In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Hi!
A: Hey, what’s up? B: Nothing really. A: I’m throwing a party on Friday. B: I didn’t realize that. A: You didn’t? B: Nobody has told me anything about your party. A: Did you want to go? B: When does it start? A: At 8:00 p.m. B: I’ll be there. A:I’d better see you there. B: Of course.
What does “I’d better see you there”?
Which is correct?
1- I will be happy to see you there.
2- It would be nice to see you there.
3- I like to see you there.
4- …
“I’d better see you there” is a casual and somewhat playful way of saying, “You should come” or “I expect you to be there.” It implies that the speaker wants and expects the other person to attend.
I see this more as a command, or bordering on a threat . I almost expect “or else”, although there’s certainly no real threat implied. You could express it like:
“You’d better be there.” He’s not taking B: at his word.
He easily could have just said “Great, I’ll see you there”,
Could this be a playful poking between friends? Possibly, but based on the response of B: before and after this line, It seems there is a tension between them.
##1, 2 and 3 are all good, polite, natural responses, as would be “I’ll see you there.”
The one in the dialog is saying that A: expects B: to attend. Perhaps it’s a joke between friends.
The recording is a very flat reading with no emotion, so it’s difficult to infer a meaning from that.
I think ‘I’d better’ means ‘I had better’.
If so, had better is an expression which implies desirability, advisability, necessity, propriety, etc.
e.g. I had better be there (at the party) and meet you (in person).
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 