Talk:get

Translations
Indonesian translations of "get" do not make much sense without translating all the idioms that use "get". Most English speakers don't even realize they are using idioms.


 * "Get" seems to be one of the most overused words in English though its plain senses are "receive" and "become". It will be cool to see the Indonesian translations. Can you add an article for each idiomatic usage? Hippietrail 08:44, 13 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Basically, every idiom that you can think of using get has a different word or phrase in Indonesian. My English-Indonesian dictionary entry for "get" is almost three pages long. When I have more time, I'll work on the idioms.

Aquire the state of being ...
Usages 4 and 5 in the main article are sometimes better expressed by the more general and abstract rendering "Aquiring/reaching/obtaining the state of . .". For example, "Get away from here" does not easily incorporate the sense of 'become' and is better expressed by "Aquire (imperative) the state of being away from here". Similarly, usage 4 can be rendered as "He aquired the state of having been bitten". This is not to say that "become" is not a suitable definition in many cases; rather that it is a more specific expression of the more abstract underlying concept.

Other examples are:


 * He got dressed - He aquired the state of 'being dressed'
 * I got up early this morning - I aquired the state of 'being up' early this morning
 * I got into trouble - I aquired the state of 'being in trouble'

Johngosling 13:06, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Get as "must"?
Why is there no listing for get as "must." "I've got to do my homework." "She's got to get it together." etc.


 * Is it ever used in the present construction, or is it always in past tense? Might make sense to have something at got, though.  Please feel empowered to add it. :-) --Jeffqyzt 20:53, 19 December 2006 (UTC)


 * That usage is actually a variation of have got from the normal use of have to. --Bran


 * But in slang probably? Eg.: I gotta go. as I must go. Ferike333 20:16, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

Gotten not just US
Gotten is like normalcy, its a UK phrase more common in the US now. Expressions like "ill-gotten gains" are in everyday usage in the uk. Marking it as "US" is misleading. Ammended accordingly.
 * No, your amendment is misleading.

I and plenty of others use "gotten" regularly and while "got" is probably the most common usage, I think to describe it as "archaic" in the UK is ridiculous and, more importantly, just plain wrong. CrisH (talk) 10:20, 5 November 2015 (UTC)


 * What part of the UK? I don't hear it here (south-east). Equinox ◑ 16:19, 5 November 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm in Oxfordshire, but until three years ago it was Wales. I'm quite used to people saying things such as "It's gotten cold lately" or "I haven't gotten ready yet". Maybe it's just me? Regardless, even if usage is rare, wouldn't archaic be more descriptive of words that few people understood (i.e. had faded from common knowledge)? CrisH (talk) 20:29, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Pronunciation
I've added /gɪt/ as another pronunciation(though I'm not sure if the formating's correct, so feel free to correct that). I did it before realizing that Wikipedia accounts don't seem to carry over to Wiktionary, though. My only question is: why hasn't it been added yet? I have never heard it pronounced as it's spelled(as a matter of fact, I've always thought that continued use of 'git' to indicate dialect was nothing more than an anachronism; seems I was wrong, though). BioTube 02:05, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Though I'm a non-native speaker I've only heard it pronounced as it's written. I don't impugn your add, it's just an answer to your question. 82.131.235.63 18:07, 15 December 2009 (UTC) - Oh, this anon was me, Ferike333 20:15, 25 December 2009 (UTC)
 * In British English, /gɪt/ is used only in dialect. Are there parts of the world where this pronunciation is standard?    D b f  i  r  s   22:18, 13 August 2013 (UTC)
 * /gɪt/ is used (or at least stereotyped as being used) in the Southern U.S., being a stereotypical feature of cowboys, at least in film and television.

Passive
get with "-ed" forms of verbs forms a passive just like be does. We do not show that. DCDuring TALK 03:58, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Phrasal Verbs
There needs to be a more thorough treatment of phrasal verbs on Wiktionary in general, and get is one of the most important (or at least the most "promsicuous!") phrasal verbs. Should be broken down by separable and inseparable (transitive) phrasal verbs, three-word transitive phrasal verbs, and intransitive phrasal verbs.

