[General] I'll cover the fee for you and your

[Silverobama]

I invited David and his wife to the New Year dinner party and I said to him "I'll cover the fee for you and your wife if you can make it for dinner".

I wonder if the italic sentence is natural. If David and his wife show up in the New Year's dinner, I'll pay for their portion. Others will go Dutch.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I invited David and his wife to a New Year's dinner party. I said to him "I'll cover the fee for you and your wife if you can make it [STRIKE]for dinner[/STRIKE]".

I wonder if the italic sentence is natural. If David and his wife show up at the New Year's dinner, I'll pay for their portion. Others will go Dutch.

It's okay. I'd probably just say, "I'll pay for you and your wife" or "I'll pay for you and Enid."

You have New Year's dinner twice. Since we're not familiar with it, the first mention should get a. In the second paragraph, now that we already know there's a party, the is correct.

Lucky David and wife! Are they going with you?

 

[Silverobama]

Probably they will.

I wonder if you can tell me what you meant by "for you and Enid"?

 

[emsr2d2]

If you're inviting people to dinner, or offering to pay for them, it's likely that you know both of their names. We wouldn't refer to a friend's wife as "your wife". We would use her name. "Enid" is a woman's name.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Probably they will.

I wonder if you can tell me what you meant by "for you and Enid"?

For the two of them. For him and her.

Unless you don't know her name, it wouldn't be natural to call her "your wife." It would be natural to use her name. You didn't tell us her name, but you probably know it.

So I just threw in a woman's name. Her name probably isn't Enid. So don't call her that. Use her name—of course!

 

[emsr2d2]

In some cultures it is quite unlikely that you would know the first name of a colleague's wife.

Fair enough. It would be a good idea to find out the spouse's name before the party, though!

 

[teechar]

refer to 'your wife', and to address the wife as 'Mrs Surname'.

I know it's an informal and humorous reference to one's own wife, but I love "her indoors". :lol:

 

[tedmc]

How about "The New Year dinner will be on me"?

Or "The New Year dinner will be my treat".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

In some cultures it is quite unlikely that you would know the first name of a colleague's wife.

Aha! I was assuming David was a friend. It didn't occur to me that he might be a colleague.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Tarheel]

In informal American English we might say I asked her out.

(I would never ever say I would do anything she wants me to do.)