Prestar or pedir prestado: to lend or to borrow
English already keeps the two roles apart — lend and borrow — and Spanish insists on the same split, only its second verb is a phrase. Prestar is to hand your own thing over to someone. Pedir prestado is to ask for someone else's thing for yourself. Mixing them up swaps the owner and the asker. For example: “¿Me prestas el coche este fin de semana?” — Will you lend me the car this weekend?. A rule from the Spanish…
How it works
English already keeps the two roles apart — lend and borrow — and Spanish insists on the same split, only its second verb is a phrase. Prestar is to hand your own thing over to someone. Pedir prestado is to ask for someone else's thing for yourself. Mixing them up swaps the owner and the asker.
The grammar each one takes is a hint at the role. Prestar works like dar, 'to give': the receiver comes as a short pronoun — te presto el coche, le presté el libro. Pedir prestado keeps the thing next to the verb and marks the source with a: le pedí prestado el coche a mi hermano, literally 'I asked the car as borrowed from my brother'. The participle agrees with the thing, not the person: pedí prestados veinte euros.
In Spain small everyday objects travel on a simpler word — dejar, literally 'to leave': ¿me dejas el boli?, ¿me dejas el móvil un momento?. It is prestar in its house clothes. When money is the subject, the pair prestar — pedir prestado comes back on stage.
Table
| who does what | in Spanish | example |
|---|---|---|
| I give my own thing | prestar | te presto veinte euros |
| I take someone else’s | pedir prestado | pedí prestados veinte euros |
| to whom I give | a short pronoun | le presté el libro |
| from whom I take | the preposition a | se lo pedí prestado a mi hermano |
| the everyday "lend" | dejar | ¿me dejas el móvil? |
| the classic mistake | prestar taken as "take" | "presté el coche a mi hermano" means YOU were the giver |
By example
- ¿Me prestas el coche este fin de semana?Will you lend me the car this weekend?
- Le pedí prestado el coche a mi hermanoI borrowed the car from my brother
- ¿Me dejas el boli un momento?Can I have your pen for a moment?
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Prestar vs pedir prestado?
English already keeps the two roles apart — lend and borrow — and Spanish insists on the same split, only its second verb is a phrase. Prestar is to hand your own thing over to someone. Pedir prestado is to ask for someone else's thing for yourself. Mixing them up swaps the owner and the asker.
How to say borrow twenty euros in Spanish?
The grammar each one takes is a hint at the role. Prestar works like dar, 'to give': the receiver comes as a short pronoun — te presto el coche, le presté el libro. Pedir prestado keeps the thing next to the verb and marks the source with a: le pedí prestado el coche a mi hermano, literally 'I…
What me dejas means?
In Spain small everyday objects travel on a simpler word — dejar, literally 'to leave': ¿me dejas el boli?, ¿me dejas el móvil un momento?. It is prestar in its house clothes. When money is the subject, the pair prestar — pedir prestado comes back on stage.
Me prestas or me dejas?
In Spain small everyday objects travel on a simpler word — dejar, literally 'to leave': ¿me dejas el boli?, ¿me dejas el móvil un momento?. It is prestar in its house clothes. When money is the subject, the pair prestar — pedir prestado comes back on stage.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“¿Me prestas el coche este fin de semana?” — Will you lend me the car this weekend?. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.