pay off
SeparableThe object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.
How to say it
Stress the particle, not the verb: pay OFF. Saying “PAY off” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
A glide appears. Two vowels meet, so American English slips a /j/ between them: “pay off” → “pay-yoff”. You do not insert it deliberately — it falls out of not stopping between the words.
Verb vs noun
As a noun the stress flips to the front: the verb is pay OFF, the noun is PAYOFF. Same two words, different beat — “to pay OFF” is the action, “a payoff” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.
2 meanings
- 1
To clear a debt completely.
- “We finally paid off the mortgage last year.”
- “She paid the loan off six months early.”
Similar: settle, clear
- 2
(Of an effort or risk) to produce a good result.
- “All those late nights paid off.”
- “The gamble didn't pay off.”
Similar: succeed, bear fruit