In English, a phrasal verb is a phrase such as turn down or ran into which combines two or three words from different grammatical categories: a verb and a particle and/or a preposition together form a single semantic unit. This semantic unit cannot be understood based upon the meanings of the individual parts, but must be taken as a whole. In other words, the meaning is non-compositional and thus unpredictable.^[1] Phrasal verbs that include a preposition are known as prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs that include a particle are also known as particle verbs. Additional alternative terms for phrasal verb are compound verb, verb-adverb combination, verb-particle construction, two-part word/verb or three-part word/verb (depending on the number of particles) and multi-word verb.^[2]

Examples[edit]

There are at least three main types of phrasal verb constructions depending on whether the verb combines with a preposition, a particle, or both.^[3] The phrasal verb constructions in the following examples are in bold.

Verb + preposition (prepositional verbs)^[4]

When the element is a preposition, it is the head of a full prepositional phrase and the phrasal verb is thus prepositional. These phrasal verbs can also be thought of as transitive and non-separable; the complement follows the phrasal verb.

a. Who is looking after the kids? – after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase after the kids.

b. They picked on nobody. – on is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase on nobody.

c. I ran into an old friend. – into is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase into an old friend.^[5]

d. She takes after her mother. – after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase after her mother.

e. Sam passes for a linguist. – for is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase for a linguist.

f. You should stand by your friend. – by is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase by your friend

Verb + particle (particle verbs)

When the element is a particle, it can not (or no longer) be construed as a preposition, but rather is a particle because it does not take a complement.^[6] These verbs can be transitive or intransitive. If they are transitive, they are separable.

a. They brought that up twice. – up is a particle, not a preposition.

b. You should think it over. – over is a particle, not a preposition.

c. Why does he always dress down? – down is a particle, not a preposition.

d. You should not give in so quickly. – in is a particle, not a preposition.

e. Where do they want to hang out? – out is a particle, not a preposition.

f. She handed it in. – in is a particle, not a preposition.

Verb + particle + preposition (particle-prepositional verbs)

Many phrasal verbs combine a particle and a preposition. Just as for prepositional verbs, particle-prepositional verbs are not separable.

a. Who can put up with that? – up is a particle and with is a preposition.^[7]

b. She is looking forward to a rest. – forward is a particle and to is a preposition.

c. The other tanks were bearing down on my Panther. – down is a particle and on is a preposition.

d. They were really teeing off on me. – off is a particle and on is a preposition.

e. We loaded up on Mountain Dew and Doritos. – up is a particle and on is a preposition

f. Susan has been sitting in for me. – in is a particle and for is a preposition.

The aspect of these types of verbs that unifies them under the single banner phrasal verb is the fact that their meaning cannot be understood based upon the meaning of their parts taken in isolation: the meaning of pick up is distinct from pick; the meaning of hang out is not obviously related to hang.

Distinguishing phrasal verb types[edit]

When a particle verb is transitive, it can look just like a prepositional verb. This similarity is source of confusion, since it obscures the difference between prepositional and particle verbs. A simple diagnostic distinguishes between the two, however. When the object of a particle verb is a definite pronoun, it can and usually does precede the particle.^[8] In contrast, the object of a preposition can never precede the preposition.^[9]

a. You can bank on Susan. – on is a preposition.

b. *You can bank Susan on. – The object of the preposition cannot precede the preposition.

a. You can take on Susan. – on is a particle.

b. You can take Susan on. – The object of the particle verb can precede the particle.

a. He is getting over the situation. – over is a preposition.

b. *He is getting the situation over. – The object of the preposition cannot precede the preposition in the phrasal verb.

a. He is thinking over the situation. – over is a particle.

b. He is thinking the situation over. – The object of the particle verb can precede the particle

Thus the distinction between particles and prepositions is made by function, because the same word can function sometimes as a particles and sometimes as a preposition.

