Borrow – Lend – Loan

Borrow – Lend – Loan

What’s the difference between: borrow, lend, and loan?
They can be very similar but mean completely different things. Please read the explanations and the examples below:

Borrow

Word forms: borrows | borrowing | borrowed
Take a loan, take, adopt.
To use something that belongs to someone else and that you must give back to them later.
To borrow something from somebody or something. to receive money from a person, an organization, or a bank which you must pay back later.

Here are some examples with borrow:

• He borrowed a lot of money from the bank.
• Can I borrow your pen for a minute?
• You are only allowed to borrow five books from the library at a time.
• You can borrow up to seven books on your library card.
• It is interesting that English has borrowed lots of words from so many languages.
• Dad, can I borrow your car for the weekend?
• I borrowed this dress from my sister.
• I wish Mike would buy himself a car. He’s always borrowing mine.
• Many companies had borrowed heavily to cover their losses.
• I borrowed $150,000 from the bank.
• Can I borrow $50?

Lend

Word forms: lends | lending | lent
The opposite of borrowing.
When you lend something that you own to someone, you allow that person to have it or use it for a certain period.
To lend something to somebody or something.
Take as a loan, ask for a loan. use temporarily, receive as a loan, lease, hire, take.
To let someone borrow money or something that belongs to you for a short time.
To grant the use of something that will be returned.

Here are some examples with lend:

• I lent my book to Marc and I haven’t got it back yet.
• The hospital agreed to lend us a wheelchair.
• Banks and finance organizations are unwilling to lend money to new businesses.
• Can you lend me $50?
• She lent me her umbrella because it was raining.
• I lent my hammer to my neighbor.

Loan

Word forms: loans | loaning | loaned
Credit, advance, mortgage, overdraft, give a loan, lending, money lending.
The act of lending. Loan is most commonly used in financial contexts.

Here are some examples with loan:

• The loan of a book.
• The bank granted the loan.
• The bank agreed to loan us $150,000.
• That bank makes loans to new businesses. 
• She took out a loan to buy a new car, now she can relax and enjoy life.
• He couldn’t afford the loan after losing his job. 

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