Speaking English – How to talk about borrowing, lending, and property

Hi. James from engVid. I've noticed a lot of people have a problem using "borrow" or "lend".

In fact, sometimes I found it difficult to teach it to people. But today's lesson,

I'm going to try to simplify it and make it easy. Now, there's probably one or two lessons

on borrow and lend on engVid already, so please feel free to check them out. I just try to

simplify it, and give you a couple of phrases or expressions, general expressions you can use.

So let's go to the board. As you can see, I've got some money, and E is trying to...

Oh, is he trying to borrow or lend? Let's go find out. Okay? So, Mr. E says: "Can I

borrow $5?" And the other worm, I don't know who this is, says: "I don't have that on my

person." When someone says that, it means: "I don't have it with me." Look underneath

here, it says: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be". Well, what does that mean? Okay? We want

to do a lesson on borrow and lend, correct? And look here, "borrow", "lend". Today I'm

going to give you something that'll help you remember it easily, what the difference between

the two are so you can use them properly. And then we're going to learn some other words

that are similar. Yeah, synonyms, because I think as... If you understand one thing

properly, we can teach you many other things, so the lesson can just grow and grow. And

you're smart, so let's get started.

All right? E talk to me. Well, what's the difference? We have "having", "giving", "receiving",

and "miscellaneous". These are the four legs of our table. All right? Every table has four

legs, and when people exchange things, or give, or receive, it's going to be one of

these four legs we're talking about. Let's talk about the first leg: "having". You can't

give if you don't have. Right? So, we'll start with "having". People, we'll start with a

noun. So what are nouns for "people"? "Owners". When you own something, it belongs to you

or it is yours. Okay? I own my body, I own this pen, and this jacket. They are mine.

Okay? I'm an owner. Now, when you have a house and you have paid for the house, you become

a "landlord" or a "landlady". Lady, me lady. Right? And the lord, you are the lord of the

manner. You own your own home. Mwahahahahahaha. Yes. A "landlord" is when you go someplace,

you need a place to stay but you cannot buy a house, you will pay these people on a monthly

basis, and they will give you a place to stay. And they're called "land owners". You will

generally say, if it's a man: "My landlord wants the rent today." Or, if it's a woman,

you'll say: "The landlady wants the rent", because they own the land that you live on.

Okay? And this goes back a long time ago to kings and queens when they owned everything,

and they were called the lords and the ladies of the land.

Now, "proprietor". Can you say that again? "Proprietor", "proprietor". This is the formal

word for an owner. This is usually used for a business. Okay? So you might own a bicycle

or a motorcycle or something, but you're not the proprietor. When you talk about proprietors,

think about restaurants and stores. Okay? It's the formal word for "owner", and it's

used for those people. So if you come to McDonald's, you go: "Who's the proprietor?" Ronald McDonald

will come out and go: "Hi. Hi. Here's my friends." He's not the proprietor; he's just a cartoon

guy. But the person who owns the business is the proprietor of it. Think restaurant,

bar, store. "Owner" can be for a home or of a marker. I own a marker. I am not the proprietor.

Okay? Landlord, landlady, they own the land which you are a "tenant" or a "renter".

Let's go on to "having" for things. Now, for these are the people owned, what do we call

things that we own? Well, "property". Property is something that belongs to you. We also

use "property" for land: "This is my property." It means my house has this much land, and

I own all of it; it's all mine. My property. But something small, such as a pen, a watch,

my shoes-you can't see them, I just lifted my leg up-my shoes, they're my property. Okay?

They belong to me. "Possessions" is the same thing. "To possess" means to take on. If you're

possessed by a demon, it controls you. So when you have something in your possession,

you have control over it or it belongs to you. It can be either one. Okay? "Belongings",

it's yours. "Be" as a prefix means completely, but I don't know what "long" means, I'm not

going to lie to you. But it's completely yours. Okay? One day I'll figure it out and let you

know. But if I say: "Are these your belongings? Does this completely belong to you?" And if

you notice, we say: "belong", right? And this is "belonging", add on the "ing", and suddenly,

it's a thing, your thing. These are my belongings. My coat, my vest, my watch, my pen

are my belongings.

"Estate". This is a funny one. "Estate". An "estate" is... Well, most of us have property,

we have houses. When you have an estate, you're rich. You have a mansion. You have a big house.

