Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[learner12]

Hello, teachers!!

Can you say "We hired an apartment when we lived in New York, but it was very expensive."

In the above sentence, do I have to change the verb "hired" into "rented"? Or are both "hired" and "rented" correct?

Thank you in advance.

[Lorikeet]

You can rent an apartment. You can hire a person.

[CP]

You can also hire a car, usually meaning to engage a cab or limousine and driver.

In the law, to hire means to rent real property (land) or personal property (movable belongings) as well as to engage a person's services. So in some contexts you could talk about hiring an apartment. However, in ordinary conversation or writing, you would say rent an apartment--or in New York, even buy an apartment, since many of the buildings are cooperatives / condominiums.

(Maybe some British English experts can weigh in on whether hire is used to mean rent realty in Britain.)
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Lorikeet]

Wow, CP. I have never ever heard of hiring an apartment in 61 years. Learn something new every day.

[learner12]

Dear Lorikeet & CP:

Thank you so much for your knowledge.

Have a nice day!

[myprofe]

I discovered some of the many differences between American and British English when I started teaching English in Spain in 1980. I wrote some exercises on the subject which you can see here: http://www.myprofe.com/whichword-3/aob1.htm
_________________
I'm never going to learn if you don't correct my mistakes!

[learner12]

Dear myprofe:

Thank you for introducing your website. It is so interesting and informative that everyone should visit this site. I am going to learn new things from now on.

Thank you againg for your help.

Have a great weekend.