[Grammar] why to get in this sentence?

[dilodi83]

A - So, how come he gets to give you a gift and I don't?
B - Because I have nothing to give back to you.

My question is: why to use the verb "to get" in this case? I think "can" is more suitable. I cannot catch the meaning of this "get"...

 

[White Hat]

So, how come he gets to give you a gift and I don't?

"to get" has this meaning too. Here it means "finds a way to", "can", "is able to", "gets a chance to", "you accept gifts from him but not from me". I guess you got the picture. It's about jealousy.

 

[emsr2d2]

A - So, how come he gets to give you a gift and I don't?
B - Because I have nothing to give back to you.

My question is: why to use the verb "to get" in this case? I think "can" is more suitable. I cannot catch the meaning of this "get"...

It's similar to "is allowed to".

How come he gets to go to the park? = Why is he allowed to go to the park (the suggestion is that the speaker is not allowed to go).

 

[Alamshar]

We use "get to" to express something that is a positive experience or a good thing. In this sentence "he gets to give you a gift" the inference is that it is something that he wants to do and is allowed to do it and there is some positive reward in doing it.

Let me give you a different context comparing "have to" and "get to".

I love my job. I get to travel a lot (the inference here is that I love traveling)
I hate my job. I have to travel a lot (the inference here is that I hate traveling).

Hope this helps but I don't understand the full context.

 

[dilodi83]

Today I have come across this sentence: I'd like to get to you know you a little better.

Does "get" mean "to manage", "to be allowed" too, as in the previous sentence?

 

[White Hat]

Today I have come across this sentence: I'd like to get to you know you a little better.

Does "get" mean "to manage", "to be allowed" too, as in the previous sentence?

I'd like to get to know you a little better.

It means "to learn more about you by hanging out or talking with you".

 

[SoothingDave]

"Be allowed to." You might want to get to know a woman better, but she may not want that.

 

[5jj]

"Be allowed to." You might want to get to know a woman better, but she may not want that.

I don't agree. if you get to know someone (better), you normally simply become (better) acquainted with them. It's not a question of permission.

I got to know my wife when we worked at the same school in China.

 

[dilodi83]

I don't agree. if you get to know someone (better), you normally simply become (better) acquainted with them. It's not a question of permission.

I got to know my wife when we worked at the same school in China.

This last sentence sounds like you had the chance to know your wife better, so you had been allowed by Destiny to know her better...
Could it be a possible interpretation of this "get"?

 

[White Hat]

Here "to get" is like "to get a chance", "to get an opportunity", "to make it possible".

 

[BobK]

I don't agree. if you get to know someone (better), you normally simply become (better) acquainted with them. It's not a question of permission.

I got to know my wife when we worked at the same school in China.

:up: The German kennenzulernen does the same job: kennen know, zu to, lernen learn. Permission doesn't come into it. (In fact, it seems to me to be possible that 'get to know' is what's known as a calque or 'loan translation' - like the English 'almighty' which was coined by combining all and mighty [not those words exactly - at the time it was something like 'almichtig'] to translate the word used by Latin-speaking teachers who used the word omnipotens.)

b