Some notes on terminology[edit]

The terminology of phrasal verbs is inconsistent. Modern theories of syntax tend to use the term phrasal verb to denote particle verbs only; they do not view prepositional verbs as phrasal verbs.^[10] In contrast, literature in English as a second or foreign language ESL/EFL, tends to employ the term phrasal verb to encompass both prepositional and particle verbs. ^[11]

Note that prepositions and adverbs can have a literal meaning that is spatial or orientational. Many English verbs interact with a preposition or an adverb to yield a meaning that can be readily understood from the constiuent elements.

He walked across the square.

She opened the shutters and looked outside.

These more readily understandable combinations are not phrasal verbs, although EFL/ESL books and dictionaries may include them in lists of phrasal verbs.^{[12][verification needed][13][not in citation given]}

Furthermore, the same words that occur as a genuine phrasal verb can also appear in other contexts, as in

1(a) She looked up his address. Phrasal verb.

1(b) She looked his address up. Phrasal verb.

2(a) When he heard the crash, he looked up. Not a phrasal verb.

2(b) When he heard the crash, he looked up at the sky. Not a phrasal verb.

The terminology used to denote the particle is also inconsistent. Sometimes it is called an adverb and at other times an intransitive prepositional phrase.^[14] The inconsistent use of terminology in these areas is a source of confusion over what qualifies as a phrasal verb and the status of the particle or a preposition.

Concerning the history of the term phrasal verb, Tom McArthur writes:

'..the term phrasal verb was first used by Logan Pearsall Smith, in Words and Idioms (1925), in which he states that the OED Editor Henry Bradley suggested the term to him.'

The value of this choice and its alternatives (including separable verb for Germanic languages) is debatable. In origin the concept is based on translation linguistics; as many single-word English and Latinate words are translatable by a phrasal verb complex in English, therefore the logic is that the phrasal verb complex must be a complete semantic unit in itself. One should consider in this regard that the actual term phrasal verb suggests that such constructions should form phrases. In most cases however, they clearly do not form phrases. Hence the very term phrasal verb is misleading and a source of confusion, which has motivated some to reject the term outright.^[15]

Catenae[edit]

The aspect of phrasal verb constructions that makes them difficult to learn for non-native speakers of English is that their meaning is non-compositional. That is, one cannot know what a given phrasal verb construction means based upon what the verb alone and/or the preposition and/or particle alone mean, as emphasized above. This trait of phrasal verbs is also what makes them interesting for linguists, since they appear to defy the principle of compositionality. An analysis of phrasal verbs in terms of catenae (=chains), however, is not challenged by the apparent lack of meaning compositionality. The verb and particle/preposition form a catena, and as such, they qualify as a concrete unit of syntax. The following dependency grammar trees illustrate the point:^[16]

The words of each phrasal verb construction are highlighted in orange. These words form a catena because they are linked together in the vertical dimension. They constitute units of meaning, and these units are stored as multi-part wholes in the lexicon.

Shifting[edit]

A complex aspect of phrasal verbs concerns the distinction between prepositional verbs and particle verbs that are transitive (as discussed and illustrated above). Particle verbs that are transitive allow some variability in word order, depending on the relative weight of the constituents involved. Shifting often occurs when the object is very light, e.g.

a. Fred chatted up the girl with red hair. – Canonical word order

b. Fred chatted her up. – Shifting occurs because the definite pronoun her is very light.

c. Fred chatted the girl up. - The girl is also very light.

d. ^?Fred chatted the redhead up. - A three-syllable object can appear in either position for many speakers.

e. ^??Fred chatted the girl with red hair up. – Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently motivated by the weight of the constituents involved.

a. They dropped off the kids from that war zone. – Canonical word order

b. They dropped them off. – Shifting occurs because the definite pronoun them is very light.

c. ^??They dropped the kids from that war zone off. – Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently motivated by the weight of the constituents involved.

a. Mary made up a really entertaining story. – Canonical word order

b. Mary made it up. – Shifting occurs because the definite pronoun it is very light.

c. ^??Mary made a really entertaining story up. – Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently motivated by the weight of the constituents involved.

