Thread: скупать или закупать?

есть разница между этими словами?

Originally Posted by gunners

есть разница между этими словами?

Есть. Скупать = to buy something all what is sold, to buy it up to the end, so the shops will be empty.

For example, it is rumored that the price of sugar will be increased twice since next week. And everybody wants to buy as much as possible, while the price is low. We can say: "Люди стали скупать сахар". People started to buy ALL THE sugar.

Закупать = to buy in order to have some reserve, to prepare for someting. Example: Люди закупают продукты на зиму. People buy food (to prepare) for the winter. Or: Мы едем за город, и нам нужно закупить (perfective) мясо для шашлыка. We are going to the countryside, and we need to buy some meat (to prepare) for barbecue.

Other words,

скупать underlines "mass buying"
закупать underlines "to buy beforehand, to be ready for something"

Ещё можно скупать краденое Закупать нельзя

спасибо

Originally Posted by Ramil

Ещё можно скупать краденое Закупать нельзя

Right! I think there's also a bit different use of скупать.

Just two examples.

1. Suppose that someone is, say, a big amateur of books. And every time he sees a new book, he buys it. We can say about him:

Он скупает все новые книги. (Not закупает!). It roughly means: "He buys all new books he sees", or "Every time he sees a new book he cannot help buying it".

2. My friend has his own business: he buys old cars, disassembles them, and uses their components to repair new cars.

In this case, we can say: Он скупает старые машины. Which implies: "Every time someone offers an old car to him, he buys it".

In both examples "mass buying" is underlined.

"Скупать краденое" (as Ramil proposed) is "to buy stolen things in order to sell them and to make money" (illegal business). Mass buying is also obvious here.

As opposed to скупать, закупать is "to buy in order to have some reserve for some purpose".

спасибо еще раз, боб