50 common phrasal verbs with meanings and examples
Learn 50 common phrasal verbs with clear meanings and examples, grouped by topic, plus a simple guide to separable and inseparable phrasal verbs.
In this lesson
A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word such as up, off, on or out, for example get up, turn off and look after. Together they often have a new meaning. This lesson gives you 50 common phrasal verbs, grouped by topic, with meanings, examples and a quiz.
Key point
Learn each phrasal verb as one unit with its own meaning. With a separable phrasal verb, a pronoun such as it or them always goes in the middle: turn it off, not turn off it.
What is a phrasal verb?
A phrasal verb has two or three parts: a verb and one or two particles. A particle is a small adverb or preposition, such as up, down, in, out, on, off, over or away.
Sometimes the meaning is easy to guess. Sit down means to move your body down onto a chair. Often the meaning is completely new. Give up has nothing to do with giving: it means to stop doing something.
Examples
- Please sit down. (easy to guess)
- My father gave up smoking last year. (new meaning: stopped)
- I can’t put up with this noise. (three parts: accept something unpleasant)
Phrasal verbs are very common in everyday conversation, emails and stories. Many of them have a more formal one-word synonym. In a formal letter you might write postpone, but in conversation you usually say put off.
particle noun B1
The small word that comes after the verb in a phrasal verb, such as up, off or out.
In turn off, the particle is off.
What is the difference between separable and inseparable phrasal verbs?
Phrasal verbs follow three patterns. The pattern tells you where the object goes.
Separable phrasal verbs
With a separable phrasal verb, a noun object can go after the particle or between the verb and the particle. A pronoun object (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) must go between the two parts.
Examples
- Turn off the light. / Turn the light off.
- Turn it off. (not Turn off it)
- She picked up her children. / She picked her children up. / She picked them up.
Inseparable phrasal verbs
With an inseparable phrasal verb, the object always comes after the whole phrasal verb, even when it is a pronoun. Three-part phrasal verbs, such as look up to and run out of, are always inseparable.
Examples
- I look after my grandmother. / I look after her.
- We’ve run out of rice. / We’ve run out of it.
Phrasal verbs with no object
Some phrasal verbs never take an object. They are complete on their own.
Examples
- I get up at six every morning.
- Our car broke down.
- They argued, but they made up later.
| Type | Where does the object go? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Separable | After the particle or in the middle. A pronoun always goes in the middle. | fill in the form / fill the form in / fill it in |
| Inseparable | Always after the particle. | look after the baby / look after her |
| No object | There is no object. | The plane took off on time. |
Common mistake
The music is too loud. Please turn down it. → The music is too loud. Please turn it down.
I look my little sister after. → I look after my little sister.
Note
Some phrasal verbs have more than one meaning and more than one pattern. Take off your shoes is separable (remove clothes), but The plane took off has no object (leave the ground).
Phrasal verbs with an object are transitive, and phrasal verbs with no object are intransitive. Our lesson on transitive and intransitive verbs explains these terms. For more detail on word order, read the Cambridge Dictionary guide to phrasal verbs and multi-word verbs.
Phrasal verbs for your daily routine
Use these phrasal verbs to talk about your day, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed.
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| wake up | Stop sleeping. | I usually wake up at six o’clock. | no object |
| get up | Get out of bed. | I get up at half past six on weekdays. | no object |
| turn on | Make a machine or a light start working. | Can you turn on the fan, please? | separable |
| turn off | Make a machine or a light stop working. | Turn off your phone before the exam starts. | separable |
| put on | Dress yourself in clothes, shoes or glasses. | Put on your raincoat. It’s raining. | separable |
| take off | Remove clothes or shoes. | Please take off your shoes before you come in. | separable |
| pick up | Collect someone or something; lift something. | I pick up my daughter from school at two o’clock. | separable |
| throw away | Put something in the bin because you do not want it. | Don’t throw away that box. I need it. | separable |
| tidy up | Make a place clean and neat. | Please tidy up your room before dinner. | separable |
| eat out | Eat at a restaurant, not at home. | We usually eat out on Friday nights. | no object |
| go out | Leave your home to go somewhere for fun. | Are you going out tonight? | no object |
| look for | Try to find something or someone. | I’m looking for my keys. Have you seen them? | inseparable |
| lie down | Put your body flat on a bed or sofa to rest. | I feel tired, so I’m going to lie down for a while. | no object |
Phrasal verbs for work and study
You will hear these phrasal verbs in offices, classrooms and job interviews.
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| fill in | Write information in the spaces on a form. | Please fill in the application form in black ink. | separable |
| hand in | Give your work to a teacher or a person in charge. | You must hand in your essay by Friday. | separable |
| look up | Find information in a dictionary, a book or online. | If you don’t know a word, look it up in a dictionary. | separable |
| find out | Discover a fact or a piece of information. | I need to find out what time the train leaves. | separable |
| carry on | Continue doing something. | Carry on reading until the bell rings. | no object |
| give up | Stop doing something, especially a habit; stop trying. | My father gave up smoking last year. | separable |
| set up | Start a business or an organisation. | She set up her own bakery in Colombo. | separable |
| take over | Take control of something from someone else. | Who will take over the class when Mr Perera retires? | separable |
| work out | Find the answer to a problem by thinking or calculating. | I can’t work out the answer to question five. | separable |
| sign up for | Join a course, club or activity by giving your name. | I’ve signed up for an evening English course. | inseparable |
| catch up | Reach the same level as other people; do work you have missed. | I missed two lessons, so I need to catch up. | no object |
| put off | Decide to do something later; postpone. | Don’t put off your homework until Sunday night. | separable |
| go over | Check or study something again carefully. | Let’s go over the answers together. | inseparable |
Note
British English usually says fill in a form, and American English usually says fill out a form. Work out also means to do physical exercise: I work out at the gym three times a week. With this meaning it has no object.
