PAY Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar

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hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome

back to know your verbs in this lesson

we’re going to talk about the verb pay

let’s go

so the basic definition of the verb pay

is to give money in exchange for goods

or in exchange for services examples I

got paid today

he pays staff on the 20th of every month

now let’s look at the conjugations for

the verb present pay pays past paid past

participle paid progressive paying

now let’s look at some additional

meanings for this verb first meaning

meaning number one is to give an

advantage to someone or something let’s

look at some examples crime doesn’t pay

it pays to have good connections okay so

these are examples of the meaning of the

verb pay in terms of giving someone

something good some kind of advantage or

some kind of benefit the first example

sentence is negative crime doesn’t pay

meaning crime doesn’t give you an

advantage or crime doesn’t give you any

benefits so that’s a negative example no

benefits in the second example I said it

pays to have good connections so it pays

to have them means it provides an

advantage it’s a benefit to have good

connections so we can say it pays to

have maybe like rich family members oh

that would be nice I don’t know about

that the way it pays to have good

connections means there’s some kind of

benefit to having good connection so we

can use pay to refer to advantages okay

meaning to for this verb meaning to is

quite a broad open meaning so we can use

pay to mean to give something but there

are kind of a few set expressions that

we use like when we want to mean giving

something with the verb pay so I’ll

introduce a couple of really common

examples here first hey pay attention

I’m talking we are here to pay respects

to our grandfather okay in these example

sentences I used two very common

expressions first was pay attention so

in this case it’s a command I’m saying

pay attention hey pay attention I’m

commanding you or it’s like a strong

request saying pay attention means

essentially give me your attention

give me your focus pay attention is the

expression we use for that hey pay

attention I’m talking listen to me give

me your focus I’m talking so in that

expression we use pay pay attention in

the second example sentence I used the

expression pay respects or we also can

say pay our respects both are fine

but to pay respects means like to give

you a respect to another person like I’m

here to give my respect to my

grandfather we would say this at like a

serious ceremony like a funeral perhaps

or some kind of memorial ceremony or I

don’t know something that’s very very

formal like pay your respects to the

Emperor perhaps so super super formal

situations we would say I’m here to pay

my respects to someone usually it’s

typically to a person so in this case

you are giving your respect and also

interestingly enough in this expression

we tend to use the plural respects here

to pay my respects to someone so not the

singular respect but respects meaning

like there perhaps many different ways I

respect that person so we use pay

respects there give our respect okay

let’s go to meaning number three for

this verb so the third meaning is to

suffer the consequences of something

suffering the consequences means getting

punishment essentially let’s look at

some examples you shall pay for your

crimes against humanity and we drank too

much last night and we’re paying for it

this morning okay so both of these

example sentences show suffering some

kind of suffering as punishment for

something so in the first one I gave a

very dramatic sentence you shall pay for

your crimes against humanity means you

shall suffer the consequences you shall

be punished because of your crimes

against humanity humanity means all

people so someone has done something

very bad they are going to receive

punishment you shall pay it sounds very

formal maybe a little old-fashioned like

you might see in a scary movie or a

fantasy movie something like that yeah

the second one may be a more common

example for some of you we drank too

much last night we’re paying for it this

morning so the speaker is speaking this

morning in the morning after drinking

too much the night before so meaning

we’re suffering now the punishment for

drinking too much last night is

happening now we’re paying for it we’re

suffering in this moment it’s not a good

thing so we can use pay to me

suffering because of something bad you

did

okay so let’s take a look at some

variations of this verb and how we can

use it first one to pay back to pay back

so to pay back means to return money you

owe someone sorry it took so long to pay

you back hey you haven’t paid me back

for dinner last week so you can hear in

these example sentences we can pay

someone back we don’t have to say like

to pay back I need to pay back my friend

you can actually put the person you need

to give money to between pay and back so

I need to pay my friend back is okay or

I need to pay back my friend that’s also

okay

you’ll hear native speakers use both of

those I think I tend to put it between

pay and back I would say I need to pay

my friend back for coffee the other day

or sorry I forgot to pay you back

I would probably separate the phrasal

verb in my case so to pay someone back

means to give them money you owed him

the second variation is to pay off to

pay off this means to finish making

payments on something here are some

examples first I finally paid off my

house when do you expect to pay off your

credit card so to pay off something is

something you have been making payments

on for a long time not just one payment

but a house is a great example maybe for

many many years you pay some money each

month that’s called a mortgage or a loan

as both but you pay money each month and

finally when you finish making those

payments we say I’ve paid off that thing

I paid off my house or I paid off my car

for example so to finish making payments

on something we can do the same thing

for credit cards like I pay off my

credit card every month means I finish

making payments or I pay the full amount

every month for my credit card in my

example sentence when do you expect to

pay off your credit card means like how

long do you think at what time do you

think you’ll finish paying all the money

on your credit card so to pay off means

to finish making payments on something

alright good so those are a few

perhaps new ways of using the verb pay

for you if you have some other ways of

using the verb pay or if you want to try

to make an example sentence please feel

free to do so in the comment section if

you have any questions of course please

let us know as well thanks very much for

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thanks very much and we’ll see you again

next time ah you will pay for your

crimes you shall pay for your crimes

you’d like you perfect

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