ask someone out

Meanings

1. 1phrasephrasal verb

   To invite someone to go on a date with you, usually to a meal, a movie or another outing.

   Grammar: A pronoun goes between the words: ask him out; a noun can go either side: ask Maria out or ask out Maria.

   Patterns

   • ask someone out
   • ask someone out to dinner

   Tom finally got the courage to ask Priya out after weeks of chatting at work.

   She asked me out to a concert, and I said yes immediately.

   He wanted to ask her out, but he did not know how to start the conversation.

2. 2phrasephrasal verb

   To invite someone to come with you to an event or place, without it being a date.

   Grammar: Often followed by to and a place or event: ask a colleague out to lunch.

   Patterns

   • ask someone out for something

   I asked my new neighbor out for coffee to welcome her to the street.

   The manager asked the team out for drinks to celebrate the launch.

Word forms

Common combinations

ask someone out on a date

He asked her out on a date after the class ended.

ask someone out to dinner

Jamal asked Leila out to dinner on Friday.

finally ask someone out

After months of hesitation, she finally asked him out.

plan to ask someone out

I plan to ask her out when the exams are over.

Synonyms and how they differ

invite out

It is more neutral and can be about any social plan, while ask someone out leans toward romance.

propose a date

It sounds formal or playful and is rarely used in everyday speech compared with ask someone out.

take someone out

It describes the actual outing, often with the speaker paying, while ask someone out is just the invitation.

Opposites

Word family

ask verb

to request or invite

date noun

a romantic or social meeting

ask around phrasal verb

to question several people

Commonly confused: ask someone out or ask for?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “ask someone out”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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