Vocabulary - Borrow, Lend, Rent, Use

Hi there, my name is Ronnie and I'm here to teach you English.

Today I'm going to talk about something that's very easily confused when we speak English.

I'm going to start off by a famous quote.

If you know who actually said this quote, give yourself a point for being really smart.

The quote is neither a borrower nor a lender bee.

This word is a little bit difficult to pronounce.

We say borrower, so borrower.

Neither a borrower nor a lender bee.

So today I'm going to teach you the difference between borrow, lend and rent.

Neither is when we have a double negative, it just means no.

And this also is the negative of or.

So you can say neither a borrower or a lender bee, but because this is in old English, we

say neither a borrower nor a lender bee.

So let's do this.

The first word that's very confusing is borrow.

We're going to contrast this word with lend.

The easiest way to remember this is who is doing the action.

So to borrow something means that you need something.

You do not have something.

For example, I do not have a car.

I ride a bicycle or I take public transportation.

Sometimes I need to borrow my mother's car.

So I do not have a car, my mom has a car.

So I will say to her, "Mom, can I please borrow your car?"

So borrow means you need something.

So to borrow means you need something so you ask someone for the thing or you ask for something.

So you are in need of the thing.

Now the other word that's very close to borrow is lend.

In this case, it's the opposite.

If I had a car and you didn't have a car, you would ask me if you could borrow my car.

I would lend you my car.

So this is the way this works.

To lend something is to give.

To lend is to give to someone in need.

So this is I have a car.

You want my car.

You would ask me, "Can you lend me your car?"

In the case of borrow, the question would be, "Can I borrow your car?"

Now, an easy, easy way and a good way to test your knowledge of borrow is like this.

Take the magic eraser.

Another way you can think of borrowing something, it's almost the same as renting.

The basis of borrowing or renting is that you get something.

Now the difference is when you borrow something, it is free.

You do not have to pay.

But when you rent something, you have to give the people money and you get to borrow that

item.

Now, very common things that we rent are DVDs.

If I go to the video store, I don't want to buy the DVD.

I cannot borrow it because the video store wants my money, so I can rent the DVD.

Another thing that you can rent is a car.

I do not have enough money to buy a car.

I can go and rent a car.

On the contrast to that, things I can borrow.

Does anyone know a place where you can borrow DVDs?

It's one of my favorite places.

It's not a bar.

It is a library.

At a library, you can also borrow DVDs.

You do not have to pay the library money.

You just give them your card and you promise to return them.

So you can borrow DVDs.

What else can you borrow at a library?

You can borrow books.

So an easy way to remember the difference between borrow and rent is borrow is no money.

However, when you rent something, they usually want lots and lots of your money.

So these are the differences between borrow and rent and lend.

One thing that is another word that is a little bit confusing in this context is the word

use.

The difference between use versus borrow, there's not a lot of difference.

The only difference is if you borrow something, you use it and you have to return it.

Usually when you use something, the idea that we will return it is there, but usually we

don't.

So I can use your pen.

If I use your pen, I'm going to write and maybe steal it, but you would never let me

use your car.

I would have to borrow your car.

So just be careful of that.

My friend recently came to my house and said, "Can I borrow your toilet?"

Are you going to take my toilet home?

You're very strong.

We don't say that.

If it's a thing that you want to keep in the place and use it right now, you're going to

say use.

Usually borrow, you take it home, play with it for a bit, and then return it.

So always remember this quote, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

This basically means don't lend people things and don't borrow things, especially money.

All right, what you can do is there's going to be a quiz about this lesson.

Please go to www.engvid.com and try the quiz.

Good luck.

Bye-bye.