陳國詩的英文分享平台

相信很多人都知道要用英文表示「付」所買東西的錢要用pay for。例如pay for the book/ for these vegetables/ for the fruit等等。但是，看看下面兩個句子：

•I have to pay for the service.

•I didn't have enough money to pay for the meal.

另外：

•If you want to go to London, I will pay the traveling expenses.

•Let me pay the bill this time.

•He broke a traffic rule and had to pay a fine.

•The landlord reminded me that it's time to pay the rent.

•How much income tax do you pay?

要釐清pay與pay for的用法並不困難。對於我們買的或享用的東西就得有for。我們可以把它想成那是因為我們為了(for)某種東西、享受或服務而付錢(pay)。至於bill, rent, tax, expenses等都是「錢」的概念，只不過沒有明白說出是多少而已，其實它的道理就好像pay 5000 dollars一樣，自然不需要for。bill（帳款）等是要給出去的，不是拿來享受的，所以不用for。也就是說，我們pay for所享用的餐點或服務。bill不是我們享用的東西，而是一種面對消費結果和事實的提醒，如何能pay for呢？