TO TREAT

Good morning again.

Today's expression is: to treat someone to food/drink

Meaning 1: to pay for another person's drink or meal because you want to (i.e. you are feeling generous).

The translation into Spanish would be invitar, but in English we do not use the word 'invite' with this meaning. The correct translation is to treat. Alternatively, we can say 'My treat' to indicate that we are going to pay for the other person's food/drink.

You may want to read the Daily Vitamin about the verb 'pay for' from 24/04/2006 to review more language related to paying.

Example 1:
Alan: Let me treat you to lunch, Sally. I just got paid.
Sally: Thanks, Alan. That's really sweet of you!

Example 2:
Thomas: Shall we ask for the bill?
Neil: My treat today, Thomas. You bought the drinks last Friday.

Meaning 2: to behave toward someone in a particular way. This verb is often followed by an adverb to describe how the person has behaved (badly, well, kindly, poorly, rudely, politely, etc.)

Example 3:
They treated me very rudely in that shop. I won't be recommending it and I definitely won't ever shop there again!

Example 4:
Monica: How was your holiday? Did your host family treat you well?
Brenda: Oh, yes! They were lovely! I learned a lot of English while I was staying with them and they took really good care of me.

I would be happy to answer any questions about today's Daily Vitamin in the Daily Vitamin section on our website. To post a question, click on the "add a comment" button.

Enjoy the rest of your day!