10 Phrasal Verbs for everyday life

Yeah.

No, I can't hear you.

No, could you turn down the TV in the background?

Okay, that's better.

Yeah, I think I forgot to turn off the stove.

Could you just check?

Yeah.

Okay.

Oh, that's good.

What do you want me to pick up?

Yeah, okay, I can.

Yeah, I'll pick up some milk on the way home.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

I love you, too.

Bye.

Sorry, just a personal conversation.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on ten phrasal verbs that you can use around

your house.

So, if you live with someone or you have a home, an apartment - these are some very common

phrasal verbs that you can use to talk about domestic activities.

All right?

And you're going to have around 40 examples in this lesson, so not only will you, you

know, hear: "turn on", "turn off", you'll hear all the possible options around your

house that relate to these phrasal verbs and that you can use with these phrasal verbs.

Speaking of: "turn on", "turn off" - activate/deactivate.

You can turn on or turn off the light, turn on or turn off the AC, which is the air conditioning.

Okay?

Turn on the fan, turn off the fan; the thing that makes air in your house.

Some of them go like this.

You know what I mean.

Turn on the stove or turn off the stove where you cook.

Okay?

"Hey, could you turn off the stove?

I think the soup is ready."

Turn on the heater or the heating.

You might have a portable heater-all right?-that you just turn on and it makes heat, it makes

it warm in your room, or you might have central heating in your house where you adjust the

thermostat.

All right?

So you can turn on or turn off the heating.

Turn on the TV, turn off the computer, turn on the dishwasher.

So, you put your dishes in the dishwasher, turn it on.

I do that because mine has three buttons, so one, two, three, and then four to start.

That's mine, but anyway.

Turn on the laundry or turn off the laundry.

You can say: "the laundry machine" as well.

And after, you know, you put your clothes in the laundry machine, also called a "washer",

you can turn on the dryer.

"Hey, I put the clothes in the dryer.

Can you just turn it on?

I forgot for some reason."

Okay?

So, turn on the dryer.

Next...

So, "turn on", "turn off" means activate/deactivate.

"Turn up", "turn down".

"Turn up" - increase; "turn down" - decrease.

So, you are talking about the intensity of something; an appliance in your house.

So, you can turn up the volume.

Now, you can turn up the volume on the radio or the TV.

You heard me having a conversation and I said: "Hey, can you turn down the TV?"

So when you say: "Turn down the TV" or "the radio", this specifically means the volume

on the TV.

This way.

Yeah.

Or maybe you're doing it this way now with a mouse, or maybe you're tapping it.

Or I don't know what you're doing now.

Or you can turn down the radio; the volume on the radio.

You can turn up the AC.

So: "It's still hot.

Can you turn up...?

Turn up the AC?"

Increase the air conditioning.

And turn up the heater, the heating.

You can also just say: "the heat".

"Can you turn down the heat?

It's too hot in here."

All right?

Okay.

So, remember "turn up" means to increase; "turn down" means to decrease.

Next we have: "pick up".

"Pick up" is very useful because it has a couple of different contexts.

So, first I'm going to give you some context where "pick up" means to lift, or to lift

and collect things in your house.

This helps when you are cleaning up around your house, and you need to pick up the toys.

So, you tell your kids, like I tell my kids: "Pick up your toys."

And then they don't listen, and there's a long argument, and then no one is happy.

No one.

Just...

It's very hard.

You know what I'm talking about, parents.

So: "Pick up the toys."

Another favourite of mine: "Pick up the stuff on the floor."

Okay?

All of the stuff.

I can't even see what it is, because it's just plastic on top of papers, and more plastic,

and dolls, and things.

And: "Pick up your jacket."

All right?

So, someone left the jacket on the floor.

"Hey, pick up your jacket."

Pick up the papers on the table.

So, maybe you live with someone and they left a big mess on the table: "Hey, could you pick

up the papers on the table?"

And next we have "pick up" with the meaning of getting or acquiring something.

So, you can pick up something on the way home from work.

You can get something or pick up something from the grocery store, from a department

store; wherever you can buy something.

So, hey, you heard me on the phone; I said: "Yeah, I can pick up some milk.

I will get...

I will pick up some milk from the grocery store" or "supermarket", depending on which

word you prefer there.

"Hey, can you pick up some double-A batteries?

We need double-A batteries from the smoke detector", for example.

All right?

"Could you pick up a coffee for me?"

So if you are out and your partner is at home, your partner calls you: "Hey, I know you're

coming home soon.

Could you pick up a coffee for me?

A cup of coffee for me?"

And you can also ask someone to pick up the mail.

So: "I forgot to pick up the mail yesterday."