Shifting occurs between two (or more) sister constituents that appear on the same side of their head. The lighter constituent shifts leftward and the heavier constituent shifts rightward, and this happens to accommodate the relative weight of the two. Dependency grammar trees are again used to illustrate the point:

The trees illustrate when shifting can occur. English sentence structures that grow down and to the right are easier to process. There is a consistent tendency to place heavier constituents to the right, as is evident in the a-trees. Shifting is possible when the resulting structure does not contradict this tendency, as is evident in the b-trees. Note again that the particle verb constructions (in orange) qualify as catenae in both the a- and b-trees. Shifting does not alter this fact.

Similar structures in other languages[edit]

Phrasal verbs are represented in many languages by compound verbs. As a class, particle phrasal verbs belong to the same category as the separable verbs of other Germanic languages. For example in Dutch, de lamp aansteken (to light the lamp) becomes, in a principal clause, ik steek de lamp aan (I light the lamp on). Similarly, in German, das Licht einschalten (to switch on the light) becomes ich schalte das Licht ein (I switch the light on).

A few phrasal verbs exist in some Romance languages such as Lombard due to the influence of ancient Lombardic: example fa foeura (to do in: to eat up; to squander) and dà denter (to trade in; to bump into) in Lombard. Some of these verbs are used also in standard Italian, for instance 'far fuori' (to get rid of), 'mangiare fuori' (to eat out) and 'andare d'accordo con' (to get on/along with).

Phrasal nouns[edit]

An extension of the concept of phrasal verb is that of phrasal noun, where a verb+particle complex is nominalized.^[17] The particles may come before or after the verb.

standby: We are keeping the old equipment on standby, in case of emergency.

back-up: Neil can provide technical backup if you need it.

onset: The match was halted by the onset of rain.

input: Try to come to the meeting – we'd value your input.

If the particle is in first place, then the phrasal noun is never written with a hyphen, if the particle comes second, then there is sometimes a hyphen between the two parts of the phrasal noun.

The two categories have different values. Particle-verb compounds in English are of ancient development, and are common to all Germanic languages, as well as to Indo-European languages in general. Those such as onset tend to retain older uses of the particles; in Old English on/an had a wider domain, which included areas now covered by at and in in English. Some such compound nouns have a corresponding phrasal verb but some do not, partly because of historical developments. The modern English verb+particle complex set on exists, but it means 'start to attack' (set itself means start a process). Modern English has no exact verbal phrase equivalent to the older set on, but rather various combinations that apply different nuances to the idea of starting a process—such as winter has set in, set off on a journey, set up the stand, set out on a day trip, etc. Verb-particle compounds are a more modern development in English, and focus more on the action expressed by the compound. That is to say, they are more overtly verbal.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^That unpredictability of meaning is the defining trait of phrasal verb constructions is widely assumed. See for instance Huddleston and Pullum (2002:273) and Allerton (2006:166).
2. ^Concerning these terms, see McArthur (1992:72ff.).
3. ^Declerck, R. Comprehensive Descriptive Grammar of English, A – 1991 Page 45 'The term multi-word verb can be used as a cover term for phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, prepositional phrasal verbs and combinations like put an end to.'
4. ^The Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1995:162) is a source that takes prepositional verbs to be phrasal verbs. Many other grammars, in contrast, distinguish between prepositional verbs (the additional word is a preposition) and phrasal verbs (the additional word is a particle).
5. ^Ron Cowan – The Teacher's Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference 2008 Page 176
   'The Adverb Insertion Test – Earlier, we saw that intransitive phrasal verbs usually do not permit the insertion of an adverb between the verb and the particle, and the same is true of transitive phrasal verbs, as (25a) and (25b) show. In contrast, prepositional verbs do permit adverb insertion, as (25c) demonstrates.
   (25) a. He turned quickly out the light. = separable phrasal verb.
   b. He ran unexpectedly into his cousin = inseparable phrasal verb.
   c. He stared intently at the target = prepositional verb.
   The Relative Clause Test Relative clauses in which the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition permit the two patterns shown in (26).
   (26) a. The man [that they were waiting for] was late b. The man [ for whom they were waiting] was late. In (26a), the preposition for is at the end of the relative clause enclosed by square brackets, but (26b) shows that this preposition can also occur at the beginning of the clause before the relative pronoun whom.'
6. ^For a list of the particles that occur with particle phrasal verbs, see Jurafsky and Martin (2000:319).
7. ^Jeanette S. DeCarrico The structure of English: studies in form and function – Volume 1 – Page 80 – 2000 '4.6.3 Prepositional Phrasal Verbs – It is also possible to find phrasal verbs that are themselves followed by a preposition. These structures are called prepositional phrasal verbs or multiword verbs. Examples are put up with (e.g., I can't put up with) '
8. ^For an example of the shifting diagnostic used to distinguish particle verbs from prepositional verbs, see Tallerman (1998:129).
9. ^Concerning the difference between particles and prepositions with phrasal verbs, see Jurafsky and Martin (2000:318).
10. ^For examples of accounts that use the term phrasal verb to denote particle verbs only (not prepositional verbs), see for instance Tallerman (1998:130), Adger (2003:99f.) and Haiden (2006).
11. ^For example, the series 'English File' uses phrasal verbs in this way. This exercise on the English File website features both types of verbs under the term 'phrasal verbs'. elt.oup.com
12. ^Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary.
13. ^'English File Upper Intermediate Phrasal Verbs in Context'.
14. ^Huddleston and Pullum (2002:273), for instance, also use intransitive preposition to describe a particle.
15. ^Huddleston and Pullum (2002:274) reject the term phrasal verb precisely because the relevant word combinations often do not form phrases.
16. ^That constructions (including phrasal verb constructions) are catenae is a point established at length by Osborne and Groß (2012).
17. ^Concerning the term phrasal noun, see McCarthy and O'dell (2007).

