# 受ける / 受け取る



## Pacerier

Is it true that ボブからの招待を受けた can mean either “I received Bob’s invitation” and “I accepted Bob’s invitation”, whereas ボブからの招待を受け取った can only mean “I received Bob’s invitation”?


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## Ototsan

Pacerier said:


> Is it true that ボブからの招待を受けた can mean either “I received Bob’s invitation” and “I accepted Bob’s invitation”, whereas ボブからの招待を受け取った can only mean “I received Bob’s invitation”?



Yes. If you use 受けた, 招待 means the act of inviting, so by implication the sentence may mean either 'received an invitatioin letter' or 'replied affirmatively to the invitation' or maybe both depending on the situation. When you use 受け取った, on the other hand, 招待 means an invitation letter, and the listener is not informed whether you accepted the invitation or not. In the latter case, I would prefer 招待状 to 招待.


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## Pacerier

does 招待状 refer to written invitation? 

if it is not an invitation letter (maybe by email / phone), can i still say 招待状を受け取った ?


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## Dheara

As far as I know, 招待状 can only refer to a written invitation, since 状 is a suffix meaning also "letter (of)"... Anyway, it can only refer to a written invitation.


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## Ototsan

Pacerier said:


> does 招待状 refer to written invitation?
> 
> if it is not an invitation letter (maybe by email / phone), can i still say 招待状を受け取った ?



For me an email invitation, if it is formal, is an instance of written invitation, but a phone call is not, however it is formal.

電子メールの招待状が届いた / 電子メールの招待状を受け取った
電話で招待された 

あなたを招待したいという電子メール (電話) が来た

In the last example, the two words are interchangeable.

If the email message is written in a casual style, however, I would use the last sentence instead of either variant of the first pair.


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## Pacerier

hey thanks for the explanation. anyway just to check, does あなたを招待したいという電子メール が来た mean _"a mail (that wants to invite you) came"_ ?


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## Ototsan

Pacerier said:


> hey thanks for the explanation. anyway just to check, does あなたを招待したいという電子メール が来た mean _"a mail (that wants to invite you) came"_ ?



Well, it is not the emal which invites you, but someone who sent it, so the sentence means something like:

There arrived / I received an email in which [someone] said (s)he wanted to invite me (or possibly: you).

Otherwise you guessed correctly. The referent of あなた may the speaker (direct speech) or the person the speaker is talking to. The latter interpretation might be a bit unusual, because an invitation is usually sent directly to the person to be invited.


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## Pacerier

as for the sentence あなたを招待したいという電子メール が来た, is it important to include という? 

will it sound weird if we have あなたを招待したい directly modifying 電子メール as such:  あなたを招待したい電子メール が来た


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## Ototsan

Pacerier said:


> as for the sentence あなたを招待したいという電子メール が来た, is it important to include という?
> 
> will it sound weird if we have あなたを招待したい directly modifying 電子メール as such:  あなたを招待したい電子メール が来た



Q1: Yes, absolutley. I wouldn't accept the sentence without という.

Q2: Yes, because it is semantically odd. As I said earlier, it's not the email that invites you, but the person who sends it.　Compare:

あなたを招待したい人から電子メールが来た
あなたを招待したいという人から電子メールが来た

Both are OK with a subtle difference in meaning.


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## Pacerier

ok, i'll keep that in mind. thanks for the reply =D


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