owe
- 01 B1 Intermediate
to need to pay money back to someone because you borrowed it or bought something.
to be under a legal or contractual obligation to pay a sum of money to a person or entity.
Simple“I still owe my brother twenty dollars for the concert tickets he bought.”
In context“The small business struggled to stay afloat because several major clients still owed them substantial sums for services rendered months ago.”
UsageOften used with two objects: the person (indirect) and the amount (direct).
PitfallI owe to him ten dollars. I owe him ten dollars.The verb 'owe' is ditransitive; you do not need 'to' before the person you are paying.
Synonymsbe in debtbe beholden - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to feel that you should do something for someone because they helped you in the past.
to be under a moral or social obligation to provide something or perform an action for someone.
Simple“I owe you a huge favour after you helped me move house last weekend.”
In context“After the public misunderstanding, the minister felt he owed his constituents a detailed explanation of the policy changes.”
UsageCommonly used in the phrase 'owe someone an apology'.
Synonymsbe indebted - 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
to have something because of someone else's help or a specific reason.
to attribute a particular success, state, or quality to a specific cause or person.
Simple“She owes her success to her hard work and the support of her family.”
In context“The city owes much of its current architectural character to the urban planning initiatives launched in the late nineteenth century.”
UsageUsually follows the pattern 'owe [something] to [someone/something]'.
“We owe it to future generations to act.”
“Scott Bodie that he became a free agent at the age of 27, and felt he owed it to himself to test the market and see what else was out there.”
From Middle English owen, from Old English āgan, from Proto-West Germanic aigan (“to own”), from Proto-Germanic aiganą, from Proto-Indo-European h₂eh₂óyḱe (“to possess, own”), reduplicated stative of h₂eyḱ- (“to own”). See also own, ought. Cognate with Sanskrit ईष्टे (īṣṭe, “to own, possess”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.