Or maybe you go on vacation so you ask your neighbours or someone, you know, in your family

to pick up the mail while you are away.

So, to get the letters that come into your mailbox every day while you're away.

Now, before we continue, I also want to stress: "turn on", "turn off", "turn up", "turn down",

"pick up", and the other five phrasal verbs you will see - they are all separable.

What this means is the object, like for example, the light, the volume, the stuff on the table

- they can go in the middle of the phrasal verb or at the end of the phrasal verb.

So, it's possible to say: "Turn the light off" or "turn off the light", or: "Turn the

volume up", "turn up the volume".

Okay?

So you can put this in the middle of the phrasal verb or at the end of it.

So, we got five more to go guys, and after this I think you're going to be quite the

domestic king or queen.

Next we have: "put away".

So, "to put away stuff" means to return something to the place it's supposed to be, or to put

it in the place it's supposed to be.

So, if your partner comes home with groceries and says: "Hey, I did the groceries.

Here, can you put these away?"

So, this means, you know: "Can you put the vegetables where the vegetables are supposed

to go, the cans in the cabinets?

Can you put away the milk in the fridge?"

etc.

So, put away the groceries; put them in their designated places.

Put away the dishes.

"Hey, I washed the dishes.

Can you put the dishes away?"

So the plates go in this cabinet, the mugs and cups go in this cabinet, etc.

Put away the laundry.

Right?

So: "I folded the laundry.

Can you just put it away?

Put it in the closet; put the shirts where the shirts go, and the underwear where the

underwear go."

Wherever.

"Could you put away the stuff on the table?

There's a lot of random stuff.

Can you put it in its designated place?"

All right?

And: "Could you put the toys away?

Could you put away the toys?

They are all over the floor, I can't live like this, I refuse to live like this, and...

Just put away the toys, kids.

Just put them away."

All kids, put them away.

All right.

"Put back".

"Put back" simply means to return.

So, the difference with "put away" and "put back" - "put away" means put something in

its designated place; "put back" means to return something to a place where you got

it from.

So, it's a slight distinction.

So: "Hey, can you put back the remote?

The remote control for the TV.

You know, it's on the floor.

Can you put it back beside the TV, or on the table beside the couch?"

Something like that.

"Could you put back the milk?

The milk is on the table.

It needs to go in the fridge."

"Could you put back the books?

Could you put the books back?

I noticed that, you know, hey, there are a bunch of books here, you were reading them,

now you're not reading them.

Can you put them back on the shelf?"

Next, the salt or the salt shaker.

So: "I don't need the salt anymore.

I need to put back the salt shaker where it belongs", you know, on the table or somewhere

else in the kitchen.

And: "Could you put back the DVDs?

There are DVDs on the floor.

Could you please, you know, put them back in the place they are supposed to be?

Please return them where you got them from."All right.

Next, we have: "take out" and "put out".

So, you can use both of these in the same way.

Here we have: Take out the garbage, put out the garbage, the recycling, the compost, the

cat, the dog.

So, to "take out" or "put out" something or...

Well, something or someone; depends how you feel about animals - if you think they're

people, I guess.

So, you can take out the cat, take out the dog, put out the cat, put out the dog.

This means to take something inside the house and put it outside the house.

So, usually you do this with garbage, recycling, compost; if you have pets and, you know, the

dog needs to pee: "Hey, can you put the dog out?" or "Can you take the dog out for a walk?"

Another one for dogs and cats, if they need to pee outside, you can say: "Can you let

the dog out?" or "Can you let the cat out?"

All right?

So you can take out garbage, take out animals, put out garbage, put out animals.

And, finally, we have: "throw away" or "throw out".

Another word to, you know, just a common verb for this is "toss".

"Hey, can you just toss this away?

Toss it?"

All right?

So: "throw away", "throw out the garbage".

"Throw away" or "throw out", you know, this junk or: "Throw this away.

Throw this away."

It means to discard it.

All right?

Don't keep it anymore; we don't need it.

Throw it away.

Throw it out.

Out of my house; away.

So: "Could you throw this away?

Could you throw that out?

It's old.

Throw it out."

"Could you throw out your old clothes?"

So if you have, like, old clothes and maybe they have rips and they're dirty from paint

or something and, you know, you need to throw that stuff away.

"Toss your old clothes.

Throw away your old clothes.

Throw out your old clothes" or donate them, but I'm using it in another example with "throw

away" or "throw out".

Donate is what you should probably do if your clothes are still in pretty good condition.

Whew, that's a lot of talking from me, so I think it's time for you guys to do some

work.

If you want to test your understanding of all the phrasal verbs we've studied today,

as always, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

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