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Not exactly an auto-antonym, but similar: in Spanish we have a verb, "alquilar", which means simultaneously "to rent" and "to rent out", and it drives me crazy that it's often unclear from which end of the relation one is speaking:

"Man, the law is so unfair to people who rent!"

"Do you mean unfair to the owner of the property or to the tenant who pays the rent?"

(It doesn't translate perfectly to English, but works in Spanish)

edit: wait, I see "lease" is in the list and it has exactly the same problem! Take that, English language! :D



I'm not sure if it's officially correct, but I've heard both "rent to" and "rent from" used colloquially in (American) English.


I'm sure you're also able to indicate the roles of tenant and landlord in Spanish. But just like in English, you're not required to.


Right! You have "propietario" (the person who owns the property) and "inquilino" (the person paying the rent). But confusingly enough the verb is still "alquilar" ("to rent") for both :)

So if you say "voy a alquilar esta casa" ("I'm going to rent this house") it's not clear whether you're the landlord or the tenant.


"Renter" would also be ambiguous, although "lessor" and "lessee" do have specific meanings.


In Swedish, it's also the same word ("hyra") but the meaning is conveyed by adding "ut" ("out"). So the tenant hyr what the landlord hyr ut.




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