This is my estate with my 15 cars, my three wives, my five helicopters is my estate. People

with homes don't call it an estate, because we will [laughs]. We will laugh at you. "You

call that an estate? You have one toilet there, bro. One toilet. That ain't an estate. Estate's

got to have at least five toilets." So, if you have an estate, it's usually a large piece

of land and it's a big home, but there's another meaning for "estate", and once again, it has

to do with belongings. When you die, you know, dead, the things you leave behind are your

estate, and that includes your house, your car, your golf clubs if you play golf,

baseball bat, comic books, everything you own are your estate.

So these are the things you own, but

it's not your estate, unfortunately, until you die. So this is one you don't want to

visit. You want to have an estate, I'm rich, but you don't want to be given your estate

because you're dead. Okay? So try to keep that in mind with "estate", that it's two

meanings, and one has to do with death, when you die, you leave your estate behind; an

estate is a wealthy or rich man's place to live. All right? So we talked about having,

you got to have stuff before you give it or you can receive it. Now, if you have that

stuff, why don't we go back on to the other leg, here? All right?

We're going to go over here, and look at this leg of "giving". I've got stuff, now I can

give it away. So, we're going to start with the nouns, and these are the people. You've

got your "lenders", your "providers", or your "donors". A lot of people who speak English

will actually say: "Lender, provider, supplier, donor, okay, same, except for this one here."

They'll say: "Lenders, providers, suppliers, almost the same." And I'm about to educate

you who are learning English and those people - there's a difference. "To lend", as you

can see down here, means to give. That's easy. I'm a lender, there are lenders. A "provider"

means to get something ready to be given up, to set it up. Huh? When you provide something,

it means you have to get it ready to send it off.

This word is also down here in our verbs, which we'll come to. A "supplier" is a source

of something. Huh? Well, see, a provider sets it up. A supplier is like... When you have

water, where do you get your water supply? There's no thing called: "Where do you get

your water provider?" Supply, where do I get my water? My supply of water is here. This

is my supply of water. I can actually have a supply. "Provider" is only a verb. -

"Oh my god, didn't know that." Yeah. So when we come down here... We going to come down...

Oh, before I move down there: a "donor". "Donate" means to give, and usually when you donate,

you give for free. Trust me, in Canada we have cable providers and cable suppliers - it

ain't free. Because when you donate something, you give it, it has value, and you give it

for free. We donate blood. You give your blood for free. I'm waiting for free internet. Mm-hmm.

Not going to happen. All right? So these guys can charge money. A donor usually doesn't;

they give whatever they have for free. And a lender just gives. Okay? They can also charge

money, because that's what banks are, they're lenders. All right? So, we've done these four

for what are nouns and what names you can call someone.

Let's look at the verb. You'll notice a lot of the verbs are the same as the nouns, and

I said we'd come back to them for that reason. "Lend" means to give, I'm going to lend it

to you, and I am the "lender". I'm giving to someone. "Supplier", remember I told you

"supply" and "provider" is similar, but not the same? Well, "supply", as a verb, right?

You can have... This can also be a noun, as well as a verb, while "provide" is only a

verb. Something to keep in mind when you're saying: "What's the difference?" Because you

can have a supply of something. Right? Water, a supply of money, a supply of oxygen. You

need to breathe, you need some oxygen. Right? But there's no verb... There's no nouns for

that, for "provide". So that's one of the difference is actually a physical thing you

can have. All right?

"Assign" means to give. "Sign". Well, a sign like this, a number represents. When you assign,

you give something, it's usually a key or a number, like: "I'm going to assign..." I'm

talking so fast. Let me slow down. "I will assign you a number. You are number two."

I'm giving you something. And you can think of "sign", it will help you remember. Right?

It will help you remember. I will assign you, give to you. Okay? A key, a pen, a house,

you're giving... Given something. And this is a sign of something, maybe a sign for...

I don't know. Your position? Or I'll assign you a key. So you're given a key which represents

the house. Okay? "Leave", well, when you leave... I know you're thinking like now: "Bye." Yeah,

but it's different. When we leave something, we leave something. The full thing is behind.

Right? Remember we talked about estates? You die? Remember we said you die and you leave

stuff behind? So that's it, he left behind a house for his wife. What did he leave for

the family? Right? And "behind" means behind you because you're not here anymore, but there

is something that remains or stays there. Okay? So, "left behind", "leave behind". These

are the verbs. What are you leaving for your family? What are you leaving for the class?

If a teacher's not there, we say: -"What are you going to leave for the class to do?" -"I

will leave this behind", or: "I will leave this information/I will leave this work."

