ESEN
Which one to use?Beginnerverbverb
LendvsBorrow
'Lend' is to give temporarily; 'borrow' is to receive temporarily.
Side-by-side comparison
Lend
verb"Lend" goes from the person who has to the person who needs: you lend something to someone. You are the source of the borrowed item.
Could you lend me a pen? Mine just ran out of ink in the middle of the test.
She lent her umbrella to a colleague who got caught in the unexpected rain outside.
He lent his brother some money to pay the rent while he was between jobs last year.
Borrow
verb"Borrow" goes from the person who needs to the person who has: you borrow something from someone. You are the one receiving the item temporarily.
Can I borrow your charger for a while? My phone is about to die completely.
She borrowed a dress from her flatmate for the wedding, it fitted her perfectly.
I borrowed a book from the library about the history of the Spanish language last week.
Common mistake
- •"Can you borrow me your pen?" is wrong: "borrow" is what the receiver does, not the owner.
- •"Can you lend me your pen?" (you = owner, you give).
- •"Can I borrow your pen?" (I = receiver, I receive).
Trick to remember it
- •Picture a money arrow: LEND → (you push it away, toward someone). BORROW ← (you pull it toward you, from someone).
- •The preposition mirrors the direction: LEND TO someone. BORROW FROM someone.
Quick rule
- •"Lend" = give on loan (owner gives, lend TO someone).
- •"Borrow" = receive on loan (receiver gets, borrow FROM someone).
Did you know?
The lend/borrow pair is a perfect example of what linguists call "converse verbs", pairs of verbs describing the SAME TRANSACTION from OPPOSITE PERSPECTIVES. Lend and borrow describe the same event (a temporary transfer) but one from the giver's point of view and the other from the receiver's. Other converse pairs in English: SELL/BUY, TEACH/LEARN, RENT/HIRE. Spanish has "vender/comprar" and "enseñar/aprender," but does NOT have a simple single-word equivalent to "borrow": "pedir prestado" is two words, not a simple verb. That absence in Spanish is exactly why "can you borrow me?" is so persistent: the Spanish speaker translates "préstame" and places the owner as the subject of "borrow" because in Spanish "prestar" and "pedir prestado" share the same root.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
Could you _____ me your pen for a moment? I need to sign this.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
Can I _____ your umbrella? I forgot mine at home.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
BringvsTake
One moves something toward you, the other moves it away from you.
GovsCome
'Go' implies movement away from the speaker; 'come' implies movement toward the speaker or listener.
SayvsTell
Both mean 'to say', but 'tell' always needs to know who receives the message.
AvsAn
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy