VOA慢速英语2021--Buy and Pay

This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a request from a reader in Guinea. Here is the request:

Question:

Dear VOA, I'm Adama from Enta in Guinea. I would like to know the difference between "buy" and "pay." Thanks for your service!

-Adama, Guinea

Answer:

Hello Adama, we are happy to be of service.

I'm also glad that you asked about "buy" and "pay." As a native English speaker, I had never thought about the difference. Because of your question, I learned¹ something new!

Buy vs. pay

Here is what I learned: We can use "buy" or "pay" to talk about using money, but each word has a different focus². The verb³ "buy" means⁴ to get something by paying for it. The verb "pay" means to give money in exchange for goods or services.

Listen to these examples and think about the difference between the two words:

I just bought a used motorbike.

I paid $900 for the motorbike.

The musician bought a Mexican guitar.

She paid for the guitar with her credit⁵ card.

Is he going to buy us lunch?

Is he going to pay our bill?

Did you catch the difference? The verb "buy" puts the focus on the thing you are purchasing. The verb "pay" brings attention to the money that is being exchanged. "Pay" can also bring attention to the process. For example, the musician used a credit card to purchase the guitar.

Pay for vs. pay

You may have also noticed that the preposition⁶ "for" can appear after the verb "pay." We say "pay for" to talk about a thing or event we give money for and receive at the same time.

But when we use "pay" (without "for"), we are talking about the person or thing we are giving money to. You can pay a person, for example. Or you can pay a bill for goods or services that you already received.

And that's Ask a Teacher for this week.

Words in This Story

glad –adj. feeling pleasure, joy or happiness

focus –n. a main purpose or interest

guitar –n. a musical instrument usually with six strings⁷ that is held against the body and played with the fingers or with a pick

bill –n. a document that states how much you owe for a good or service

1 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

2 focus   

n.焦点，焦距；vi.聚焦，注视；vt.使聚焦，调焦，集中

参考例句：

• She was the focus of everyone's attention.她是大家注意的焦点。
• The noise made it hard for me to focus on work.噪音让我无法集中注意力工作。

3 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

4 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

5 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

6 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。

7 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。