So I think this word is there, but we don't say it half the time. All right? So, we've

talked about "having", "giving". So you're so lucky you have stuff, and you're so...

You have so much, you can give it.

Well, who are you giving it to? Well, somebody has to "receive". And "receive" means to get.

Right? Let's take a look. When we have "receivers", you're a "borrower". That means you are asking

for something, I'm going to receive it, I will get it. Right? Another is a "renter".

Remember we talked about landlord and landlady? They have rooms, or houses, and you pay money?

Well, you can be considered the "renter". The "renter" is a person who pays money to

have something for a small amount of time, and they must give it back or they must continue

to pay. Rent is usually every month; January, February, March. April, I will rent an apartment,

which means I will pay money every month to the landlord or the landlady. You could also

rent a car, you can rent that for a day or two. Rent a movie for 12 hours or a week.

And in this case, you're giving money to have something for a little while, and then you

must give it back. Okay? That's "rent".

Now, another thing is if we don't call you a "renter", we call you a "tenant". "Tenant"

is when you stay in a home, a place, an apartment, a house. So, a renter can rent a bicycle,

a car, a helicopter, a house. A tenant lives in a home, so think of a home or an apartment,

so that's different if you're a tenant. Okay?

"Lease". Okay? Now we're looking at the verbs, here. When you lease something... A lot of

times people lease, it means they make payments, like rent, but what they want to do is maybe

to buy it later on or hold it for a long period of time. A lot of people who lease cars, they

will pay monthly for the car, and after four years, they'll say: "Now do you want to buy

the car?" When you rent, you can't do that. You must return it or continually pay. So,

leasing is one option when you're receiving, like I want to lease a car, which means I

will make payments every month for two years, and after two years, I might say: "Okay, now

I'm going to buy it." If you were renting it, you would never be able to buy it; you

would have to keep paying. And that's the difference between "rent" and "lease". And

"borrow", we've talked about, you receive, generally. "Can I borrow a pen?" Right? Good.

Now, if we have the basics down, which I think we do, we're going to go on our next little

outing. What are we going to do? Well, we might as well learn how to use it. Like I

say, vocabulary, if you don't know how to use it, there's no point to it. So let's come

back, and we're going to look at some common expressions that we use

for borrowing and lending. Ready?

[Snaps] And we're back. Sorry, Elvis, who is possessed. Remember we did "possession"

before? Possessed by the spirit of Elvis. All right, so: "Can you lend a hand?" We talked

about "lend" means to give. Well, a hand is a good thing. Right? So when I lend a hand,

it means I will give you some help. Right? Give you a hand. "Can you lend a hand?"

"Something lends itself." We use this to say something can be used for... It's pretty good

when you use it. A great example is this: There are many books that lend themselves

to becoming great movies, which means it has a particular use; we can use the book to make

a movie, or a comic book, if you've seen Batman, the Justice Lady, Avengers, they are lending

themselves to being movies; they are good for that use. Right? So it's not just the

book, we can use it for something else, and it will be good for that thing we use it for.

Yeah? You like that? Yeah. So, this will lend itself to helping you. This lesson will, actually.

How about this one? "Lend an ear"? Well, I don't mean cut the ear off, go: "Okay, give

it back in two weeks." No. What I mean is this: When you lend an ear, it means to listen

carefully and in a friendly way, especially when somebody has a problem. If I say: "Look,

I've got this problem. I don't know what to do about going to Italy or Israel. They both

start with 'I'. I'm confused, and they've got l's in them, like you know, like uhh,

what do I do?" Then you go: "Lend me an ear?" And I go: "Sure." I'll sit down, take my water,

and go: "Mm. Mm. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, mm-hmm, yeah, and there is that", and I will listen

carefully, especially because it's a big problem. Travelling. Love it, should do it. Okay? So

when you lend someone an ear, it means to listen carefully and in a friendly way to

what they have to say so they can have an ear or something to bounce off of, someone

to listen so they can express themselves and maybe hear themselves a bit better. "Lend

me an ear", okay?

"Borrow trouble". Borrow trouble, what the hell does that mean? When you borrow trouble,

it means you do something and you make trouble for yourself. You don't have to do something,

but when you do it, it's going to bring you trouble. For instance, if you see a pretty

girl at a bar, sitting there with her boyfriend who is two metres tall and 100 kilograms,

and is an MMA super weight fighter, and you have a couple drinks, and you think: "Maybe

I should tell that girl she's pretty", and she's dating a stupid guy, you're just borrowing

trouble, my friend. Why are you doing this? It's going to bring you trouble. Don't borrow

trouble, which means bring trouble to yourself by the actions of something you do. Not smart.

