French Word of the Day: Inviter

Why do I need to know inviter?

Because you might be confused by an unexpected invitation when the time comes to pay.

What does it mean?

Inviter - roughly pronounced ahn-vee-tay - looks like it should translate directly as ‘to invite’ in English.

In most cases, this is accurate, as the primary definition of this French verb does mean to ‘ask someone to come, be in a given place or take part in something’ ie inviting you to a party. 

There is, however, a second meaning that might cause some confusion in a bar or restaurant, as inviter also means to offer to pay for someone. In English one might say ‘it’s on me’ or ‘I’m buying’.

For example, if your friend says bois autant que tu veux, je t’invite, they are not inviting you to an activity later in the evening, but rather they are saying ‘drink as much as you want, it’s on me.’

It can sometimes be tricky to decipher whether a French person is using inviter to ask someone to come along to something or as an offer to pay. You may need to rely on context clues - if you’re next to the cash register and someone uses the verb inviter, then you can safely assume they’re offering to pay.

You could also simply say c’est moi to offer to pay when the check comes out, or c'est mon tour de payer (it’s my turn to pay), but these are a bit less common than je t’invite.

Similar to English, inviter can also mean to coax or entice someone into doing something. This is a more formal usage, so you might see a phrase like je vous invite à consulter mon CV (I invite you to look over my CV) in a job application.

Use it like this

C'est Marie qui invite tout le monde au dîner, alors commandez ce que vous voulez. - Marie is paying for the dinner, so order what you want.

T'inquiète pas pour l'achat des billets de concert. Je t'invite. - Don’t worry about buying the concert tickets. It’s on me.