VOA一分鐘英語：辨析表示 “租” 的動詞 hire, rent, let

英國人在表示 “租” 的意思時，常常會用到動詞 “hire、rent” 和 “let”，但這三個詞語所表達的意思和使用的場景卻不同。在英式英語中，與 “短租” 和 “長租” 相對應的分別是兩個不同的動詞；在美式英語中，動詞 “hire” 的含義又和 “租用東西” 完全不同。
 
Hi, everyone! We’re going to talk about three verbs with very similar meanings today: hire, rent and let.
I’m mainly going to explain how we use these verbs in British English. But I will also mention some American usage too.
Both rent and hire mean ‘to pay for the use of something’. However, in British English we normally use the verb rent to talk about a long-term arrangement.
For example, you can rent a house, flat or TV.
When talking about a short-term arrangement, we normally use the verb hire.
For example, you could hire a car, a bike or a suit.
The difference in American English is that the verb rent can be used for both long and short-term arrangements.
The verb hire has a completely different meaning. It’s used to mean ‘to employ somebody’.
Finally, we have the verb let. You might hear this word in the phrase room to let, for example, which means that ‘the room is available to rent’.
Thanks for joining us, everybody. Bye.
 
用法總結
1 在英式英語中，“rent” 可以表示 “長期租賃”，比如 “rent a house（租房子）”；“hire” 可以表示 “短期租用”，比如 “hire a bike（租自行車）”；而 “to let” 的搭配可以表示房屋、房間 “可供出租”。
I’m going to rent this new flat.
He’s renting this huge screen for commercial use.
Did you hire a car to get here?
She hired a gown to attend the wedding.
Here is a room to let.
 
2 在美式英語中，“rent” 用來表示無論時間長短的 “租用”。
I’m going to rent this new flat.
Did you rent a car to get here?
 
3 在美式英語中，“hire” 不可以表示 “租用”， 只能表示 “雇傭” 某人。
She hired me to do the job.
 
4 美式英語一般使用 “for rent” 來表達 “可供出租”。
Here is a room for rent.