"Beg, borrow" steal", a lot of movies, especially when it has to do with money or something,

the guy will say: "I don't care if you have to beg, borrow, and steal it - just get it done!"

What they mean: Do whatever you can to get something done. "Begging" is like:

"Please, please, please, please, please.", "Borrowing" is like: "I'll give it back later,

I promise", and "steal", you know, just kind of, it's gone, I got it. It's mine. All right?

So if someone says to you: "I don't care if you have to beg, borrow, or steal, get that

assignment done", it means whatever you can do, do it.

"To live on borrowed time", okay. No way to say this, but imagine someone is supposed

to live for five years. They say: "You have five years, then you will die." Okay? The

person gets worried, he goes: "Okay, I might as well enjoy myself." Maybe they start working

out, they go out with their friends, they start taking selfies. You know, all that fun

stuff. And then five years comes, and they're still alive. They wake up, they go: "This

is five years and one day. Woo-hoo." So they're happy, okay? They start partying, they have

more fun, and they keep doing this. You might say you're living on borrowed time because

you were supposed to die in five years, or you were supposed to end at five years, but

you're continuing to live. That's borrowed time, my friend. Be happy. Now, that could

be not just about life, you live longer than you were expected. That could be like your

camera, the power is supposed to be dead, you took 50 pictures, but magically, you're

taking 51, 52, you're like: "Wow! It's on borrowed time." Meaning: This thing should

end at any time, and you're getting lucky. All right? We usually use it for life, for

people, if you live longer, you have a disease, you don't die, you're old, you keep living.

Just die already. All right? You're living on borrowed time. Or relationships.

If two people are always fighting, always fighting,

and you're like: "Man, they should have broken up five years ago",

but they're still together, you say: "That relationship is living on borrowed time."

It should have been done, and for some reason, it just won't die. Which reminds me

of a joke, but another time.

So, let's do a quick quiz. All right? We will talk about "lend" and "borrow" which was the

primary reason for this lesson. And remember: "lend" is when you give something, "borrow"

is when you receive it. But let's do a quick quiz to see if you can remember some of these

popular phrases, or the words themselves, what they mean. I've got three questions,

let's check you out. All right.

"Their marriage should have died years ago. Now it's living on _______."

What would you put in there? "Beg, borrow, steal"? "Lending an ear"? "Lending a hand"?

Or would you say...?

Correct, it's living on borrowed time. They should have been divorced

four years ago, they're still together. I don't know how come it's living. Should be dead.

How about this one? "Hi, can you _______ a pen?"

Now, would you say: "Lend me a pen" or "borrow me a pen"? Think about it carefully.

I know some of you said: "Hi, can you borrow me a pen?" Why? Because I have students who say

that all the time, and that's wrong. Okay? All of you, it's wrong. Remember:

"Hi, can you lend me a pen?" Right? Can you lend me a pen? Because you're going to give it to me.

Right? I am receiving, but you have the power and you're giving it to me.

"Can you lend me a pen?"

And finally, finally, finally, finally,

you can help me with this one. Hint, hint, hint, hint. All right?

"Hi, can you _______. I need some help moving this big chair."

Can you...? [Yawns]. I don't know, that's

so difficult.

Did you say: "Can you lend me a hand"? [Laughs] See, I love you because

you are smart. Not just good looking. I know, your momma tells you this, but I'm going to

tell you you're not just good looking, you are smart, too. "Can you lend me a hand?"

because it's a really big chair. I'm going to need extra hands to help me. Yeah? Cool.

So, look, you helped me, you gave me a hand. I would like to say thank you once again,

because I love it when you help us out. Thanks. We love it here at engVid when you visit,

but I need you to come back and see us again, because this is a puny test. Hulk wants bigger

test. Okay? You got about 10 more questions or more at the website, and there are other

videos. What website, may you ask? Okay, I'll tell you. It is

www.eng as in English, vid as in video.com.

(www.engvid.com). Go visit, see myself, the other teachers, take the test, and see how you do.

And if you have a problem, come back, I'll lend you a hand, and you know,

we'll get it sorted. Cool? Anyway, you have a good one. I'll see you in a bit.

Popular expressions, "Lend a hand".

Chow.