Sitting in an industry conference in the States, you strike up a conversation with the guy/gal next to you. You hit it off with him/her and rather than spending another evening alone in the hotel room, you decide to invite him/her for a drink after the conference. Your turn !!! Finish the sentence!!!!
“Errr, Mick / Marie, ………………………………………..?” Did you use the word “invite”? It’s not really wrong to, but the following 6 ways are ways you will hear natives use: N.B. the top 3 are more polite/formal whereas the last 3 are more colloquial.
“I was wondering if you would like (to join me for) a drink?”
“Would you like (to join me for) a drink?”
“Would you care (to join me) for a drink?”
“Do you want to (join me for) a drink?”
“What about (joining me for) a drink?”
“(Do you) Fancy (joining me for) a drink?”
Beware: “invite” means more like “come with me”, so don’t expect that they will (necessarily) pay. When you hear the following in a restaurant/pub, “It’s my treat”, “It’s on me.”,“It’s my round/shout.”, “I’ll get this round one/in.”, well, happy days!!!!!!! Cheers!!!!!
To strike up a conversation (mit jdm ein Gespräch anfangen), gal (Mädel), to hit it off with sb (sich mit jdm gut verstehen), rather than (hier: anstatt), N.B. (Nota Bene) (Anmerkung), colloquial (umgangspächlich), to fancy (hier: Lust haben auf etw), beware (Vorsicht), “It’s my treat.”, “It’s on me.”, “It’s my round/shout.”, “I’ll get this round one/in.” (Das geht auf mich)
To quote Heinrich Lübke: „On the ladies!“ 😉 Cheers!