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I ask my friend to come over to my place and I want him to eat pizza on my expense. Is it correct to say like this:

Come over to my place bro! I will eat you a pizza.

or

Come over to my home bro! I will make you eat a pizza.

What are some other ways to say this like a native speaker?

Secondly, I want to know if using the word "treat" means inviting someone to food because something good has happened to you. If yes, then how to use it in a sentence? Is this way correct?

I want to take a treat from you.

I'm an Asian and here people speak a mixture of their native language and English. We often use this word but I could never get its correct usage as we use it as a word in our native language sentence. The dictionary shows its usage like this: "he wanted to take her to the pictures as a treat."

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8 Answers 8

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I'd personally go with this example:

Come over to my place, dude. I'll treat you to a delicious pizza.

to treat means to give someone something, typically food, either because they've done something good to you or you're simply doing it out of sheer generosity.


As for your examples, they sound weird.

Come over to my home bro! I will make you eat a pizza.

That one sounds like you're going to force him to eat pizza—as if you were going to stuff that pizza down his throat or something along those lines. That's obviously not what you want to say.

Come over to my place bro! I will eat you a pizza.

The same thing here. This example does not even make real sense. Sounds like you're going to eat something and as a result you'll produce a pizza for you friend.

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    You could suggest incorporating "eat" the following ways: * Hey, bro! Let's eat a pizza at my place* or Hey, bro! Do you fancy eating a pizza tonight?
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 8:31
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    "I want to take a treat from you" -- I guess, technically that makes sense, but I don't think this example is going to work in the context you've provided. Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 8:34
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    Yes, that implies that he's going to give you a pizza, not you. Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 8:37
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    Well, three reasons. Firstly, 'ethical dative" / "ethic dative" constructions such as the Shakespeare quotes given on that Wiki page are not grammatical in modern English, and haven't been for centuries. Secondly, English has no dative case, so those Wiki examples aren't real ethical datives. Thirdly, ethical datives signify "that the person denoted has an interest in or is indirectly affected by the event". I don't think if I invite you to my house and then I eat pizza, that I can pretend it will somehow interest or benefit you! Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 9:26
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    Well, I was joking (some might say trolling) in my initial comment, but here's an example. Say you need to have four entire pizzas eaten before midnight, or the king will behead you. You manage to eat three. However, you simply don't have the stomach for the fourth. I might say to you: "Come over to my house, I'll eat you a pizza." 🙃
    – verbose
    Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 9:50
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I will eat you a pizza doesn't make sense.

I will make you eat a pizza means I will force you to eat a pizza. This does not suggest that it is a treat. Maybe you were thinking of I will make you a pizza. This means that you will make a pizza for the friend.

I want to take a treat from you means that you want to take a thing away from the person. That thing is a treat. This is not an invitation to eat pizza. It sounds like you want to confiscate the treat.

Looking at a dictionary entry, we have

treat
transitive verb
3 a : to provide with free food, drink, or entertainment <they treated us to lunch>

Actually it does not have to be a situation where something good has happened. It could be used in a neutral situation. It could be a sudden, spontaneous thing, or it could even be done if something bad has happened (for example, if you want to cheer up a sad friend). Examples.

  • That company treated me to lunch again. They really want me to accept their offer.
  • (Speaking to a child.) I heard that your puppy is sick. How about I treat you to some ice cream? Will that make you feel better?

In your example, we don't know if something good happened. I'm assuming that you just want to hang out with your friend—nothing special. Using your example, we have

Come over to my place bro! I will treat you to pizza.

As a noun, we have

b : the act of providing another with free food, drink, or entertainment <dinner will be my treat>

You could say The pizza/it will be my treat. A common expression is "It's my treat!", or simply "My treat!" So you could say

Come over to my place bro! I'm ordering pizza. My treat!

It's casual and it also means you will be providing the pizza for free. Instead of my treat above, you could say

It's on me!
-or-
I'm buying!

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    More of an American-sounding example and so not something I'd say, but I gather you could also say something like "Come over to my place! Pizza's on me!". Saying that something is "on" someone (usually used for food or drink for a group) is an American colloquial expression meaning that that person will pay for it (though I'm sure it's used a lot in Britain). You also have the related expression "on the house" meaning that the establishment (eg the bar/restaurant) is paying for it, ie you're effectively getting it for free.
    – Muzer
    Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 11:02
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    I'll second "on me" as the appropriately colloquial level, instead of "my treat," though if said right, the difference is negligible.
    – user32753
    Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 14:18
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I believe the phrase "my treat" covers this, as in:

Come over to my place for pizza, my treat.

