Questions & Answers about Sie hat die Rechnung bezahlt.
Why is the past participle bezahlt instead of gebezahlt?
The verb bezahlen (to pay) starts with be-, which is an inseparable prefix. Verbs that start with inseparable prefixes like be-, ver-, or er- do not add the normal ge- to the beginning of their past participle. They just keep their original prefix.
How do we know Sie means 'She' here, and not 'They' or formal 'You'?
We can tell by looking at the helper verb! Because the sentence uses hat (has), it must be 'She'. If it meant 'They' or formal 'You', the helper verb would be plural, making the sentence Sie haben die Rechnung bezahlt.
Why is bezahlt placed at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard rule for the Perfekt (past) tense in German. The helper verb, which is hat in this case, takes the normal second position in the sentence. The actual action word, the past participle bezahlt, gets pushed all the way to the end.
I have also seen the verb zahlen for 'to pay'. Why use bezahlen here?
Both zahlen and bezahlen mean 'to pay' and are often used interchangeably. However, bezahlen is usually preferred when you are directly stating the specific object you are paying for, such as die Rechnung (the bill).