Lend vs Borrow — Basic Practice

Lend and borrow describe the same action from two different perspectives. Lend is from the giver's point of view — you lend something to someone, meaning you allow them to use it temporarily: "Can you lend me your pen?" Borrow is from the receiver's point of view — you borrow something from someone, meaning you take it temporarily: "Can I borrow your pen?" Both sentences describe the same situation, but the perspective changes which verb is correct.

The grammar patterns are different too. Lend takes two objects: "lend + person + thing" — "She lent me her umbrella." You can also say "lend + thing + to + person" — "She lent her umbrella to me." Borrow takes "from": "borrow + thing + from + person" — "I borrowed her umbrella from her." A common mistake is saying "Can you borrow me your book?" — this mixes both verbs into one incorrect sentence. The correct version is "Can you lend me your book?" or "Can I borrow your book?" Remember: lend = give temporarily (I lend to you), borrow = receive temporarily (I borrow from you). This distinction is regularly tested in Cambridge A2 Key and B1 Preliminary exams.