Borrowing and lending · Money and prices
pay interest
pay borrowing cost
To pay interest is to pay extra money for borrowing money.
This vs that
I pay interest on my loan.
I earn interest on my savings.
Hear it in real life
Is the credit card expensive to use?
Yes, you pay interest if you don't clear the balance each month.
If we pay the loan off early, we won't pay as much interest.
Which sounds natural?
Psst — which one would you actually say?
The native version uses ordinary financial language rather than an abstract explanation.
The mistake everyone makes
Not: I have to pay interests on my loan every month.
Say: I have to pay interest on my loan every month.
Interest is uncountable when referring to borrowing costs.
Say it together
Whole chunks natives use with it.
pay interest on ___
You pay interest on the outstanding balance.
We paid a lot of interest on the mortgage.
Phrases to borrow
More for talking about borrowing and lending.
borrow money from ___
I had to borrow money from my brother temporarily.
owe ___ for ___
I still owe my sister for the train tickets.
Borrowing and lending words
Money and prices · Borrowing and lending: the words around “pay interest”.
More connectionsMore borrowing and lending words · Related10
More borrowing and lending words
Your turn: say it out loud
I'm paying quite a lot of interest on the loan.
Say it out loud two or three times, until it feels like yours.
pay interest
pay borrowing cost
“If we pay the loan off early, we won't pay as much interest.”
heytardy