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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