I know the general meaning and differences between bring and take. However, I somehow couldn't get my head around this. Any native speaker that can shed some light here? There's an extra beer at stake!

Answer

I'm not an English major, but I am a native speaker.

"I'll bring you home" is definitely not invalid; it's a perfectly fine thing to say, and I think your meaning is correct.

However, "I'll take you home" does not imply that you live at the same place, or that you're going to be staying over. I think it just implies a sort-of dominance on the role of the speaker. I would imagine this being said by a person speaking to someone who is more drunk than they are, or by a speaker who knows the way home better than the other person. Although, to be fair, it probably depends a lot more on who says it, how they say it, and exactly how they phrase it and not so much on bring versus take. For example, "I can take you to your place" has essentially the same meaning as "I'll bring you home."

I think the most natural thing to say in the case that you are both going back to the same place, or both heading home is "Let's go home."