The best way to LEARN PHRASAL VERBS

Hey everyone, it's Hadar.

Thank you so much for joining me.

And today we are going to talk about something painful

and important, and that is...

I can't even say it - phrasal verbs.

In this episode, we are going to talk about: one - what are phrasal verbs,

and are they really that important?

Two - what are the consequences of not using phrasal verbs when speaking English?

And three - what is the biggest mistake learners make when learning phrasal verbs?

Stay tuned.

Now, what are phrasal verbs?

A phrasal verb is a combination of two or three words, usually a verb

and a preposition, or a verb and an adverb, or a verb and an adverb

and a preposition - that create and form an entirely new meaning.

For example, "take" - that's the verb.

'Take off your clothes' - undress.

'Take after' - look like someone.

'Take up' - become interested in something.

Now, as you can see, the reason why it's so incredibly confusing

is because you're only changing one part of the word - the preposition.

Prepositions are just like those small words that we add in between words.

And all of a sudden, changing those parts, changing those prepositions changes

the meaning of the word completely.

So this is the first reason why it's so confusing, but also because sometimes a

certain phrasal verb might have several different meanings, and all of them are

very different from the original verb.

'Take' - 'take up' - two different words.

Now, phrasal verbs are extremely popular in the language, and people use

them informally almost all the time.

And the assumption is that in order for you to become fluent in English,

and to sound natural, and to master the language you have to know phrasal verbs.

Now, for most people, most normal people, phrasal verbs are hard to remember

because there are so many of them.

And as we talked about it before, you can't really tell the meaning

of the word by just looking at the particle, the adverb, or the

preposition that is associated with it.

I mean, sometimes we can get a feeling as to what it means, but generally

speaking, you need to know the phrasal verb to know how to use it.

Now, what are the consequences of you not using phrasal verbs?

To be honest, nothing's going to happen.

And here's why.

When you are listening to English, and let's say someone uses a phrasal verb.

And you don't know the meaning of this particular phrasal verb.

I mean, you know 'look away', you know 'look up', you just don't

know what 'look after' means.

But then you will hear it in a sentence because phrasal

verbs always come in context.

And then you might hear someone saying, "Every Wednesday afternoon

he looks after his father.

He's such a good kid."

So maybe you don't know what the meaning of 'looks after' is, but

you can get it from the context probably, if you're paying attention.

And even if you're not, nothing serious happens because it's okay

not to understand a hundred percent of what people are saying to us.

So, even if you don't understand all phrasal verbs, you can

understand them from the context.

And if you hear the same phrasal verb again and again, and again, and

again, you will get it, like you will get any new word that you encounter.

Now, what about not using phrasal verbs?

What would be the consequences of that?

Will that affect your fluency?

No.

Because for every phrasal verb, there is another way to say the same thing.

Sometimes you have a different word, and sometimes you can use a few

other words to explain something.

'Looks after' - 'takes care of'.

There you go.

So, if I were the one wanting to say "every Wednesday afternoon

he takes care of his father", I'm still fluent, I still sound natural.

Nothing happened after I haven't used phrasal verbs.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I don't think that you don't need to know phrasal verbs.

And I don't think that you need to give up on learning them.

I'm just saying that it's time to reduce the obsession around phrasal verbs.

And I know there is this obsession because I see it with my students.

And I'm also saying that we shouldn't be using it as a measuring

stick for someone's fluency.

Because you can be very fluent and expressive, and sound natural

without using a lot of phrasal verbs.

For example, in this video, I barely used any phrasal verbs.

Did that sound unnatural or less fluent?

Probably not, you probably haven't even noticed.

And yet, here it is.

I haven't used a lot of phrasal verbs, and I usually don't use a

lot of phrasal verbs when I speak.

I know them, I understand them, I use them in writing.

I don't always use them in speaking.

And I'm able to speak.

So, I hope I proved my point.

Now, last thing I want to talk to you about is the biggest

mistake English learners make when trying to learn phrasal verbs.

Here's the thing.

Even though phrasal verbs have the verb, and then different prepositions,

or adverbs, or adverbs and prepositions - learning lists of words

based on the verb, and just changing the particle, is incredibly hard.

Because the meaning is so different, and usually the phrasal verbs

have nothing to do with the verb.

So just, you know, creating these lists of words based on

the verb is simply not helpful.

It doesn't create this internal system that you can follow.

It doesn't have this, you know, reason that you can comprehend, and

according to that, learn it easily.

No.

It's just random lists of words.

And sometimes, some of the phrases verbs are phrasal

verbs that you don't even need.

Yet, you might learn it because you're learning lists of

words based on that one verb.

So, because this is not helpful, what I recommend for you to do

is treat each phrasal verb as a new word that you need to learn.

Don't think of it as an element from this complex system of words that you

just need to crack and figure out.

No, it's just going to make it harder.

Just treat it as single words that you need to learn.

And learn only the phrasal verbs that you actually need.

Not on a certain list that you've found on the internet.

Okay?

So, you want to, let's say you want to incorporate into your speech the

phrasal verb 'look away' or 'look after'.

Okay?

So what you need to do is just go back to my 5-step method for integrating a

new word into your day-to-day speech.

And that is just understanding how to say it, and then repeating it many,

many times - building pronunciation confidence, turning it into a habit.

And then you want to find different sentences online

where this phrasal verb is used.

You can do it on YouGlish or a simple Google search.

Then you want to come up yourself with a few sentences with that phrasal verb.

And then you want to use it intentionally when speaking.

If you want to find out more about my method for growing your vocabulary,

then I'm going to link to that episode in the description below.

Okay?

So, make a list of random phrasal verbs that you constantly hear around you

and you'd like to use more, or phrasal verbs that you recognize that you need.

So make a list of your favorite phrasal verbs.

Don't try to group them any way, because as I said, I think that

just makes things more complicated.

And then practice saying it out loud many times.

Then find sentences with the phrasal verbs and write them down.

Then come up with a few sentences on your own with those phrasal verbs, and then

use them intentionally when speaking: at work, with friends, in your speaking club.

And then, gradually you'll start using it more and more and more.

Yay!

Okay, that's it.

Now tell me, what is your secret when it comes to learning phrasal verbs?

Do you love it?

Do you hate it?

Is it easy or hard?

Let me know in the comments.

And if you have any other tips for learning and using phrasal verbs,

share it in the comments below.

Don't keep all the gold to yourself, my friend - share it with the community.

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Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day.

And I will see you next week in the next video.

Bye.