Can someomne explain to me why the To in the frist sentence, please?

There’s not really going to be a satisfying explanation for this. These are all prepositions, and in general they are just used where they are used. Certain constructions (such as the verb prefer in this case) generally use the same preposition. This is a case where you just need to memorize which ones are used in each situation.

You prefer x TO or OVER y. There is no explanation. It is just the way it is.

Today I learnt that "pay by cash" is wrong!

It is a prepositional phrase. "*Compared to* tea, I prefer coffee," highlights the phrase at the start of the sentence. "Than" simply is not the correct part of the prepositional phrase in this relationship between coffee and tea.

Unfortunately prepositions are generally arbitrary, it's hard to give a satisfying "why," except that "prefer to" is a set phrase. These are three valid sentences: I prefer coffee to tea. I prefer coffee over tea. I like coffee more than tea.

Because it mixes up two structures for ways to talk about what you prefer. "to" is for nouns and "than" is for to-infinitive. So: "I prefer \[noun\] to \[other noun\]" -- including gerunds -- "I prefer coffee to tea", "I prefer dancing to singing". But, you use "I prefer to \[verb\] than \[other verb\]" (so "I prefer to dance than to sing") when you're using to-infinitives. Which is helpful because "I prefer to dance to to sing" would be very confusing.

"than" is a comparator but it doesn't tell you more or less. if you wanted to use "than" you'd have to specify "more" with it. "i prefer coffee 'more than' tea" is grammatically correct. note that "less than tea" is also technically correct, but it sounds pretty odd. however, colloquially it's less common than "to." and as others have said, unfortunately there's no real reason for that.

We usually use "than" for comparisons. "Prefer" is not really comparison; it's expressing a preference. You prefer it **to** something else. Basically... we use "to" with "prefer", and that's just something that you need to remember. Bigger **than,** faster **than,** more **than,** better **than,** but prefer **to.**

English prepositions don't follow a lot of consistent rules. There isn't really a reason other than that the word "than" just isn't really used that way. You almost paid "than" with another relation-describing word. In the sentence above I used the phrase "other than.". You also see "rather than," "more than," "less than.". Etc. "I prefer coffee rather than tea" would have been acceptable.

for 'than' to be correct you need something like 'more' or 'rather' before it. The correct one is technically correct and reads well but I've never known anybody in my time in the USA to talk like that. I'll hear 'I prefer coffee over tea' way more often

Because "I prefer coffee than tea" is nonsense. For three or four reasons.

I don't know why "to" is there. I would use "over" or "more than."

THAN is a preposition that is used in situations of qualitative comparison. In the situation above, it lacks a qualifying word (more, less, etc.) and so sounds as if a word is missing. Examples: I prefer coffee more than tea. —> I enjoy coffee more than I enjoy tea. I prefer coffee less than tea. —> I enjoy tea more than I enjoy coffee. I prefer more coffee than tea. —> When I mix my tea and coffee, I like there to be more coffee in the mixture. I prefer less coffee than tea. —> When I mix tea and coffee, I like there to be more tea in the mixture.

When using than, there is a comparison and a ranking. You need to use more/less in conjunction with "than". * I prefer coffee more than tea. I prefer coffee less than tea. "Than" is not used alone. And, in this context, it means you prefer them both but one takes priority over the other. You sometimes could enjoy either. Alternatively, you might only prefer one of them. * I prefer coffee to tea. In this context, you are pretty much always in favor of coffee.

I have a problem with #2 because I want to pay by/with/in cash are all technically fine.

To expects another verb here. Like German, English sometimes uses 'to' if there is more than one main verb in the same clause. But here it is used as a comparison... probably wrong word. And like every language I know some of these little words (pronouns) don't make sense all the time. It just grew like that over time.

I prefer coffee more than tea.

honestly this lost me the second it said "paid by cash" is wrong lmao

"than" is paired with "would rather", and as others explained, "to" is paired with "prefer". Prepositions suck :)

Propositions are insane. Try to learn any language, propositions are the weirdest thing to learn. "To" in English could mean a lot of things, in this case it's joining what you are comparing. You could also use something like "over" or "instead of".