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Write Back Soon A course by Radio Lingua, which aims to help English learners understand and practise their phrasal verbs.
• Phrasal Verb Demon. Making sense of phrasal verbs.

Sometimes English phrasal verbs make sense…

And sometimes they seem totally random.

Look at the cute kitten at the top of this page, for example. It looks like she’s going to hit those paper birds until they fall down.

It’s pretty easy to guess that this means she’s going to make the birds fall or drop.

But what if I shouted to her, “Cut it out!”

It sounds like I’m asking her to grab a pair of scissors, right? But I’m just telling her to stop what she’s doing.

Phrasal verbs open up a whole new world of possibilities for speaking English. They are phrases that give verbs completely different meanings. They are also used incredibly often in everyday conversation, which makes them important to know.

The good news is that a lot of English phrasal verbs share the same base verb (cut it out, cut off, cut in — more on all of those below). If you learn the phrasal verbs associated with one verb, you’ll give your vocabulary an instant boost!

In this English phrasal verbs list, we’ll show you 56 of the most common phrasal verbs—conveniently organized by type.

So come on, let’s learn some phrasal verbs.

What Is a Phrasal Verb?

A phrasal verb is a phrase that’s made up of a verb and another word or two, usually a preposition but sometimes an adverb.

So before we can talk about English phrasal verbs, it’s important to understand what verbs, prepositions and adverbs are.

• A verb is an action word. It describes something happening (e.g. hearing, seeing), a state of being (e.g. to live, to sleep), or an action being done (e.g. to read, to sing).

• A preposition is a word that describes the relationship between two words. For example, the bees are above the table or under the table, but not inside the table (hopefully). Prepositions mainly deal with location or direction (e.g. on, through, around) and time (e.g. “by” or “around” a certain time).

• An adverb is a word that describes a verb. For example, you can run quickly or slowly and arrive to class early or late.

Now that you know what verbs and prepositions are, you’re ready to start putting them together into phrasal verbs.

Phrasal verbs work by changing the verb’s meaning based on the preposition that follows them.

It’s easier than you think—you probably already know a number of phrasal verbs. For example, read the last sentence before this section: “So come on, let’s learn some phrasal verbs.” The words “come on” in that sentence are a phrasal verb!

The word “come,” on its own, means to move towards something. Together with the preposition “on,” though, the phrase “come on” becomes a phrase of encouragement.

There are many other phrasal verbs out there!

How to Learn English Phrasal Verbs

English phrasal verbs are everywhere, so one of the best ways to learn them is to try to listen for them. These phrases are commonly used, and would not be unusual to hear in a conversation. Do you hear a verb used together with another word very often? It might be a phrasal verb.

