Question about the verb 飲む

Japanese Language
1

I was writing a sentence in Japanese for some simple grammar practice and happened to write this:

明日は仕事をしなくてはいけないから今夜は飲まない方がいいでしょう。

I think the sentence in grammatically correct, but I was curious about the verb “to drink” being used in an instance like this. In English, whenever I say or hear things like, “Do you want to go drink tonight?”, “Did you drink yesterday?”, or “How much did you drink?” I automatically associate that with drinking alcohol. Typically, you wouldn’t hear someone asking, “do you want to drink?” and they go for glass of milk.

If the sentence was written or said exactly this way, would it be understood the same way in Japanese? Sure, it would be better to specify that it’s intended for alcohol, but I’m just curious how it would be understood if it were written/said without specifying.

2

酒をのむ is one of the top definitions of 飲む if you check a dictionary.

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3

I get that, but I’m specifically asking if it would be understood without 酒 present in the sentence.

4

Right… that’s why 酒をのむ is listed as a definition of 飲む. Because you can plop 飲む in place of 酒をのむ and have it be understood as “drink alcohol.”

This is after the definition of “put a 飲み物 in your mouth”. Which would cover something like ビールを飲む.

㋑ 酒をのむ。また、酒のために金銭を消費する。 「今晩－・みに行かないか」

In that example, 酒 isn’t mentioned. But it’s understood that 酒 is meant.

I would say if you don’t specify what is being drunk in that kind of sentence, you will only be understood as meaning alcohol.

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5

Yes people in Japan would understand that you are talking about alcohol.

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