care for vs take care of (2025)

Hi all, in the context of parents raising and providing care for their kids, are "care for" and "take care of" interchangeable?

e.g.
Our parents take care of us.
Our parents care for us.

Many thanks!

boozer said:

The second sentence means your parents love you, are attached to you and mean the best for you. It is not about your parents looking after you.

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Does that mean "take care of" and "look after" are synonymous here?

ain'ttranslationfun? said:

No, they aren't. They are two correct sentences with two different verbs and so two different meanings.
1) means "Our parents raise us (clothe, feed, and house us, take us to the doctors and supervise our health, etc.)"
2) means "They love us."

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Can this second meaning "they love us" also be conveyed by saying "they care about us"?

EdisonBhola said:

Does that mean "take care of" and "look after" are synonymous here?

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They are, much of the time. See definition 10 here
look after - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

EBhola #3: Mmm...not exactly. We say "Our neighbors take care of our children when we're not there.", i.e. temporarily.

EDIT: boozer's #6 saying that "care about" can mean "love": (It's not quite so strong, though (In My Opinion).)

The following definition of "care for someone" from Cambridge Dictionaries seems identical to what "take care of someone" means:

to protect someone or something and provide the things they need,especially someone who is young,old, or ill:

The children are being cared for by a relative.
She can't go out to work because she has to stay at home to care for her elderly mother.

This is getting very confusing...

ain'ttranslationfun? said:

(It's not quite so strong, though (In My Opinion).)

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Agreed.

EdisonBhola said:

Hi all, in the context of parents raising and providing care for their kids, are "care for" and "take care of" interchangeable?

e.g.
Our parents take care of us.
Our parents care for us.

Many thanks!

Click to expand...

boozer said:

The second sentence means your parents love you, are attached to you and mean the best for you. It is not about your parents looking after you.

Click to expand...

ain'ttranslationfun? said:

No, they aren't. They are two correct sentences with two different verbs and so two different meanings.
1) means "Our parents raise us (clothe, feed, and house us, take us to the doctors and supervise our health, etc.)"
2) means "They love us."

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I disagree with Boozer and Ain’ttranslatin.

Sentence 1 means just what Ain’ttranslatin says, "our parents provide for us."
Sentence 2 has two possible meanings. Meaning A is "they love us." Meaning B is exactly the same as sentence 1.

Usually "Our parents care for us" means both.

I agree with Sparky's comment, as usual context dictates the meaning.

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I could not agree more!

Hermione Golightly said:

I could not agree more!

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(agreeing with Marc B's agreeing with Sparky's post)

Nor could I, now that I think of it...

Merimax said:

Hello! I need help with "take care ")))
I'm trying to translate one sentence from Russian, but I do not know whether it will be understood correctly or not. Here is my sentence - "What is easier for you to take care of someone or take care from someone?"

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It is quite old but I will try to answer anyway. I am not sure of the part "take care from someone" but I think it could be: "What is easier for you? To take care of someone or to be taken care of?" I think "by someone" at the end is pretty redundant but maybe I am totally wrong and I hope someone will correct me if I am not right as I have become pretty curious about this myself now

In reply to the original post by EdisonBhola:

IMO, yes, the two sentences are interchangeable.

"Care for someone or something" has several meanings:
1) Look after someone or something.
2) Feel affection for someone.
3) Want something --> somewhat formal (e.g.: would you care for some orange juice?)
4) Like or enjoy something --> somewhat formal and often used in negative statements (e.g.: I don't care for red wine.)

"Take care of someone" has precisely the same meaning as 1) above.