give a hug

Meaning

To embrace someone with your arms to show affection, friendship, sympathy, or love. It is a common physical gesture used when greeting someone, saying goodbye, or offering comfort.

Examples

• Come here and let me give you a hug; you look like you need one.

  Come here and let me give you a hug; you look like you need one.

• She always gives her kids a hug before they go to school.

  She always gives her kids a hug before they go to school.

• I wanted to give him a hug to show him everything would be okay.

  I wanted to give him a hug to show him everything would be okay.

• We said goodbye and gave each other a hug at the airport.

  We said goodbye and gave each other a hug at the airport.

• My grandmother loves to give a big hug to everyone who visits.

  My grandmother loves to give a big hug to everyone who visits.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I made a hug to my friend when I saw her.

  ✓ I gave my friend a hug when I saw her.

  In English, the verb 'give' collocated with 'hug'. We do not use 'make' or 'do' for this gesture.

• ✗ She gave a hug for me.

  ✓ She gave me a hug.

  The standard grammatical pattern is 'give [someone] a hug' or 'give a hug to [someone]'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• It's polite to ___ when saying goodbye to close family.

  💡 offer an embrace

  Show answer

  give a hug

• She decided to ___ to her sister to comfort her.

  💡 hold someone affectionately in your arms

  Show answer

  give a hug