pay back — return money
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
to give someone the money that you borrowed from them.
Say it like a native
Textbook I will reimburse you for the sum I borrowed.
Native I'll pay you back next week.
'Pay back' is the everyday phrase for returning money; 'reimburse' is formal/admin.
Pattern: pay back (someone) | pay (someone) back
In use
- I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my salary.money
- If I ever borrow money from a friend, I always make sure to pay them back quickly because I don’t want to damage our relationship.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I'll pay back you tomorrow.
✓ I'll pay you back tomorrow.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'pay you back'.
Common collocations
pay + back + money— you back, the loan, back £50, in instalments
Don't confuse it
Not the same as 'give back', which is for returning things, not money.
Related
- pay back (get revenge) — Another meaning of 'pay back' is 'get revenge'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.