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# owe

«owe» in Mova's school dictionary: **To have to pay back money that someone lent you** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (owe, owes, owed, owing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To have to pay back money that someone lent you. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#m1)

2) To have to give or do something for someone because of what they did: «I owe you a favour». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#m2)

3) To have something because of someone: «I owe my success to my coach». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In maths and money lessons, owing means a debt: if you borrowed $5 and paid back $3, you still owe $2 (subtract). In manners, «I owe you one» means you will help back. Phrases: «owe someone money», «owe someone an apology», «owing to» (because of).

### examples

- I owe my brother two dollars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#x1)
- You owe me an apology. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#x2)
- Thanks for helping — I owe you one! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#x3)
- He borrowed $10 and paid back $6, so he owes $4. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#x4)
- We owe our safety to the lifeguard. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#x5)
- The match was cancelled owing to rain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#x6)
- “But I owe money to several people.” [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/#x7)

### note

Past: owed. Pronounced like «oh». «Owing to» = because of. Maths: amount owed = amount borrowed − amount paid back.

### In the corpora

- [An employment tribunal is a kind of court for work disputes, such as being sacked unfairly or not being paid what is owed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/4-when-work-goes-wrong/17/)
- [Debt is money that has been borrowed and is still owed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/8-borrowing-and-debt/0/)
- [Bailiffs can collect money owed only after a court decision and many warnings, under strict rules, and cannot take essentials.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/8-borrowing-and-debt/20/)
- [Families don't owe the street their news first; when a baby arrives, the kind reply is «congratulations».](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/15/)
- [I owe it all to you, my best of friends!»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/32-willows-ch2-part4-the-wreck-and-the-new-craze/35/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «owe» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/owe/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.