If you’re not sure whether a phrase is a phrasal verb or just a verb that happened to be spoken with a preposition, try looking it up. Most dictionaries have entries for phrasal verbs, so look the phrase up to be sure. You can also look up the phrase in the online Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary, which is an excellent resource, so save that link!

Some phrasal verb meanings are obvious—like “fall down”—but some are almost like idioms since they can’t be literally translated. To make them easier to learn, you can try grouping the phrasal verbs into categories, like we’ve done with our phrasal verbs list below.

Don’t be afraid to create your own categories from different types of phrasal verbs. For example, you could group phrasal verbs that are focused on time of day (e.g. wake up, lie down) or positive vs. negative (e.g. cheer up/give up). That’s why we’ve organized our phrasal verbs list below into groups.

There are so many phrasal verbs that it might seem difficult to learn them all. But many of these phrases become natural after a while—all it takes is some repetition and practice.

One of the fastest ways to understand phrasal verbs and use them correctly is watching videos on FluentU. FluentU provides authentic English videos—like movie trailers, TV commercials, inspiring speeches and more—where you will hear tons of phrasal verbs used naturally by native speakers. And you never have to worry about misunderstanding them.

That’s because FluentU has English learning tools built into every video, including interactive subtitles. Just tap on any phrasal verb (or any word at all) and FluentU will give you an instant definition, grammar information and examples.

As an example, if you tap on the word “brought,” then you see this:

FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.

There are also flashcards and fun quizzes for every video to help you remember what you’ve learned.

FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples.

For instance, watch this video of José Gonzales performing the song “Heartbeats,” which has several English phrasal verbs. If you sign up for a FluentU trial, you can watch with all the learning features and explore the full video library. There are thousands of videos for beginners through advanced learners.

How to Use English Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are used just like verbs—you can use them anywhere they make sense!

Usually, the verb and preposition in a phrasal verb need to be said together, like in the phrase “fall down.” In some cases, though, you can separate the verb and the preposition by putting other words in between them.

For example: the phrase “turn off” can be used just like that, or it can be interrupted by stating what you’re turning off.

In other words, you can say “turn off the TV,” but you can also say “turn the TV off.” Both are correct!

Another thing to keep in mind about phrasal verbs is that they are still verbs. That means the verb part of the phrase can be changed depending on the tense and subject of the sentence. So “turn off” can transform like this:

I turned off the TV this morning.

She turns off the TV every time I enter the room!

It will take you a while to get used to which phrasal verbs can be separated and which can’t, so hang in there!

Below are some of the most common English phrasal verbs. We organized them alphabetically so they’re easy to find—like an English phrasal verb dictionary—but you can group them however you want when you’re learning them!

Phrasal Verbs with “Bring”

Bring up

To mention something.

Note: The two parts of this phrasal verb can be separated in a sentence.

“Mark was sick and had to miss the party, so please don’t bring it up, I don’t want him to feel bad for missing it.”

Bring on

To cause something to happen, usually something negative.

The two parts of this phrasal verb can be separated by what’s happening.

“His lung cancer was broughton by years of smoking.”

Bring it on!

To accept a challenge with confidence.

“You want to have a race? Bringit on! I can beat you!”

Phrasal Verbs with “Call”

Call on

This can mean either to visit someone, or to use someone’s or something’s knowledge.

To visit someone: “I’ll call on you this evening to see how you’re feeling.”

To use someone’s knowledge: “I may need to call on the university’s excellent professors in order to answer your question.”

Call off

To cancel something.

“The picnic was called off because of the rain.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Cheer”

Cheer on

To support someone by giving them words of encouragement. This phrasal verb can be separated by the name or pronoun of the person/people being cheered on).

“Even though Samantha was in the last place, her brother cheered her on through the entire race.”

Cheer up

This phrase can either be used as a phrase of encouragement said to someone who seems sad (just saying “cheer up!” to them), or it can mean to try to make someone happier.

“Andrew was having a bad day, so his girlfriend cheered him up by taking him out for ice cream.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Come”

Come up (with something)

To think of an idea.

