How to Properly Say "Play with Me" in English
There's something I want to teach Koreans who are learning English!!
It's about the expression "play with me"
When Koreans say this, they want to say, "Let's play together," right? But "play" doesn't sound natural.
Situations in which native English speakers use “play” :
“Hey, wanna go play ball (basketball) after school?”
“Hey, do you want to play basketball after school?”
“play LOL with me”
“Let’s LOL”
In these situations, when you want to play a game, you use "play ." It's natural, but it also has another meaning...get ready...
“Do you want to eat ramen before you go?”
........
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Yes~ I suddenly changed “play” into a bad word. Shocked? Hahahaha That’s right, this word also has this meaning. That’s why I feel a little awkward whenever I hear someone say “play with me” … Of course, that’s not what they meant, but it can be heard like this to some native English speakers. Especially if you say it like that in an English-speaking country, someone might misunderstand, so that’s why I made this post!
Another awkward meaning:
[When elementary school students want to play (at the amusement park, with dolls)]
“let's play!”
In America, when young children wanted to play with their friends, they would say "play," but as they got older, the word became awkward. It felt like they wanted to play like a child.
Here's an example from the popular song 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?' from the Disney movie (Frozen) :
00:10
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Young Anna tells Elsa, "Come on, let's go and play."
Frozen - Do You Want To Build A SnowmanFrozen - Do You Want To Build A Snowman
play
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Now, let me give you an example of what the word 'play' sounds like when it's not used by children:
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"play" vs. "hang out"
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid [16:30 - 17:31]"Diary of a Wimpy Kid [16:30 - 17:31]
play
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In Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the scene where Rowley says "Want to come over and play?" takes place at school during recess. Greg is trying to look cool in front of the other kids, but Rowley, looking innocent and childish, approaches Greg and says loudly and excitedly, "Want to come over and play?" Greg is very embarrassed because he thinks this makes them look like children. This scene is a funny moment that shows how Greg and Rowley are changing as they grow up .
Here 's an animated version of the same scene from Diary of a Wimpy Kid :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mslxPaPJpM
If you want to say “hang out” in English naturally, as explained in the video, the correct expression is “ hang out” rather than “play .”
“let's hang out”
“Come play with me”
I understand that Koreans try to translate directly from Korean to English, but the meaning of some words may not be the same in both languages.
For example:
“how are you”
"how have you been doing?"
In the US, it's natural to ask "how are you?" when meeting someone for the first time. But in Korea, if a foreigner asks a Korean person "how are you?" when meeting them for the first time, it's a bit awkward. They'd think, "Do I know you?"
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‼️ ‼️ But don't worry ‼️ ‼️
If you've said "play with me" before , native English speakers probably understood what you meant! Now that you know the natural way to say it, you can speak more naturally!
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I wrote this to make people aware that "play," especially "play with me," can be unnatural and a bit awkward. I hope you'll learn something new from reading this now :)
To make it short, hello~ I'm Bang Ga-young, an American who's been learning Korean on her own for 8 years! Nice to meet you~ hahaha
When I started learning Korean in 2017, I started dreaming of becoming an English teacher abroad ^-^
After finding that dream, in 2019, I started writing down in my phone's notepad about English expressions that Koreans might find confusing or unfamiliar.
I organized one of them (this article) and posted it on a language exchange site in 2019, and it turned out to be helpful to more people than I expected!
After that, I continued to write and post various English-related articles, but as time passed, my motivation gradually disappeared, and before I knew it, I stopped writing.
But this year, 2025, I regained my old motivation and thought, 'Should I make a Naver blog?' So I'm starting again ⋆ ✴︎ ˚｡⋆
If you have any questions or would like to know more about English, please let me know in the comments!
Thank you for reading this far! :)
- migukgayeong 🌻
TEFL Graduate Certificate
MA TESOL Graduate
miguk-gayeong@naver.com
