Language/English/Vocabulary/Differences-between-'To-marry'-and-'to-get-married'

What is the difference between the 2 verbs:
"To Marry" & "To Get Married"

Hi English learners,

There is actually a difference between "to get married" and "to marry".

The short answer

• "to get married" is used more informally and puts greater emphasis on the process/ceremony of the couple and what happens during a marriage ceremony and afterwards such as the celebrations, the wedding reception, what traditions you followed and so on.

• "to marry" is more formal and tends to emphasise the change of legal status from unmarried to a marriage between the two people in the couple because of the marriage ceremony.

A longer answer

The verb "to get" means to receive/obtain. Also, "to get" implies how something was received/obtained is also important - such as the undergone process.

"to get" is often used with participles to describe that the result(s) of a process have been received/obtained. Someone else might have done the process.

For example:

• "to get sth cleaned" - the end result of the process of cleaning sth is that the thing is clean. Someone else cleaned it for me.
• "to get painted" - after the process of applying paint to sth, the result is that sth has received a covering of paint - it is painted by someone else, not me.
• "to get dressed" - firstly the process - you dress yourself. Then the result - you are dressed, you are no longer naked or in other clothes.

So, in the case of "to get married", it means to undergo the process of a marriage such as the wedding ceremony and celebrating afterwards with your friends, relatives and new in-laws thereby obtaining/receiving the status/result - "married". A priest/official performs the wedding ceremony and someone organises the reception.

As mentioned before, "to get married" is used informally and in general "to get" is used in informal language. The reason is that formal language emphasises results but not the undergone process - which "to get" does. So, the verb describing the end result of a wedding - "to marry" - tends to be used more formally.

A bureaucrat is much more likely to ask a question such as "Are you married?" rather than "did you get married?" - after all, the bureaucrat is more interested in your marriage certificate than in what food you ate at your wedding reception.

On the other hand, your old school friend making the statement "I’ve heard that you got married last year." is probably more interested in hearing the gossip about a drunken fight between several of the guests - or why he/she wasn’t invited to your wedding ceremony or reception!!!

Still, if you are interested in asking someone on a date and you want to find out about their marital status, you would ask the question "Are you married?" - you are interested in if they are presently "available", not what in they were doing during their wedding reception!

Author

• https://polyglotclub.com/member/AussieInBg

Sources

• https://polyglotclub.com/language/english/question/36923

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