Lend or borrow?

Easily confused verbs

Lend means ‘give something to someone for a short time, expecting that they will give it back to you’.

I lent Gary $30. (I expect that Gary will return this to me)

My CDs are too precious to me. I never lend my CDs to anyone.

Borrow means ‘get something from someone, intending to give it back after a short time’.

I need to sign this form. Could I borrow your pen for a minute, please?

Laura hasn't got much money. She borrows money from people all the time!

When you give something, you lend it;

when you get or receive something, you borrow it.

Now you practise. Complete with borrow or lend in the correct form.

I always forget my pen and I have to ______ a pen from my teacher.

I love romantic novels, but I never buy them. I always ______ them from the library.

She doesn't like ______ her books.

If you need a coat I can ______ you one.

She ______ me her car for the weekend.

Could you ______ me £5?

I forgot my purse but Anna came to the rescue and ______ me some money.

~~~~~Business English - FINANCE, BANKING ~~~~~

Borrow: to take money from a bank or other financial organization with the intention of paying it back over a period of time, usually with interest added on:

Like so many companies at that time, we had to borrow heavily to survive the crisis.

Find out how much you can afford to borrow before you decide to buy a house.

If you borrow from a credit card. the interest can be up to 20%.

Lend: If a bank or other organisation lends money, it gives money to someone who agrees that they will pay the money back in a certain period of time, usually with interest:

We are in trouble. The bank refuses to lend any money to our company.

The bank agreed to lend the company $50,000.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Expressions using these verbs ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

live on borrowed time

to continue living after a point at which you might easily have died:

Since his cancer was diagnosed, he feels as if he's living on borrowed time.

to continue to exist longer than expected:

It is unlikely that serious decisions will be made by a CEO living on borrowed time.

lend a (helping) hand

to do something that helps a company or person:

The Federal Reserve is expected to lend a hand by continuing to cut interest rates forcefully.

lend your support (to sth)

to support someone or something:

I have lent my support to his plan for a private referendum.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ borrow used figuratively ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

to take and use a word or idea from another language:

Spanish is constantly borrowing words from the English language, specially words referring to Information Technology.

The English word 'rucksack' is borrowed from German.

English has borrowed many words from French.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ borrow verb (MATHEMATICS) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

to put a number into a different column when doing substruction.