Pay For

Pay for means to give money for something you want to buy.

Q1: Wow, I like your jacket (jeans / sweater / umbrella / ring / hair). How much
did you pay for it?
A1: I paid $65 dollars for it.

Q2: How much did you pay for the taxi last night?
A2. It cost me an arm and a leg. It was Saturday night and raining, also. I had to
pay $18 bucks. I almost freaked out when I saw the fare because I only had $18 dollars left.

* An arm and a leg = very expensive. This is commonly used slang in English.
* bucks = dollars. Slang word used for dollars.
*Dollars are used in Canada and the United States, as well as many other countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore too. Each country’s dollar has a different value from the others.
*Fare = price of taxi.

Practice:
How much does it cost to get a Big Mac in your country?
What is the name of the money used in your country? Does your country use dollars?
How much would you pay for a nice meal in a restaurant?

A: I would normally pay ___________________ for a Big Mac.
A: The money in my country is called _______________.
A: I would normally pay ___________________ for a meal at a nice restaurant.

Pay For (2 – slang)

Pay for also has a slang meaning which means, revenge will fall upon you. See the following example.

Man 1: “I can’t believe it, my best friend stabbed me in the back and went out on a date with the girl I am in love with. He is going to pay for that!”
Man 2: Yeah, you can’t trust anyone these days.

*stabbed me in the back = when you trust someone and they do something to violate that trust.

Eg: I have been friends with him since we were children and now he stabbed me in the back by dating my girlfriend when I was away on vacation. He is a backstabber!