{"id":22675,"date":"2015-12-03T23:11:26","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T22:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=22675"},"modified":"2017-10-24T14:50:46","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T12:50:46","slug":"can-i-borrow-a-few-minutes-of-your-time-borrowing-and-loaning-in-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/can-i-borrow-a-few-minutes-of-your-time-borrowing-and-loaning-in-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I Borrow a Few Minutes of Your Time? Borrowing and Loaning in French"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, French\u2026 The language of love. The language of diplomacy. The language of Moli\u00e8re. And unfortunately for learners of French, the language of so many confusing pairs! Whether you\u2019re asking yourself if you need to use en or dans<\/span><\/a>, c\u2019est or il est<\/span><\/a>, or encore or toujours<\/span><\/a>, you\u2019re going to keep running into words or concepts that are the same or closely related in your language, but don\u2019t quite work in French. <\/span><\/p>\n

Along with bring and take<\/span><\/a>, another mistake I hear from time to time is loan and borrow. I don\u2019t hear it too often from native speakers, but when I do, I\u2019m always taken aback.\u00a0 <\/span>Just as bring and take refer to the speaker\u2019s point of reference, loan and borrow are the same. It\u2019s based on the direction of the object, c\u2019est-\u00e0-dire <\/b>(that is to say) from Person A to Person B, or from Person B to Person A, and who is doing the speaking. <\/span><\/p>\n

Language is very much alive, and as more and more speakers use (or don\u2019t use) a certain term, the \u2018established language rules\u2019 can change over time. A hundred and fifty years ago, you\u2019d hear and see whom<\/i> all the time. These days, those who use it are often accused of being pompous even though its grammatical function still holds true. Using who and whom is the exact same as using he and him, so why has the objective form of who become old fashioned? The answer could indeed be explained in detail in its own essay, but essentially the word has been used less and less over time to the point that it\u2019s become nonstandard in the present-day English vernacular. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because of how people use the word, whom is disappearing (adieu<\/b>, I say!). On that same note, speakers of certain dialects of English in the Caribbean Islands have been using \u201cborrow\u201d so often to mean \u201cloan,\u201d that it\u2019s come to be the accepted term. <\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing as its merely a \u2018directional\u2019 word, it\u2019s easy to see how the terms can be confused. Below, I\u2019ve explained how to use these terms in French and also included some similar vocabulary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Borrow<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/span>When to use it<\/i>: Borrowing something means you\u2019re taking something from someone \u2014 with permission \u2014 with the intention of returning it. <\/span><\/p>\n

In French, the verb for to borrow is emprunter<\/b> (quelque chose \u00e0* quelqu\u2019un<\/b>) <\/b>(to borrow something from someone). For example:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Marc me demande tous les jours s\u2019il peut emprunter ma voiture. <\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Mark asks me every day if he can borrow my car.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Puis-je emprunter 20 \u20ac ? Je te les rends vendredi. <\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Can I borrow 20 euros? I\u2019ll pay you back Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Savez-vous que vous pouvez emprunter beaucoup plus que des livres \u00e0 la biblioth\u00e8que ? <\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Did you know you can borrow a lot more than just books from the library?<\/span><\/p>\n

In all 3 of these examples, the person would like to TAKE something from another person. <\/span><\/p>\n

* =\u00a0 <\/span>Take special note of the preposition! While \u00e0<\/b> translates to \u201cto\u201d in English, French uses it here where in English we\u2019d use from!<\/span><\/p>\n

Loan<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/span>When to use it<\/i>: Loaning or lending something means you\u2019re giving something to someone with the expectation that he or she will return it.<\/span><\/p>\n

In French, the verb for to loan is pr\u00eater <\/b>(quelque chose \u00e0 quelqu\u2019un<\/b>) <\/b>(to loan something to someone). For example:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Tu as pr\u00eat\u00e9 ta voiture \u00e0 Samia !? Quelle mauvaise id\u00e9e !<\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>You loaned your car to Samia!? What a horrible idea!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Vincent<\/b> esp\u00e8re que la banque va lui pr\u00eater l\u2019argent. <\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Vincent hopes the bank loans him the money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Je ne pr\u00eate plus jamais mes livres car ils me reviennent trop rarement en bon \u00e9tat. <\/b>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>I no longer loan my books out because they rarely come back to me in good shape.<\/span><\/p>\n

In all 3 examples, these people are hoping to GET something from another person.<\/span><\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Other Uses for These Verbs
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span>Pr\u00eater <\/b>and emprunter<\/b>, <\/b>in addition to meaning borrow and loan, have a few other meanings as well. Below you can check out other ways to use these verbs. Luckily, one of them is super short \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

Pr\u00eater<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\nconsentir un pr\u00eat <\/b>\u2014 to take out a loan
\ncontracter un pr\u00eat <\/b>\u2014 to take out a loan
\npr\u00eater attention \u00e0 <\/b>\u2014 to pay attention to
\n<\/span>pr\u00eater le flanc \u00e0 la critique<\/b> \u2014to leave yourself open to criticism
\npr\u00eater l\u2019oreille \u00e0 quelqu\u2019un\/quelque chose <\/b>\u2014to lend somebody an ear \/ listen to something
\npr\u00eater main-forte \u00e0 quelqu\u2019un <\/b>\u2014 to lend a hand to somebody
\npr\u00eater serment <\/b>\u2014 to take an oath
\npr\u00eater son visage \u00e0<\/b> \u2014 to become the face of (a brand)
\npr\u00eater \u00e0 confusion<\/b> \u2014 to give rise to confusion
\n<\/span>se pr\u00eater au jeu<\/b> \u2014 to play along
\n<\/span>se pr\u00eater \u00e0 quelque chose<\/b> \u2014 to lend itself to (something)
\ns\u2019y pr\u00eater<\/b> \u2014 to be favorable to \/ to lend itself to (something)<\/span><\/p>\n

Emprunter<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\nemprunter un chemin <\/b>\u2014 to follow a path
\ncontracter un emprunt <\/b>\u2014 to take out a loan
\nfaire<\/b> un emprunt <\/b>\u2014 to take out a loan<\/span><\/p>\n

Similar & Related Vocabulary
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span>un emprunt <\/b>\u2014 a loan (used if you\u2019re the one who received the money). Linguistically, it can mean a loan word.
\nun emprunt \u00e0 taux z\u00e9ro <\/b>\u2014 a zero-rate loan
\nun emprunt obligatoire <\/b>\u2014 a bond debt
\ncalcul\u00e9 au centime pr\u00eat <\/b>\u2014 worked out to the last cent
\nun emprunt obligatoire <\/b>\u2014 a bond debt
\nun pr\u00eat \u00e0 la consommation <\/b>\u2014 a consumer loan
\nun pr\u00eat \u00e9tudiant <\/b>\u2014 a student loan \ud83d\ude41
\nun pr\u00eat immobilier<\/b><\/span><\/a> <\/b>\u2014 a real estate loan \/ mortgage
\nle remboursement d\u2019un pr\u00eat <\/b>\u2014 loan repayment
\nune soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de pr\u00eat hypoth\u00e9caire <\/b>\u2014 mortgage company
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Ah, French\u2026 The language of love. The language of diplomacy. The language of Moli\u00e8re. And unfortunately for learners of French, the language of so many confusing pairs! Whether you\u2019re asking yourself if you need to use en or dans, c\u2019est or il est, or encore or toujours, you\u2019re going to keep running into words or…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":22677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22675","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28889,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22675\/revisions\/28889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}