taai3貸贷
Jyutpingtaai3
Yaletaai
Definition
To loan or lend money.
writtenmoney
How it's used
Unlike the common verb 借, which can mean both to borrow and to lend, 貸 is almost exclusively used in formal or financial contexts. It carries a sense of institutional lending or credit, making it sound out of place in casual conversation between friends. You will mostly encounter it in compound words like 貸款 or 借貸.
Examples
He loaned a large sum of money to the company.
Related words
Common mistake
Do not use 貸 as a direct substitute for 借 in everyday speech. If you want to say you are lending something to a friend, use 借畀 instead of 貸畀 to avoid sounding overly bureaucratic or stiff.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- QuestionsFrom yes or no questions to asking who, what, where, and when. The patterns you need to ask questions naturally in Cantonese.
- ClassifiersCantonese puts a classifier between a number and a noun, and a bare classifier on its own can mean the. Learn the common ones and how to use them.
- ComparisonsHow to say bigger than, the most, the same as, and not as good as. Cantonese uses 過 where Mandarin uses 比, and that catches a lot of learners out.
