Q: How do you say "borrow" in Spanish? A: You don't.
But it's not as difficult as it seems. Spanish has two good verbs that mean "to lend / to loan": "dejar" and "prestar". Basically, instead of saying "Can I borrow your pen?" in Spanish you say "Can you lend me your pen?". The following examples should help illustrate the point:
Spanish
1. ¿Puedes dejarme / prestarme tu chaqueta?
2. Quería que Juan me dejara / prestara su moto pero me dijo que no.
3. Pepe quería que le dejara / prestara mi barco.
4. ¿Cuando puedes dejarme / prestarme el libro?
English
1. Can I borrow your jacket? / Can you lend me your jacket?
2. I wanted to borrow Juan's motorcycle but he said no. / I wanted Juan to lend me his motorcycle but he said no.
3. Pepe wanted to borrow my boat. / Pepe wanted me to lend him my boat.
4. When can I borrow the book? / When can you lend me the book?
Notice that you can express the sentence either way in English, but the second version in the examples above is the one that is equivalent to the way Spanish does it.
By the way, Spanish-speakers learning English usually have a difficult time with the concept of "borrow" and only sort it out by remembering that the person borrowing is on the receiving end while the person lending is on the giving end. This is one instance where I think it's easier to learn in Spanish than in English.
Brad
