borrow/lend
ˈbɒrəʊ / lend
Which hand the thing ends up in
The picture A pencil crossing the desk into your own hand is borrow; the same pencil leaving your hand for the hand opposite is lend. BORROW comes into your hand; LEND leaves your hand.
Where the picture shows up in borrow/lend
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into your own hand
Can I borrow your pen for a second?
kən aɪ ˈbɒrəʊ jɔː pen fər ə ˈsekənd
Can I borrow your pen for a second?
At a counter, a pen travelling from the other side of the desk onto your open palm
After borrow comes the thing — not borrow you, but borrow your pen.
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out of your hand
I lent him my charger this morning.
aɪ lent hɪm maɪ ˈtʃɑːdʒə ðɪs ˈmɔːnɪŋ
I lent him my charger this morning.
The charger out of your bag and into a colleague's hand, leaving an empty spot at your desk
Lend can take the receiver first — lend him my charger.
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money coming in
She borrowed fifty dollars from her brother.
ʃiː ˈbɒrəʊd ˈfɪfti ˈdɒləz frəm hɜː ˈbrʌðə
She borrowed fifty dollars from her brother.
Notes out of a brother's wallet crossing into her hand, and her folding them away
The source is marked with from — borrow from her brother.
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the side refusing to hand it out
The bank won't lend us any more money.
ðə bæŋk wəʊnt lend ʌs ˈeni mɔː ˈmʌni
The bank won't lend us any more money.
A teller closing the folder and shaking her head, hands staying on her side of the glass
When the giver — a bank, a company — is the subject, it is lend.
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asking to be handed it
Could you lend me your phone? Mine's dead.
kʊd juː lend miː jɔː fəʊn? maɪnz ded
Could you lend me your phone? Mine's dead.
Showing a black screen while reaching out for the phone in the other person's hand
Ask with lend me, or with can I borrow — the same scene from either side.
All of it in one picture
The moment the pen crosses toward you is borrow; a charger that has left your hand and is sitting in someone else's is lent. Money moving from a brother's wallet into her hand is borrowed from, and a bank refusing to hand any out is won't lend. The last one is the asking side — put your phone into my hand, lend me. Just check whose hand you are: the receiving one or the giving one.