"my treat" was referenced in another stack exchange question here:

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  • My initial though almost: Pizza. My Place. My Treat.
    – user3321
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 4:43
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You don't even need any of that. You can just state what you want:

Hey man, I'm buying a pizza. Come over and have some.

As other answers have mentioned, "my treat" or "it's on me" are appropriate and can be used, but the way I have it skips out on the need to do that entirely.

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For your specific question of whether

the word "treat" means inviting someone to food because something good has happened to you.

The answer is no, treating someone and a treat don't necessarily mean that the person treating is paying in celebration of the treater's own good fortune. People definitely do sometimes do this, but then the invitation will make this clear. For example:

I just got a big promotion, so pizza's my treat!

But it's about as likely to go the other way:

You have to let me treat you to pizza—after all, we're celebrating your graduation!

This particular usage of treat is a little confusing, because usually a treat is something unusual and good for the person who receives it. For example, if you give a child a candy (especially on Halloween in the US) we might say here's a treat for you or if you unexpectedly get to take a day off from work you might say what a treat to have time for myself!

But in the specific context of paying for something (often food, but also things like movie tickets) when I give someone else a treat it is still my treat. It seems like we're giving something away and still keeping it, which is contradictory!

To understand these two different usages of treat, you might think of the intention behind the act of treating as something like this:

I want to pay for this activity which we're sharing, and it will be a treat for both of us: it's a treat for you because you get something you like for free, and it's a treat for me because I get the pleasure of your company and (maybe) your gratitude.

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In Australia the standard expression for "on my expense" is shout, and is used in the same way as treat for both the verb and noun forms.

shout

VERB
2. NZ Australian - informal [with two objects] Treat (someone) to (something, especially a drink)
- ‘I'll shout you a beer’
- ‘In addition he shouted me my meal, even though it was more of a snack than a meal, which was very generous of him I must say.’

NOUN
2. one's shout British, informal One's turn to buy a round of drinks.
- "Do you want another drink? My shout."

It's interesting that Oxford Dictionaries Online cites the verb as Aust/NZ but the noun as British. I'd have thought that "shout" in reference to drinks is British vernacular in both the noun and verb forms - deriving no doubt from having to shout (call loudly) one's order to the barman in a busy bar - but in Australia it is used not just for drinks but in any situation where "it's my treat" or "I'll treat you" would apply. Hence:

  • Come over to my place, we're ordering pizza - my shout.
  • Come over to my place, I'll shout you a pizza!
  • Come over to my place, I'm shouting pizza.

In egalitarian Australia there is less opprobrium attached to informal language, so it would be perfectly acceptable to use "shout" (in the sense of treat) even in a sophisticated setting such as a high-class restaurant. Note that it would be insulting to use shout where benevolence would be considered patronising; however, the Australian use of "shout" can also carry the connotation of "turn (to buy)", so it's appropriate to use it in this sense even when wealthy business folk scramble to whip out their credit card first:

  • "No no, you shouted the last lunch - this one's on me."
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Yes, "I'll treat you" sounds sort of like bragging. Less strongly, I'd rather not mention buying, either. Just "come over and have a pizza with me."

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    That can be nice, but the friend not being able to afford pizza might be a factor in their decision to come over if you don't reveal your intent.
    – Preston
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 1:55
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    Don't ask me why, but "my treat!" is less bragging than "I'll treat you". Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 8:40
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Come over and have a pizza with me. No worries, I will sponsor! ;)

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    Please edit to include an explanation of why this is correct; answers without explanation do not teach the patterns of the language well. Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 7:26
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    As a native British English speaker, "I will sponsor" sounds wrong. "I will pay" (although that's a bit too overt about the money), or "my treat" would be more likely. Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 8:38
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    As an American English speaker, "I will sponsor" is not correct.
    – user32753
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 15:06
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    "No worries, it's on me!" would work in U.S. English. (Most people in the U.S. would understand this means you will pay, not that you have already literally dropped a piece of pizza in your own lap.)
    – David K
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 19:34
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    "I will sponsor" is commonly used in Indian English.
    – Masked Man
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 5:20

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