I’d probably say coffee over tea rather than coffee to tea but I believe it’s grammatically correct. — also I want to pay in cash is the correct way, but I do still say I want to pay by cash or by card/with Apple Pay rather than only using “in”

“Than” would need something, like “more than” or “less than” to be used. Saw someone else saying that you should treat it as “I prefer coffee *compared* to tea.”

If you want to use the word than then you have to fix the sentence to: I prefer coffee more than tea. Other ways to say it are: I prefer coffee over tea.

I prefer coffee (compared) to tea I prefer coffee **more** than tea In the second, more is not optional. Also it’s not perfect, you’d sooner say “I like” with a comparison like “more than”

"I like coffee than tea" is missing an important word" rather. I like coffee rather than tea. The first line removed the word rather overtime because people were too lazy to keep including it/didn't feel it was necessary.

With/by cash is fine that example. But without preposition is fine too, and more formal.

The point is "prefer ... to" is a phrasal verb. It is a single semantic unit made up of 2 parts, a verb (prefer) and a preposition (to) they work together as one unit. That is the way it is and when you are learning the language you just have to learn it that way. There are a good many phrasal verbs in English and, as with this one, you basically just have to learn them. There is not necessarily a why for them

'I prefer coffee to tea' comes off as either (?) or British to me, I'd say 'over tea'. As for why, there isn't really any logical rule—some prepositions just develop restrictions on cooccurance for no apparent reason.

than isn't a preposition and you'd need some sort of adjective for comparison to use it. You could say I like coffee more than tea but not I like coffee than tea. With prefer, you can use the prepositions to or over. I prefer coffee to tea I prefer coffee over tea (note: slightly ambiguous) Situations you actually use than are different X is bigger than y There are more than 3 of them I ate more than him Note how there are always 2 things being compared along some given adjective and a word like -er or more to indicate this comparison. I prefer lacks all of these components. "I prefer than" doesn't make sense.

Than would be used for verb preferences. (Would rather structure) I would rather do x than y.

You could say, "I prefer coffee rather than tea." Or, you could say, "I prefer coffee to tea," or "I prefer coffee over tea." "Than" is used in comparisons like "taller than" or "better than" but never in a sentence by itself like that. Or, rather, I can't think of an example right now where you would use it by itself without a qualifying word of some sort. Maybe someone else could explain it better than I.

If you are coming from a latin language (spanish french etc) you are probably thinking of "I prefer x RATHER THAN y" (or "instead of"). This is acceptable. Your use of "than" is a bit more awkward. More common is "to" or "over". The hardest part of learning a new language is understanding how natives speak rather than finding the direct translation of your individual word usages. I am learning French and had to have that lesson reinforced many times. Keep learning!

I would add that "than' is generally not used for nouns, but rather for verbs. But be careful. You could say "I would RATHER have coffee THAN tea", but you may want to consider that that verb is being carried without being present; "I would rather have coffee THAN to have tea". So it's the verb being used with "than". I would consider this a very advanced and nuanced concept grammatically.

from what i know, than needs a modifier such as “i prefer coffee *more than* tea” or “ i prefer coffee *rather than* tea” etc

"Prefer" is comparing one thing to something else or everything else, whereas for example "like" doesn't refer to anything else for comparison. I like walking. I like driving. I prefer to walk. I prefer walking to driving. I prefer to walk than to drive. "I prefer to walk than driving" is slightly awkward but scans okay. "I prefer walking more than driving" , or "I prefer to walk more than driving" are better, they are fine for conversation but maybe not preferred when writing. Paying by cash or paying in cash are both acceptable. Paying by cash, or by card, or by online checkout. Pay with or using or in vouchers, or Pay with or in cash or change. I'll pay by cash. I'll pay it in £1 coins. I'll pay half with vouchers and the rest in cash or by card. Let's go by train, or let's go on the train. Always travel on or by public transport or mass transport. Let's go by car, or let's go in the car. We can go on the coach, but we never "go on the car". You can go on the bike, on the boat, on the skateboard, but cars and trucks are things you get in to. "I can't talk right now, I am in work "is fine if you are answering the phone at work, but usually "in work" means you currently have a job. This one is by far the most straightforward.

