Bonjour! Est-ce que quelqu'un pourrait m'expliquer pourquoi l'exercise dit "payer pour qqch" au lieu de payer qqch? Est-ce que payer devrait etre transitif dans ce cas? (Desole pour ne pas avoir mis les accents!) Merci en avance!
Payer qqch
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
Hi Alex,
As I understand it the difference is "to pay against something" and "to pay for something"
In the first instance "to pay the rent" versus "to pay for the damage"
So in the text of the exercise, the broken window needs to be paid for.
"Payer pour qqch" --> rembourser
Hope this helps
Jim
The verb payer usually takes a direct object to specify where the money goes. It is also OK to use pour in that case:
J'ai paié le dîner 50 Euro. -- I paid 50 Euro for the dinner.
J'ai paié 50 Euro pour le dîner. -- I paid 50 Euro for the dinner.
If you pay for something and you want to explicitly specify where the money goes, use à:
Je paie le livre à mon frère. -- I'm paying my brother (for) the book.
Sometimes "to pay for" is used in a figurative sense as in, e.g., "to pay for one's crime". In these cases you use pour:
Le voleur paiera pour son crime. -- The thief will pay for his crime.
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level