Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of pruntepreni
Coloured illustration of pruntepreni
#1768 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to borrow

Word origin

An Esperanto compound rather than a borrowing: prunte, on loan, plus preni, to take. The root prunt- came in with the Romance words for a loan, French pret and emprunter among them, which go back to Latin praestare, to furnish or provide.

Origin
Esperanto build on a Latin root
Root
prunte + preni

Examples

?

May I borrow your book?

.

He borrowed money from his father.

; .

They lend books out; we borrow them.

This is the mirror of , to lend, and the pair is the tidiest thing in the whole vocabulary of money. Prunte means on loan; bolt it to , to give, and you give on loan, which is lending; bolt it to , to take, and you take on loan, which is borrowing. Two verbs, one difference, and no chance of the muddle English speakers make when they say "lend me your book" and "borrow me a fiver".

The reason the compounds exist at all is that plain is ambiguous: it has been used for both directions since the early days, and context has to sort it out. In writing, or any time money is involved, spell out which way the thing is travelling. Note also that the compound keeps prunte with its adverbial -e inside the word, so the past is , never pruntoprenis.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Esperanto · Free printables

pruntepreni: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "pruntepreni" (to borrow): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 36.