Phrasal verbs for relationships
These phrasal verbs help you talk about family, friends and partners.
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| get on with | Have a friendly relationship with someone. | I get on well with my colleagues. | inseparable |
| fall out with | Argue with someone and stop being friendly. | She fell out with her best friend over money. | inseparable |
| make up | Become friends again after an argument. | They had a big argument, but they made up the next day. | no object |
| break up | End a romantic relationship. | Ravi and Priya broke up after three years. | no object |
| ask out | Invite someone to go on a date with you. | He finally asked her out for dinner. | separable |
| look after | Take care of someone or something. | My grandmother looks after my little brother while my parents are at work. | inseparable |
| take after | Look or behave like an older member of your family. | Nimal takes after his father. They are both very calm. | inseparable |
| bring up | Care for a child until he or she is an adult; raise. | My aunt brought me up in Kandy. | separable |
| grow up | Change from a child into an adult. | I grew up in a small village near Galle. | no object |
| look up to | Respect and admire someone. | Many young players look up to their coach. | inseparable |
| let down | Disappoint someone by not doing what they hoped. | I promised to help her, and I don’t want to let her down. | separable |
| count on | Trust someone to help you; rely on. | You can count on me. I’ll be there at eight. | inseparable |
Note
Get on with is more common in British English. American English usually says get along with. Both mean the same: I get on with my brother or I get along with my brother.
Phrasal verbs for problems
Things go wrong in every life. Use these phrasal verbs to describe problems and how you solve them.
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| break down | Stop working, used about a machine or a vehicle. | Our car broke down on the way to the airport. | no object |
| run out of | Use all of something so there is none left. | We’ve run out of milk. Can you buy some? | inseparable |
| sort out | Deal with a problem successfully; organise. | Don’t worry. I’ll sort out the problem tomorrow. | separable |
| figure out | Understand or solve something after thinking about it. | I can’t figure out how this new phone works. | separable |
| deal with | Take action to solve a problem; handle. | The manager deals with customer complaints. | inseparable |
| get over | Recover from an illness or a sad experience. | It took her two weeks to get over the flu. | inseparable |
| put up with | Accept something unpleasant without complaining. | I can’t put up with this noise any longer. | inseparable |
| come up with | Think of an idea, a plan or an answer. | We need to come up with a better plan. | inseparable |
| calm down | Become less angry, upset or excited. | Calm down and tell me what happened. | no object |
| give in | Finally agree to something after refusing. | The boy cried until his parents gave in and bought him a toy. | no object |
| go off | Become bad, used about food or milk; start ringing, used about an alarm. | Don’t drink that milk. It has gone off. | no object |
| cut off | Stop the supply of electricity, water or gas, or end a phone call. | Our electricity was cut off during the storm. | separable |
Note
Using go off for food that has become bad is mainly British. Americans usually say the milk has gone bad or has spoiled.
How do you use phrasal verbs in different tenses?
Only the verb changes. The particle stays the same. Many common phrasal verbs are made with irregular verbs, so learn their past forms: get, got; break, broke; give, gave; take, took; come, came.
Examples
- I got up late this morning.
- The bus has broken down again.
- She is looking after her nephew this week.
- We will sort out the problem tomorrow.
You can review these past forms in our lesson on regular and irregular verbs.
How can you learn phrasal verbs more easily?
Tip
Learn phrasal verbs by topic, as in this lesson, and always learn them in a full sentence. For each new phrasal verb, write one true sentence about your own life, for example I usually get up at six.
Notice what the particles often mean. Up can mean “completely” (tidy up), off can mean “stop” or “leave” (turn off, take off) and out can mean “until nothing is left” (run out of). These patterns are not rules, but they help you guess new phrasal verbs.
When you are ready, learn some common English idioms and what they mean, or review the 100 most commonly used words in English. Every phrasal verb in this lesson is also in our English Word Bank.
Summary
- A phrasal verb is a verb plus one or two particles, and it often has a new meaning.
- Separable phrasal verbs can be split: turn the light off, turn it off.
- Inseparable phrasal verbs keep the object at the end: look after her.
- Some phrasal verbs, such as get up and break down, have no object.
- In other tenses, only the verb changes: get up, got up.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a phrasal verb and a normal verb?
A phrasal verb is a normal verb plus a particle such as up or off. The particle often changes the meaning completely: look means use your eyes, but look after means take care of.
How do I know if a phrasal verb is separable?
Check a learner’s dictionary. If it shows the object in the middle, as in turn something off, the verb is separable. If it shows the object at the end, as in look after somebody, it is inseparable.
Are phrasal verbs formal or informal?
Most phrasal verbs are neutral or informal and are very common in speech. In formal writing, a one-word verb often sounds better, for example postpone instead of put off, or continue instead of carry on.
Can one phrasal verb have more than one meaning?
Yes. Take off can mean remove clothes (take off your coat) or leave the ground (the plane took off). Look at the whole sentence to understand which meaning is used.
What is the best way to learn phrasal verbs?
Learn a few at a time, grouped by topic, and always in a sentence. Try to use each new phrasal verb in your own speaking or writing within a day or two.
Practise this lesson
12 questions