“I cameup with this idea for a TV show about a woman living with her best friend and daughter. I call it ‘Two and a Half Women.’”

Come up

To bring up a topic, or when something happens unexpectedly.

To bring up a topic: “I wanted to tell her that I got a new job but the chance never cameup.”

Unexpected occurrence: “I was going to meet my friends for dinner, but something cameup so I had to cancel.”

Come in

To enter.

“‘Come in, the door is open!’ said the grandmother to the wolf.”

Come across

To meet or find by chance.

“I was cleaning the attic and I cameacross my high school uniform. Can you believe it still fits?”

Come forward

To volunteer information about something, like a crime.

“The police are encouraging people to comeforward with any information about the kidnapped girl.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Cut”

Cut off

This phrase can be used in several ways, but its general meaning is “to interrupt or stop something.” (Can be separated.)

While driving, to get in front of another car suddenly: “That red car just cut me off and I almost crashed into it.”

To stop supplying things to or communicating with someone: “His father is rich but he cut him off without any money of his own.”

Cut (it) out

This phrase has the same meaning as saying “Stop it.”

“Hey, cut it out! I was watching that movie, so stop changing the channel!”

Cut in

To interrupt someone when they are speaking.

“I was about to ask that girl on a date, but her friend cut in and I lost the chance.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Drop”

Drop by/in

To stop by for a visit, for a short time.

“Andrew is such a great boyfriend, when he heard that his girlfriend had a cold he dropped by to bring her some soup.”

Drop off

To leave something or someone in their destination.

It can be separated by the object being dropped off.

“I can give you a ride and drop you off at work.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Fall”

Fall apart

This phrase means “to break into pieces,” but it can be used to talk about things that are not physical, like a marriage or a person.

Apk file downloads free version. “They tried to save their marriage by going to therapy but in the end if fellapart anyway.”

Fall down

To drop to the ground, usually by accident.

“My friend slipped on a banana peel and felldown. I thought that only happened in cartoons!”

Phrasal Verbs with “Fill”

Fill (someone) in

To give someone the details about something.

This English phrasal verb is usually separated by the person getting filled in.

“Quickly, let’s go! There’s no time to explain, I’ll fill you in on the way.”

Fill up

To become completely full.

“The little girl filledup on candy before dinner, and didn’t want to eat any of the chicken.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Get”

Get away

To escape.

You may have heard the phrase “getaway car,” which can help you remember this phrasal verb. That’s the car used by criminals to run away from a crime scene, like a bank robbery.

“Carmen’s neighbor tried to show her pictures of all her cats, but Carmen managed to get away.”

Get around

To solve a problem by avoiding the main issue. This phrase can also be used very informally to refer to someone who has many sexual partners. As you can imagine, it’s not very nice to say that someone “gets around”!

“Some people know all the different ways to getaround tax laws.”

Get along (with)

To have a friendly relationship with someone.

“Some people are surprised that I getalongwith my mother-in-law really well!”

Get up

To stand up, or to wake up.

“I have so much trouble gettingup in the morning that I have to set three alarms.”

Get back to

To return to someone or something. This phrase is often used to say that you will return with an answer to a question or a request at a later time.

“Derek’s coworker wasn’t sure what time the meeting was, so he said he’d getbackto him with the time.”

Get back at

To get revenge on someone.

“Her ex-husband took her house so she gotbackat him by taking his dogs.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Give”

Give out

This phrase can mean to break down or stop working, or to hand out or distribute something.

To stop working: “The city had to rebuild the bridge completely, because it was about to giveout and fall down.”

To distribute: “He has a lot of contacts because he givesout his business card to everyone he meets.”

Give in

To surrender, especially in a fight or argument.

“Ben’s mother gavein and let him stay out late with his friends.”

Give away

To hand things out for free.

This phrasal verb can be separated by the item being given away.

“When Linda’s cat had kittens, she gave them all away to good homes.”

Give up

To stop trying, surrender.

“After two weeks of trying to build my own table, I gaveup and just bought one.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Go”

Go out (with)

To go on a date with someone.

“Sarah was so happy when Peter finally asked her to gooutwith him!”

