Carry focuses on how you move something with you: you support it, hold it, wear it, or transport it. It answers the question “How is it being moved?” and can describe the whole journey, not just the destination. You can carry objects, people, or abstract things like responsibility.

Bring focuses on direction toward a person or place that matters in the conversation, often the speaker or the destination. It answers “Where is it going?” and usually implies you arrive with the item. It can be physical or abstract, like bringing good news or bringing problems.

Use bring when movement is toward “here,” toward the listener, or toward a specified destination that is treated as the endpoint. Use carry when direction is not the main idea, or when you are highlighting the act of transporting or holding something. In many sentences, both can appear: carry describes the method, bring describes the endpoint.

Rule	Example
Use bring for movement toward the speaker or meeting place	Please bring your laptop to the meeting.
Use carry for transport as the main action	I carried the boxes upstairs.
Use bring for arriving with something as the result	She brought snacks for everyone.
Use carry when emphasizing physical support or load	He carried the child on his shoulders.

Carry often describes the physical relationship between you and the thing: in your hands, in your arms, on your back, or on your body. Bring is often used with a destination phrase like to the office, to school, or over here. Carry is also common for things you keep on you while moving, like carrying a bag or carrying a phone.

For travel contexts, bring is common when you decide to include an item with you to a destination. Carry is common for what you have on you during the trip, including bags, documents, and items you must keep with you. In formal travel language, carry can also mean transport by vehicle, like an airline carrying passengers.

Word/Phrase	Definition	Example
bring with you	include an item when you go somewhere	Bring your passport with you.
carry on you	have an item on your person while moving	I always carry cash on me.
carry passengers	transport people by a vehicle or company	This airline carries millions of passengers each year.

Both verbs can be metaphorical. Carry often means continuing to hold a burden, duty, or emotion over time. Bring often means causing something to happen or introducing something into a situation, like bringing change or bringing attention to a problem. The difference stays the same: carry is about bearing, bring is about causing or delivering toward a point.

Word/Phrase	Definition	Example
carry a burden	continue to bear a heavy responsibility or stress	She carried a lot of responsibility at work.
bring news	deliver information to someone	He brought good news.
bring trouble	cause problems to appear	That decision brought trouble.
bring attention to	direct focus toward an issue	The report brought attention to safety risks.

Some nouns commonly pair with one verb more than the other. Carry is frequent with items you hold or bear, like bags, boxes, weapons, and loads. Bring is frequent with items you deliver or provide at a destination, like documents, food, gifts, and guests. These patterns are preferences, not strict rules.

Word/Phrase	Definition	Example
carry a bag	hold and transport a bag	She carried a bag on her shoulder.
carry a box	move a box by holding it	We carried the box inside.
bring dessert	deliver dessert to an event	I will bring dessert to dinner.
bring documents	deliver required papers to a place	Please bring your ID and forms.

Bring and take form a direction pair: bring is toward the speaker or chosen endpoint, take is away from it. Carry is different: it describes transport or bearing without encoding toward or away. When choosing between bring and take, first decide direction; if you also want to emphasize the load or holding, add carry or use carry in a separate clause.

Rule	Example
Use bring for movement toward here or the destination viewpoint	Bring the files to my office.
Use take for movement away from here or away from the speaker viewpoint	Take the files to the archive.
Use carry to emphasize the load, independent of toward or away	He carried the files to the archive.

In requests, bring often sounds like you want the person to arrive with the item, so it is common in everyday instructions. Carry often sounds like you are describing the physical action, so it is common in task descriptions and narrations. If you say “Carry this,” it can sound more specific and physical than “Bring this,” especially without a destination.

Choose bring when the key idea is delivering something to a person or place in the conversation. Choose carry when the key idea is physically holding or transporting something, or bearing something over time. If both ideas matter, use bring for the destination and carry for the method in the same message.