Also regarding the last one, it’s fine to say you’re ‘in work’ when referring to the fact you’re in employment. You’d use ‘at work’ to describe your location.

You can use “over” or “to”. You can also say “I like coffee more than tea”. But the word “prefer” behaves differently. It already implies that you like one thing more than another. Another “than” is not necessary.

You prefer coffee as compared to tea. That’s probably the best explanation, but it is kinda weird.

**I prefer** _[to have a cup of]_ **coffee** _[as opposed]_ **to** _[having a cup of]_ **tea.** This is the sentence with the implied but unspoken parts shown _[in italics and enclosed in brackets]_ made explicit for clarity. As you can see, most of this expression is implied instead of being spoken explicitly. It is only used when the speaker has been offered two things, and is being asked to choose one of them. The process of choosing is, in such cases, being made in accordance with personal preference. In contemplating the two options, the speaker has mentally compared their wish to receive coffee to their wish to receive tea. The sentence is stating the result of that comparison.

It looks like u speak Spanish, so think this way: First sentence - “prefiero el café que el té” Second sentence - “prefiero el café al té”. “To” is a preposition. It comes after a verb. - “I *walk* to you” “Than” is a comparison. It comes after an adjective. - I am *better* than you”

First one would be correct if they put "more" before "than". "I prefer coffee more than tea." Without the "more" the "than" loses meaning, there's no enough context to determine what it means, as the sentence could've just as easily been: "I prefer coffee _less_ than tea." Communicating the exact opposite meaning. "Than" is one of those words that is loses all function without other neighboring words giving it meaning.

"than" is only used for "more" or "less"; you compare a certain value

i want to pay by cash is actually correct as well, at least in nz English

I would say the "to" in that sentence is acting as a "rather than" or "over". So the sentence is really saying "I prefer coffee rather than tea" or "I prefer coffee over tea".

Maybe it is rather...than?

They are prepositions, there are no rules, you just need to know the correct one. Very common in some other languages as well, but confusing if you speak e.g. a latin language as a first language, where prepositions tend to be much simpler.

Honestly "in work" Is used every day by English native speakers so I desagree with the last one. However at work is probably grammatically correct.

Than is primarily used with more and less, and rather: Coffee more than tea. Coffee less than tea. Coffee rather than tea. I rarely if ever use "to" in that case. I use "coffee instead of tea", "coffee, not tea", "coffee over tea", "coffee rather than tea". Personally, I prefer tea. I avoid coffee if I can due to caffeine and sugar. Also, saying "pay by/eith cash or card" are both acceptable. Don't know why it is marked wrong.

the language itself made many exceptions. I don’t know any other languages do have, just, from my pov. European, African, Asian or any other than English have so much rules cause confusion yet if you get used to it, you found that English is so “dumb” with many exceptions that sometimes non-sense. As I don’t get here to explain the way of using grammar but I find English has many things not fixated at their type, they are so flexible and portable for a lot of use cases

You compare something TO something else. Compare X to Y.

It might help to compare it to "compare." "I compared my job to hers." If you look at the origin of "prefer," it used to refer to promoting things, so to "prefer a soldier" would mean to promote him. "To" is often used when moving things.

If you're learning English, then honestly I think the best course of action HERE would be to learn these differently in a way that makes more sense until you've spoken English long enough to understand these differences implicitly without thinking. You can always say "I like coffee more than tea" instead of "I prefer coffee to tea", and we don't ONLY use "to" for this either. You could also say "I prefer coffee OVER tea" and that honestly sounds even better IMO. However to answer your question, it's just based on the verb, and prefer is inherently comparative, so the structure is always going to be prefer noun TO noun. If you were to change prefer to like, then the sentence would be "I like coffee more than tea" because while you're comparing still, you're using a verb that isn't Inherently comparative, you could like coffee AND tea you know? But verbs like "prefer" can only be used to show favoritism if that makes sense. Some more examples "coffee is superior to" (superior inherently denotes that something is inferior) "Tea is inferior to" (inferior inherently denotes that something is superior) "Coffee is preferable to" (preferable inherently denotes that something is UNpreferable)

"Pay in cash" is not used in my area. It's in the dictionary as one of the definitions, "by means of", so I know it's correct. But I never heard it in spoken language in my area. I've always heard "Pay with cash." Which, is very odd, considering I hear "do you want it in cash or card?" when referring to refunds. so, it's odd that people in my area don't say "Do you want to pay in cash or credit?" but instead say "Do you want to pay with cash or credit?" I wonder if the word Pay being a verb and it being a pronoun has to do with the selection of prepositions people use.

i dunno, but its like that, just tough, tough english grammar...  goddamn cursed english..

