'Date Someone' or 'Date with Someone'? Which One Is Correct? | Mastering Grammar

(Last Updated: 1 October 2024)

Part 7

Date Someone or Date with Someone: Which One Is Correct?

Date can be either a verb or a noun. When it is used as a verb and is followed by its object (e.g. Liz, a foreign girl, and Anna), it does not take any preposition with it:

✅ Paul is still dating Liz.
❌ Paul is still dating with Liz.

✅ Do you want to date a foreign girl?
❌ Do you want to date with a foreign girl?

✅Chris has been dating Anna for several months.
❌Chris has been dating with Anna for several months.

The verb can also be used intransitively (i.e. without a direct object):

✅ After Anna broke up with her boyfriend last year, she hasn't gone out much, but now she's dating again.

✅ How long have you and Paul been dating?

Date with someone is correct only when date is used as a noun:

✅ Chris has got a date with Anna tomorrow night. 

✅ Chris has asked Anna to go on a date with him.

In summary, we can date someone, or we can go on dates (or a date) with someone, but we cannot date with someone.

The preposition with can be used with the noun, but not the verb.

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Also by Spencer Lam

Part 1: Should We Say 'A Tiger', 'The Tiger', or 'Tigers'?
Part 2: 'Relax' or 'Relax Oneself'?
Part 3: 'Exchange Program' or 'Exchanging Program'?
Part 4: 'Yours sincerely' or 'Yours faithfully'?
Part 5: Should We Say 'Take Bus', 'Take the Bus', or 'Take a Bus'?
Part 6: 'I Afraid' or 'I Am Afraid'?
Part 8: A Missing Relative Pronoun
Part 9: Are 'Basketball', 'Football', and 'Badminton' Countable or Uncountable?
Part 10: 'Every Time' or 'Every Time When'?
Part 11: Should 'Mum' Be Capitalised? (Read this blog post for a more in-depth discussion of the topic.)
Part 12: 'Grammar' or 'Grammer'?
Part 13: 'List Something' or 'List Out Something'? (Read this blog post for a more in-depth discussion of the topic.)

Examples from the Media

Four in 10 British workers have dated someone who was employed at the same organisation. —The Telegraph (2015)

If you're not ready for something serious, it might be best not to date a friend. —The Washington Post (2019)

She adds, "I get a lot of attention from guys I'm not interested in, and from guys who have girlfriends or wives, or super-young guys who want a Sugar Mama. I usually go on a few dates with a guy and then get ghosted, or he pisses me off." —Toronto Star (2018)

Comedy documentary My Date with Drew (2004), directed by and starring Brian Herzlinger, details his painstaking, convoluted attempts to secure a date with actress Drew Barrymore, on whom he has had a lifelong crush, within the 30 days that he has the camera he uses to shoot the film. —South China Morning Post (2022)