English lessons and resources




You are here: Home / English lessons / The difference between “borrow” and “lend”

The difference between “borrow” and “lend”

by

“borrow” and “lend” often confuse English students. Even some native speakers make mistakes with these 2 words!

Both words describe the action of somebody temporarily giving something to somebody else.

“borrow” and “lend” describe this same situation but from different perspectives.

lend

Definition

  • to give something to somebody for a temporary period of time.
  • The subject of the verb “lend” is the person who is giving something.
  • We expect them to return the object to us at a later time.

Jane is lending Mark some money

borrow and lend
Image courtesy of Ambro | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2 possible forms:

1) to lend somebody something
Example:
Jane is lending Mark some money.


2) to lend something to somebody
Example:
Jane is lending some money to Mark.

Past tense: lent (irregular)

I lent Mark my computer last week.

Past participle: lent (irregular)

David has lent me his car because mine has been stolen.

borrow

Definition

  • to take something from somebody for a temporary period of time.
  • The subject of the verb “borrow” is the person who is taking and receiving something.
  • We expect to return the object to the person at a later time.

 

Mark is borrowing some money from Jane.

borrow and lend
Image courtesy of Ambro | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1 possible form:

to borrow something from somebody

Example:
Mark is borrowing some money from Jane.

Past tense: borrowed (regular)

I borrowed a DVD from Jane yesterday.

Past participle: borrowed (regular)

Sarah has borrowed my phone because hers is broken.

Common mistake with corrections

People often make mistakes by mixing up both of these words:

Can you borrow me a pen? wrong

This is wrong because we are asking someone to give us something. The subject of the question is giving. Therefore we must use “lend” or change the subject of the question:

Can you lend me a pen? tick

Can I borrow a pen? tick

Conclusion

The important thing to remember is:

If the subject of the sentence is giving -> lend
If the subject of the sentence is taking -> borrow

Video lesson with exercises:

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hi, it was an informative lesson. I enjoyed learning it. I would say you must have added something like one who lends is “lender” and one who borrows is “borrower”.
    English is very difficult to learn and speak the way English speakers speak. Always at BBC I come across a very different and refreshing style of English speaking and writing.
    Efforts from your side to teach us are highly appreciated.!!!

  2. Hi, it was very informative lesson. thanks very much.
    The difference among “Product” and “fabrication” and “make”
    thanks in advance.

  4. Thank you , your teaching Technic is really good .Because of it students can understand it easily and in addition to it , they can remember easily and can use into sentence quickly.

  5. Thanks a lot.The way you have explained the difference between the words in question is excellent. Now everyone ,who is in doubt,can use the words correctly.

  7. Hi, thanks a lot now i know the difference between lend and borrow, and would not be misusing it any longer.

  10. The article was perfectly written by Andrew. Here in Brazil we use only one word to express the same thing. If you give temporaly someting to somebody we use the verb “emprestar”. Likewise we use the verb “emprestar”when we receive something.