I’ve been teaching ESL since 2009. My students often ask about this issue. Think about it this way- <I prefer X to Y> is just an alternative “formula” to express that you like the first thing more than the second. It’s probably more common to use these formulas to express preferences: <I would rather have X than Y> <I like X better than Y> However, English speakers like variety of structure, so we often vary which formulas we use, even in the same conversation. To complicate things further: If you use a gerund after prefer, you should follow it with to+gerund to indicate the item/activity you like less. For example, “I prefer playing basketball to playing volleyball.” If you use an infinitive after prefer, you should follow it with rather+than+infinitive to indicate the item/activity you like less. For example, “I prefer to play basketball rather than to play volleyball.” With this formula, “rather” and the second “to” are often omitted, so we can also say, “, “I prefer to play basketball than play volleyball.” The good news is that 99.999% of the time, you don’t get any credit for using a more complicated structure, so use whichever formula is easiest for you.

My advice to you and any other foreign language learner is don’t spend too much time trying to understand the *why* or *logic* of prepositions. Just memorize them and get in the habit. Even if you try to understand the *meaning*, you’ll likely just confuse yourself more.

Than is used in phrases like "more than" or "less than". The *than* is a word used in conjunction with a relative comparison word (more, less, bigger, smaller, cooler, hotter, higher, lower) to introduce the basis for comparison. * I have more apples *than* oranges. * My cake is hotter *than* your pie. * He has smaller feet *than* she does. "To" is used in phrases that express logical relationships. The "to" still introduces the basis but the relationship is not comparative along a continuum. * The number of apples is heavy *compared to* the oranges. * This equation is *equivalent to* that equation. * He is an expert in music as *opposed to* movies. Preferring coffee *to* tea is best thought of an abbreviation of a more understandable coffee *as opposed to* tea. Unfortunately English is rife with these abbreviations of phrases which makes them hard to understand from basic structure. The comparison is opposition which is a binary yes/no question and is a logical relationship (is, is not) instead of a comparative one (more, less).

“Than” is usually used when making a comparison between two things which share the same quality e.g. “Coffee has more caffeine than tea”, “You arrived earlier than she did”. The example about cash which is marked as wrong “I want to pay by cash” sounds a bit clumsy but is definitely something that native speakers say (e.g. By cash or by card?). The example about work “I am in work” that is marked wrong is also something that is commonly said e.g. “I’m in work right now”, but “I’m at work” definitely sounds more natural.

In the first one, if you wanted to use than, you should say rather than. I don't think there's an explanation as to why. Prepositions are the hardest part of the English language. I got my Proficiency 30 years ago, I'm at native level according to all the native English speakers I've spoken to, and yet I'm still struggling with them.

Not what you asked for, but for the 2nd sentence, Pay by cash is acceptable, IMO. Pay with cash is also acceptable.

Best I can offer is that its a contraction of "compared to". So it can be replaced by "I prefer coffee compared to tea"

Prefer is a transitive verb being used with two objects. In this situation, one of the objects doesn’t have a preposition, and the other object has a preposition. In this case, the proposition is ‘to’. The object which receives the effect of the verb doesn’t have a preposition. The other object has the preposition. I prefer coffee. (Transitive) I prefer coffee to tea (two objects - one with proposition) I’m going to load the car (transitive) I’m going to load the car with the shopping. (Two objects). Put a comma. Put a comma in the sentence. Etc. Than is a conjunction, it joins together two parts of a comparison or introduces an exemption.

it's a comparison. you compare *x* 'TO' *y*.