Recommended level: Upper-intermediate (B1+)
Quick Reference
You can rob a person or a place. Robbing typically requires force or the threat of force. Example: "Someone robbed the grocery store last night."
You can steal things, including money. Example: "Someone stole $200 from the reception desk."
Both "rob" and "steal" have idiomatic uses. Example: "He robbed me of a massive opportunity." "The girl's singing stole the judges' hearts."
Robbing and stealing are both illegal acts. In some languages, the verbs "rob" and "steal" are only one verb. For instance, voler in French, or robar in Spanish. This is not the case in English. Fortunately, the difference between the two verbs is quite clear once you learn it.
So, what is the difference between "rob" and "steal"?
In short, you rob a place or person, and you steal objects. Also, when you rob someone or someplace, it is common to use force or the threat of force. On the other hand, when you steal, you try to do it secretly--without anyone initially noticing. With that in mind, let's take a look at some examples, including the different conjugations and uses of these verbs.
How to use "rob"
The most common places that a person can rob are banks, stores, and homes. If it's a building, it can be robbed. Note the examples:
"A group of three men robbed the bank."
"Someone robbed the corner store last night."
"Their house was robbed while they were on vacation."
"They had planned to rob the post office, but the police intervened before anything could happen."
As you can see, the past of "rob" is "robbed." It is also the past participle, as you can see in the passive sentence, "Their house was robbed." The noun form of "rob" is "robbery." For instance, you might read or hear something like this on the news: "A man attempted to rob a downtown store, but the robbery was stopped by three citizens who were in the area." When you rob a place, you enter it illegally and take (or steal) things from inside the place.
As mentioned, you can also rob a person. This means you confront them and threaten them with force so that they give you something or you take something that they have, such as their wallet or their phone. Note these two examples:
"If you don't want to be robbed downtown, keep your phone and your wallet in your pockets."
"Diana was robbed last night. A man threatened her with a gun and told her to give him her purse and her phone."
By now, you probably have a good sense of how to use the verb "rob" in English. But wait! "Rob" can also be used idiomatically. Here are some of the most common uses of this:
Sports: In sports, if a team loses because of a poor decision by a referee, a fan of the losing team might say "We were robbed!"
Competition of any kind: In the Academy Awards, which are awarded for excellence in filmmaking, if an actress loses a "Best Actress" award to someone whom most people think should have lost, you can say "Say (the actress who lost) was robbed!"
Time: You can rob people of their time. If someone gives a boring presentation that didn't teach you anything useful, you could say "We were robbed of an hour." If you had a bad job, you might say "That company robbed me of two years of my life." In these case, notice the "rob someone of" construction. You could also use the verb "steal" in these cases, as in "They stole an hour of my time from me," or "They stole two years of my life."
Rob someone of their chance or opportunity: This means a person is prevented from taking advantage of their chance or opportunity to do something due to outside circumstances. For instance, "Wi-fi problems robbed him of the opportunity to properly demonstrate his skills." A person can also rob you of a chance or opportunity. For instance, "My old boss refused to write a reference letter for me, and robbed me of a chance to apply for my dream job."
Rob oneself (of something): This means you take a chance or opportunity away from yourself due to your own mistakes and poor decisions. For example, "Why don't you apply for that job? You are more than qualified. Don't rob yourself of such a massive career opportunity."
Rob someone blind: This means to take advantage of someone as much as possible, usually in a dishonest way, or to leave someone with almost nothing. Note the example: "She married him and robbed him blind in the divorce."
And that's it for the verb "rob." I hope you feel that you weren't robbed of your time by reviewing all of that information. Now, let's move on to "steal."
How to use "steal"
The verb "steal" is much easier to understand. Simply put, "to steal" means to take and keep something without permission. You can steal things, including money. When you steal something from someone or someplace, you don't want the victim or the institution to know. The past of "steal" is "stole," and the past participle is "stolen." Let's take a look at some examples:
"Someone stole three hundred dollars from Brent's bank account."
"I think someone has stolen my laptop. It was here just thirty minutes ago!"
"The government is stealing from people."
"They stole $50,000 in political donations."
"Don't steal. It's against the law."
As you can see, you must always steal something. You can't, for example, steal a bank, unless you have an army of trucks to lift the entire building so that you can take the physical bank to another place. Even though it's funny to imagine, it's also ridiculous.
Just like "rob," the verb "steal" has many uses beyond just money and objects, some of which are idiomatic. Here are some of them:
Identity: If you steal a person's identity, you pretend to be that person. This means that you use their bank cards, credit cards, and/or official identity cards, such as a passport, for your own gain.
Data: This is a big problem today. People and companies can steal your data--which includes your personal information, passwords, pictures, and more--if you don't have a secure online network. Your data might also be stolen from a company you do business with. For instance, someone might steal a list of clients from a big company, including email addresses, and use those addresses for dishonest reasons.
Steal someone's heart: This means you make someone fall in love with you. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as someone might say "She stole my heart" with love and gratitude in their voice.
Steal someone's idea: This means to take credit for or to use an idea which you did not think of yourself. For example, "You stole my idea! Every part of your presentation had something that I had told you last week."
Steal the show: If you steal the show, you are the person or group whom people remember the most from an event. This is always positive and means that your performance was more spectacular than the other people at the event. For instance, "Everyone danced really well in the competition, but Mikey totally stole the show. He was amazing!"
Well, that's it for the verb "steal." I hope you now have a better understanding of this common English verb.
So, what's the difference between "rob" and "steal"?
To sum up, you can rob places and people, and you often use force to accomplish this. In contrast, you steal things, such as money, and you try to do this quietly and secretly, so that the person or the institution you are stealing from doesn't notice that you have taken something from them. At least, not immediately. Both, robbing and stealing, are illegal, and both have idiomatic uses. Now, I hope you have a better sense of how to use them.
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Until next time, keep practicing.
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