Go ahead

To go in front of someone, or to give permission to do or say something.

“Go ahead, explain to me why there is a car on my roof.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Grow”

Grow up

To grow up, sometimes used to tell someone to stop acting childish.

“Some people tell Steve he needs to growup, but he loves acting like a child.”

Grow apart

To get distant from someone, like a friend.

“When my friend moved to a different country I tried to stay close with her, but we slowly grewapart.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Hang”

Hang on

To keep something.

“When everyone else was getting fired, Paul managed to hangon to his job.”

Hang out

To spend time with someone, casually.

“My friends and I used to hangout in the park after school.”

Hang up

To end a call on the phone, especially if it’s before the other person is ready.

“I was in the middle of a sentence, and he hungup on me! How rude.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Hold”

Hold on

To hold something tightly. This phrase can also be a way of asking someone to wait for a moment.

“You’d better holdon to your hat, it’s windy out there!”

Hold back

To stop yourself from doing or saying something.

“Amy has a great voice but whenever she’s singing in public she feels shy and holdsback.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Log”

Log in (to)

Used with computers, this phrase means to sign into your account on a website or computer.

“Don’t forget to login to your FluentU account to learn English better and faster.”

Log out/off

Also used with computers, this phrase means to sign out of your account.

“You should always logout of your accounts when you use a public computer.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Look”

Look up

To check the meaning of something—can be separated by the item being looked up.

“If you don’t know the meaning of a word, you should look it up in the dictionary.”

Look out

To watch out for something.

“Lookout, there’s a baseball coming your way!”

Phrasal Verbs with “Pay”

Pay back

To give someone back money that you owe them—can be separated by the person getting paid back.

When it’s written as one word, “payback” means revenge.

“Thanks for getting me lunch when I forgot my wallet at home! I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”

Pay for

This phrase can either mean to give someone money for a particular purpose (like paying for a new car), or to suffer because of something you did.

“He’ll pay for all the problems he caused me by being late today!”

Phrasal Verbs with “Put”

Put out

This phrase can mean to extinguish a fire, or to irritate someone by asking them for a favor. (In the case of annoying someone, can be separated by the person getting annoyed.) Be aware that in very informal slang, this phrase has a more offensive meaning.

To extinguish a fire: “The firefighters managed to putout the fire before it spread to other houses.”

To irritate someone: “I’d ask you to make me dinner but I don’t want to put you out.”

Put on

To get your clothes or makeup on.

“Every morning she putson her dress, lipstick, shoes and hat—in that order.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Take”

Take off

This phrase can mean to remove clothing, or to leave for a journey (e.g. planes take off when they begin their flights).

“She was very happy when she finally got home and tookoff her shoes. They had been hurting her feet all day!”

Take out

To remove something, like from a pocket or a bag. This phrase can also mean to take someone on a date. It can be separated by the item or person being taken out.

The phrase can also mean to remove someone, as in by killing them—but this is probably not something you would need to use in everyday conversation!

To remove something: “The children sat at their desks and tookout their pens and paper.”

To take someone on a date: “He took her out to the most expensive restaurant in the city.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Turn”

Turn on/off

To switch a machine or light on or off.

“Turn off the light, I’m trying to sleep!”

Turn around

To move so that you’re facing the opposite direction.

“Sally was about to get on the plane, but she turnedaround when someone called her name.”

Turn up

When something that was lost is found unexpectedly.

“Anything I lose usually turnsup under the couch. It’s my cat’s favorite hiding place.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Warm”

Warm up (to)

To start liking someone or something more as you spend more time with them, especially if you didn’t really like them in the beginning.

“The new puppy was scared of my husband when we first got him, but he warmedupto him pretty quickly.”

Phrasal Verbs with “Work”

Work out

To exercise.

“I try to workout every morning, by repeatedly lifting a heavy donut to my mouth.”

Work (something) out

To come up with a solution or a compromise with someone.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can worksomethingout so that everyone is happy.”

How many of these English phrasal verbs did you already know? Phrasal verbs are everywhere! Don’t be afraid of how many there are—just start with a few at a time and soon you’ll be an expert.

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