Basic Phrasal Verbs

Hi everyone!

It’s been so long since my last post about phrasal verbs that I decided to return to this topic and dedicate it to the students who consider them a monster in English. Many people have difficulties to understand them, especially because they are different from the original meaning of the word.

 

Phrasal verbs are idiomatic phrases consisting of a verb and another element, typically an adverb or a preposition, or a combination of both. They are widely used by native speakers of English so it’s a good idea to try to learn some of them.

We’ll see some of the basic phrasal verbs in this post. I’m sure you’ve already heard some or maybe all of them and will be able to understand the meaning by the context, so here we go!

FALL DOWN – to drop to the ground.

He tripped and fell down.

GET OFF – to move your body from something, usually to the ground.

He got off his bicycle.

GET OUT – to leave a place or vehicle.

We got out of the car.

GET UP – to move to a higher position or level, to stand or to get out of bed.

He got up and got dressed.

GO BACK – to return to the place you were before.

I have to go back to the USA one day.

GO IN – to enter a building.

Let’s go in and have some coffee.

GO INTO – to enter a room, a building or an area.

She went into the bedroom and shut the door.

GO OFF – to leave a place in order to do something.

He’s gone off to work.

KEEP DOWN – to stay in a low position.

The soldier signalled to him to keep down.

LAY DOWN – to put something down on a surface.

He laid the baby down on the changing table.

MOVE UP – to move to a higher position.

The sun moved up in the sky.

RUN IN – to enter a building quickly.

I’ll run in and get them.

RUN INTO – to enter a place running.

They ran into the nearest apartment looking for help.

RUN ON – to continue to run in the same direction.

I ran on ahead.

RUN OUT – to leave a place running or when a substance flows from somewhere.

Water was running out from the front door of the house.

SIT DOWN – to lower your body and sit on something.

She sat down beside me.

STAND UP – the opposite of to sit down.

The students stand up when the teacher comes into the room.

TURN BACK – to stop and return to the place you were.

We had to turn back because of the heavy snow.

 

For more basic phrasal verbs, click here.

Click HERE to play with Quizlet and practice more!

 

See you in the next post!