Do You Need to Learn Phrasal Verbs? Are Phrasal Verbs Actually Used by English Speakers?

So you're learning English

and you've discovered the joy of learning phrasal verbs.

And let me be honest,

I'm sure it's not always a joyful experience.

In fact, you might be asking yourself a couple of questions.

You might be asking yourself this question.

"Do I need to learn phrasal verbs?"

Or you might be asking this question.

"Do native English speakers use phrasal verbs?"

Or you might simply be saying this.

"I hate phrasal verbs!"

They're not always the easiest thing to learn.

But before I answer that question,

before I answer the question

about whether you need to use phrasal verbs or not,

let's look at a couple of things.

The first thing I thought we should do

is look at a recent song

and see if there are any phrasal verbs in that song.

I want to look at the words of a popular song

to see a phrasal verbs are being used.

So the song I thought we should look at is "Save Your Tears"

by The Weekend; a very popular song right now.

There are actually two phrasal verbs in this song.

The first phrasal verb is the phrasal verb, "to fall apart."

When something falls apart, it goes from being good,

from being in good shape to being in bad shape.

I think in this song, they're talking about a relationship,

a relationship that was really good

and now it's starting to fall apart.

It's no longer a good relationship.

And then the second phrasal verb in the song

is the phrasal verb "take me back."

After a relationship falls apart

and people go their separate ways,

sometimes one of the people from the relationship,

they want to get back together.

So they use the phrase "take me back."

"Please take me back.

Please become my boyfriend or girlfriend again."

So I'm not completely answering the question yet.

But it looks like in popular music,

there are definitely phrasal verbs used quite often.

I also thought I should look at a recent news article

to see if they use phrasal verbs in the news.

So I found a news article on the internet

and I found two phrasal verbs in the entire article.

Not a lot of phrasal verbs,

but there were definitely two of them.

The two phrasal verbs in the news article

were the phrasal verb "to ramp up"

and the phrasal verb "to scale up."

And they have similar meanings.

When a company or business is producing something

and they start to produce more,

we say they are ramping up production.

So when you ramp something up, you do more of it.

I walk about two or three times per week

but I think I should ramp that up

to about four or five times per week,

'cause I've been a little bit lazy lately.

So when you ramp up

and then also when you scale something up,

it means you do more of it.

Jen grows flowers

and every year she scales up our production.

Every year she grows more flowers.

So in news articles as well,

we definitely see phrasal verbs.

But before I answer the question

about whether you should learn them or not,

we should look at a couple more things.

There is a really popular television show

on Netflix right now called "The Crown."

So I thought I should watch season one, episode one,

and see how many phrasal verbs they use

in the first five minutes.

Well, surprisingly in the first five minutes

of season one, episode one of "The Crown,"

they use three different phrasal verbs.

They use the phrasal verb "to get through something."

I believe the phrase is something like,

I think that I will get through it.

When you get through something,

it means something difficult is happening in your life,

but you're going to get to the other end

and you're still going to feel good about yourself.

When you try to get through something,

you work out all the little details.

The second phrasal verb they used

is the phrasal verb "to give something up."

When you give something up,

it means you stop doing something.

And it happens a lot with relationships.

If you marry someone from a different city,

you might have to give up your job

because you might need to move to the city

where the person you are marrying is from.

And then the last phrasal verb that they use

is the phrasal verb "watch out."

This is the imperative form of the verb "to watch,"

or "to watch out" is the phrasal verb.

And it simply means be aware,

there might be danger around you.

So season one, episode, one of "The Crown,"

I found three phrasal verbs

in the first five minutes of the show.

So television shows definitely have phrasal verbs

in them as well.

So I know many of you watch YouTube

because you're obviously watching it now.

So I thought I should look at a video,

the most recent video from one of my favorite YouTubers,

and see how many phrasal verbs that they used in that video.

This is a video from Matti Haapoja,

and it actually has him and his brother.

I think in the first one and a half minutes of the video,

I have my notes here.

In the first one and a half minutes of the video,

Matti and Teppo use five different phrasal verbs.

So they are going to a rollerblade shop

to buy some rollerblades,

and they use the phrasal verbs "to go back,"

which means to go someplace again.

So when you go somewhere,

you can go back there a few days later.

They use the phrasal verb "to test out,"

which means to try something.

In the video, they test out some roller blades.

They use the phrasal verb "to come in,"

which means to enter.

They use the phrasal verb "to hook someone up,"

which means to get something for someone.

So if I needed rollerblades, I could go to that store

and the person could hook me up with some new rollerblades.

And they use the phrasal verb "to come back."

So in the first minute and a half of their video,

Teppo and Matti used five different phrasal verbs.

I didn't watch the rest of it,

but I'm pretty sure if you watch YouTube videos,

you're going to hear phrasal verbs.

So what about everyday life?

Does a native English speaker like myself use phrasal verbs

when they're having conversations?

Well, the answer is yes.

Actually, in the last few days,

I have used all of these phrasal verbs.

I used the phrasal verb "look forward."

When you look forward to something,

you're excited for it to happen.

I used the phrasal verb "to catch up,"

because I phoned my brother

and it was fun to catch up with him.

When you catch up with someone,

it means that you tell each other

what's happened in your life recently.

So I was able to catch up with my brother.

I also was happy that I did that,

because I find during the pandemic, it's easy to grow apart.

When you grow apart, it means that

your relationship with someone isn't as strong

because you haven't seen them as often.

So it was nice to catch up with my brother

because I don't want us to grow apart.

I also used the phrasal verb "to get started."

There were many things that I needed to get started on

this past week.

And I used the phrasal verb "give up"

because there was a certain thing I was talking about.

I forget what it was exactly,

but I didn't want to quit doing that thing.

I didn't want to give up.

So do English speakers,

do native English speakers use phrasal verbs

in everyday conversations?

Yes, they do, 100%.

We use phrasal verbs all the time.

So what did I discover?

Well, if you're going to listen to English music,

you're going to hear some phrasal verbs.

If you read the news in English,

you're going to see some phrasal verbs.

If you watch an English television show,

you're going to hear some phrasal verbs.

If you watch a YouTuber,

you're going to hear some phrasal verbs.

And in order to have good English conversations,

you're going to need to know some phrasal verbs.

So to answer your question,

do you need to learn phrasal verbs?

The answer is yes.

You definitely do need to learn some phrasal verbs.

I know it can be a challenge.

I know it can be difficult,

but I think it is vitally important that you do that.

Anyways, thank you so much

for watching this little lesson/research project

on phrasal verbs.

I hope it helped you learn just a little bit more English.

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don't forget to click that red Subscribe button over there

and give me a thumbs up if this video helped you learn

just a little bit more English.

And if you're wondering who I am, I'm Bob the Canadian.

I teach English here on YouTube.

And if you have a little bit more time,

why don't you stick around and watch another English lesson?

(smooth music)