Used alone as an imperative
As in "Come on, get!" to mean something similar to "Begone!" or "Go!", or "Get out of here!". I'm not sure exactly which is why I consulted this article in the first place but couldn't find that meaning defined. --188.102.132.64 19:34, 17 February 2015 (UTC)

Future and past with meaning of to have
Recently I took out the phrase 'Similarly, "I had got" = "I had", "I will have got" = "I will have", etc.' and commented that I don't think anybody talks like that. User:Equinox reverted my change, saying that loads of Brits talk like that. I don't think that's true. They (and Americans) use "have got" to mean "have" in the present tense, but I don't remember ever hearing a Brit or anyone else say "I will have got a car tomorrow" to mean "I will have a car" and not "I will have gotten a car". Nor have I heard anyone say "I had got a car that day" to mean "I had a car" and not "I had gotten a car". I challenge Equinox to find an example on the Internet of someone using these expressions for the future or past of the meaning of to have, rather than of the meaning of to get. Eric Kvaalen (talk) 13:36, 9 October 2016 (UTC)


 * I must have misunderstood. Feel free to restore your material but can you please phrase the have/got distinction very clearly, so other readers won't misunderstand as I did? Equinox ◑ 13:38, 9 October 2016 (UTC)


 * I just came across an example which I think is of using "had got" as the past of "have got": "When he heard that Israel attacked a facility in the area, he thought they had got the wrong address." Here. But it's a case where it's a sort of indirect discourse – the guy thought "They've got the wrong address" (meaning "they have the wrong address"), and when putting that in the past tense (because it's "thought" and not "thinks") in the indirect statement of what he thought, it becomes "had got". But I doubt that someone would say, in direct discourse, "They couldn't find the place because they'd got the wrong address". I think people would say, "They couldn't find the place because they had the wrong address". 07:49, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

Proscribed?
Should a note be added stating that the meaning of 'get' as 'become' is sometimes proscribed?EditWorker (talk) 18:38, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

get right, get wrong
Which sense covers these, if any? e.g. "I got an answer wrong on the test". Equinox ◑ 16:18, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Get something on something?
I don't believe that "get on" in the sense of "I got grape juice on my shirt" or "Don't get any water on this paper" is covered in any of these definitions. Could someone add that? I can't think of a good way to word it. Maybe "To spill or somehow dirty something with something else." Giantmushingd (talk) 04:47, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

(Informal) To overcome or destroy
The ice storm got the rose bushes. --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:40, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

be getting on
1. My parents were getting on a bit by the time I was born 2. Time is getting on https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/be+getting+on --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:47, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

Them as has gets
What's "has gets" in Them as has gets? --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:28, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

RFV discussion: October–December 2020
RFV sense 9:


 * 6. To cause to become; to bring about.
 * 7. To cause to do.
 * 8. To cause to come or go or move.
 * I got him to his room.
 * 9. To cause to be in a certain status or position.
 * , Retro me, Sathana, line 1
 * Get thee behind me.
 * 8. To cause to come or go or move.
 * I got him to his room.
 * 9. To cause to be in a certain status or position.
 * , Retro me, Sathana, line 1
 * Get thee behind me.
 * Get thee behind me.

Seeking verification that #9 is distinct from all the others, and usage examples to show how, or explanation of how the existing usage examples demonstrate this. Presently the examples for #9 seem to be cases of #6 and or #8. Previously discussed at Tea_room/2020/October. Mihia (talk) 19:57, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 21:33, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

RFC discussion: July 2017–February 2021
Translation table glosses that translate only part of the definition:
 * “fetch” for “(transitive) To fetch, bring, take.”
 * “adopt, assume (a position)” for “To adopt, assume, arrive at, or progress towards (a certain position, location, state).”

Glosses that point to God knows which definition:
 * “don”
 * “doff”
 * “betake”

Glosses written in a way that encourage incorrect translations:
 * “go or come” for “To cause to come or go or move.”: wrong transitivity
 * I’ve changed “respond to” to “respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc)”, to prevent people from adding translations of the more typical use of “respond to”. The Finnish and Swedish translations need to be checked.
 * “colloquial: be” for “To be. Used to form the passive of verbs.”
 * I changed “become ill” to “to become ill with” to prevent intransitive translations from being added. The Bulgarian, Dutch and Swedish translations need to be checked.

In addition, some tables could be merged into other entries and changed to

— Ungoliant (falai) 14:01, 6 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Resolved, RFC template no longer present (and translation tables changed since). &mdash; surjection &lang;??&rang; 21:14, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

get to doing slang (start: doing)
When he failed to call me yet again, I got to wondering if he was having an affair. --Backinstadiums (talk) 11:38, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

Remove redundant translation tables
I suggest replacing many of the present translation tables with redirects using Template:trans-see. Among the candidates are: to obtain, to receive, to become, to begin, to physically assault. --Fytcha (talk) 11:53, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

incorrect etymology
Sorry to bother, but could someone correct the etymology for English "get" ? It's definitely from the Old Norse "geta" and not the Old English "gietan", as "gietan" is pronounced with a /j/ and not /g/. Mutspelli (talk) 07:26, 19 May 2023 (UTC)

Injury
I can't find a good example with a search engine but I suggest that "I got myself with the [power tool]" is a distinct sense of the verb. 167.248.96.196 13:16, 25 December 2023 (UTC)