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Verbs with 'pay' 动词短语比较

"Hi, I am very confused about the words 'pay off', 'pay out', 'pay up' and 'repay'. Would you please tell me how to use them correctly? Thanks a lot!"

Shirley

Phrasal verbs can be difficult.

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In this programme, we examine three different phrasal verbs which use the word 'pay': 'pay off', 'pay out' and 'pay up'.

We also look at the verb 'repay'.

Here are the example sentences used in the programme. Can you work out the meanings of the verbs with 'pay'?

Mike had difficulty repaying the bank loan.

A: Thank you so much for your help. How can I repay you?

B: Don't mention it. Just buy me a coffee some time.

We have to pay out 100,000 RMB on a new computer system.

We had several emails reminding us to pay up.

Buying that new computer system really paid off. It meant we could do business with more customers very smoothly.

Unfortunately, our company still has a lot of debt. We need to pay it off by the end of the year.

Unfortunately we had to pay Xiaomin off.

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