How to use “借” in Chinese

借 (jiè), 借给 (jiègěi) and 跟…借 (gēn…jiè) in Chinese are all used to talk about borrowing and lending. Chinese just has 借 to cover any situation, whilst English has separate words for "to borrow" and "to lend". Which one it means depends on how the sentence is structured.

中文里的"借"、"借给"和"跟……借……"都是用于谈论borrowing和lending的。中文只需用"借"这个字就可涵盖各类情况，包括借出和借进，而英文则要用不同的两个词"to borrow"和"to lend"来区分。要表达哪个意思取决于句子的组织方式。

借给: to lend to

To talk about lending things to people in Chinese, you can use the word 借给.

想用中文表达"借东西给别人"，你可以使用"借给"这个词。

Remember that because 借给 is actually two words joined together (verb and preposition), it very often gets split up in Chinese sentences.

注意一点，由于"借给"这个词实际上是两个词的组合（动词和介词），它经常在中文句子里被分开。

Some example sentences where 借给 stays together as one unit:

看看"借给"作为一个整体使用的例句：

你能借给我点儿钱吗？

nǐ néng jiè gěi wǒ diǎnr qián ma?

Can you lend me some money?

你借给他的那些东西收回了没有？

nǐ jiè gěi tā dì nàxiē dōngxi shōuhuíle méiyǒu?

Have you got those things that you lent him back?

Some sentences where 借给 gets split up:

看看"借给"被分开使用的例句：

你可以借十块钱给我吗？

nǐ kěyǐ jiè shí kuài qián gěi wǒ ma?

Could you lend me ten dollars?

我让他借那本书给我。

wǒ ràng tā jiè nà běn shū gěi wǒ.

I got him to lend me that book.

你急需钱的话我可以借一些给你。

nǐ jíxū qián dehuà wǒ kěyǐ jiè yīxiē gěi nǐ.

If you urgently need money I can you lend you some.

Because it talks about the disposal of the object, 借给 is often used with 把 (bǎ). Some examples:

由于涉及到物品的支配，"借给"经常与"把"搭配使用。一些例子：

她说服她妈妈把汽车借给她了。

tā shuìfú tā māmā bǎ qìchē jiè gěi tāle.

She persuaded her mum to lend her the car.

你能把你的笔记借给我一下吗？

nǐ néng bǎ nǐ de bǐjì jiè gěi wǒ yīxià ma?

Could you lend me your notes?

我把那本书借给他了, 可是他还没还给我。

wǒ bǎ nà běn shū jiè gěi tāle, kěshì tā hái méi hái gěi wǒ.

I lent that book to him, but he still hasn't given it back.

跟…借: to borrow from

To talk about "borrowing from" as opposed to "lending to" you can use 跟…借, putting the person borrowed from in the middle. The basic structure is:

想表达跟"lending to"相反的"borrowing from"的话，你可以用"跟……借……"，同时将你要借的对象放于中间。基本结构是：

[borrower] 跟 [lender] 借 [item]

Some example sentences for 跟…借:

一些使用"跟……借……"的例句：

他经常跟图书馆借书。

tā jīngcháng gēn túshū guǎn jiè shū.

He often borrows books from the library.

我跟她借了五百块钱。

wǒ gēn tā jièle wǔbǎi kuài qián.

I borrowed five hundred dollars from her.

他跟我借了自行车。

tā gēn wǒ jièle zìxíngchē.

He borrowed my bike.

As you can see from the example sentences, 跟…借 tends to be a bit more straightforward to use than 借给.

你可以从例句里看出，"跟……借……"与"借给"相比较为直截了当。

借: borrowing or lending

借 can mean either "borrow" or "lend". You just have to figure it out from context. Some example sentences for 借:

"借"可以表示"borrow"或"lend"的意思，你只需要根据上下语境进行推断。一些使用"借"的例句：

我可以借你的铅笔吗？

wǒ kěyǐ jiè nǐ de qiānbǐ ma?

Can I borrow your pencil?

为了读学位，我可能得借一笔学生贷款。

wèile dú xuéwèi, wǒ kěnéng de jiè yī bǐ xuéshēng dàikuǎn.

I might have to borrow a student loan to study for my degree.

我不想借出我的相机。

wǒ bùxiǎng jiè wǒ de xiàngjī.

I don't want to lend my camera.

他很少借钱。

tā hěn shǎo jiè qián.

He rarely borrows money. He rarely lends money.

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