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Context:

今日{きょう}の夕食{ゆうしょく}は私{わたし}がごちそうします。

I've research on ご馳走{ちそう}, from the etymology to popular usages, but I'm still unsure whether it would be used, in this phrase, to invite someone to dinner somewhere or to indicate that "I" would be the one doing the dinner tonight.

If it is a invite, is it an invitation to eat in a restaurant or somewhere outside, or is it that "I" am inviting (someone) to eating at my house?

Niino_Mashyuu
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1 Answers1

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It's an invitation to eat in a restaurant or somewhere outside.

デジタル大辞泉 defines "ごちそう（御馳走）" as follows:

  1. 心を込めてもてなすこと。特に、食事などをふるまうこと。また、そのもてなし。「ごちそうになる」「鮨（すし）をごちそうする」

  2. ぜいたくな料理。豪華な食事。「生まれてはじめてのごちそうだ」

So ごちそう can mean a nice meal whether eating at home or outside. But when we invite someone over for a meal, normally we wouldn't use the expression ごちそう for a meal we serve. We would say 今日の夕食、うちで食べていきませんか？ or 今日、うちで晩ご飯食べませんか？ something like that.

So someone says "今日の夕食は私がごちそうします", he/she wants to treat you to a meal outside.

But when someone invites you to his/her house for a meal, you CAN say "〇〇さんの家でごちそうになる".

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