50 Important Phrasal Verbs in English

Vanessa: Have you ever been  

listening to an English conversation and you  just can't figure out what they're saying? You  

understand the individual words, but the overall  meaning just doesn't add up. Well, I have some bad  

news. You have been blowing off phrasal verbs for  too long and it's time to stop. Hi, I'm Vanessa  

from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com, and today you  are going to learn one of the most difficult  

but most important parts of the English language.  What's that, you might ask. It's the phrasal verb.  

What's a phrasal verb? It is a two or three part  verb. Let's take a look at a few that I just used,  

"to figure out," "to add up," "to blow off." Each  of these is a phrasal verb. It has two parts,  

it has a regular verb and then it has a  second part. We could call this a preposition  

or you can call this a participle. Sometimes there's also three parts,  

like you'll see in this lesson, and when you use  a phrasal verb, it has a different meaning than  

just using the verb by itself. So let's take  a look at that last one. What does it mean to  

blow something? You go like this, and some dust  blows away, but when you blow off something,  

this is not a good thing. You'll find out what  it means in just a minute. So today I'm going to  

help you expand your vocabulary and expand your  English-speaking knowledge. Like always. I've  

created a free PDF worksheet with all of today's  expressions, ideas, sample sentences, and you can  

answer Vanessa's challenge question at the bottom  of the free PDF worksheet. So click on the link in  

the description to download that worksheet today.  Never forget what you are about to learn. Let's  

get started with the first phrasal verb. I'm going  to tell you what it is, then tell you a sample  

sentence, and I want you to guess what the meaning  is because I will tell you the meaning last, like  

a little test. Let's get started with number one. Important phrasal verb number one is, "to account  

for." Take a look at these two sample sentences.  "I think the cold weather accounted for the low  

attendance at the game." "I can't account for the  missing money. I don't know where it went." What  

do you think this means? It means that there  is an explanation or a cause. So what is the  

explanation for low attendance at the game?  Well, it's that it was cold weather. People  

didn't want to sit outside in the cold weather. Do  I have an explanation or a cause for the missing  

money? Nope, I think I'm going to be in trouble. Phrasal verb number two is, "to act out." "The  

child acted out when her mom wouldn't  give her any candy," or we could say,  

"She was so hungry that she started to act  out." What does this mean? It usually means  

that you start to act in a disruptive way.  For a child, maybe that means that they start  

hitting something, or yelling, or pulling on  you. It's really not a good thing to act out. 

Phrasal verb number three, "To act up." Take a  look at this. "He always used to act up in class,  

but guess what? Now he's a doctor." Or you could  say, "My car battery has been acting up. I think  

I need to get a new one." Do you think this is  a good thing or a bad thing to act up? Well,  

it's not a good thing. Just like to act  out, this means to cause trouble. He used  

to cause trouble in class, but somehow  he got his life together and now he's a  

doctor. Or my car battery is causing trouble.  I think I'm going to have to get a new one. 

To allow for. "When you create a budget, you  should allow for emergencies." "I didn't allow  

for traffic this morning, so I think I'm going  to be late." What does this lovely phrasal verb  

mean? It means that you're taking something  into consideration. When you create a budget,  

you should think about, you should take  into consideration some emergencies  

that might happen. When you commute to  work, you should take into consideration  

traffic or else you'll probably be late. To answer for. "You will have to answer for  

your actions someday." "He had to answer for his  crimes." Ooh, this sounds very serious, and it is.  

It means to be held responsible for something. If  he is a criminal, he has to answer for his crimes,  

he has to be held responsible for his crimes. On a less serious note is the phrasal verb to  

apply for. "My parents encouraged me to apply for  every scholarship possible." Or you could say,  

"Even if you don't meet the qualifications,  you should apply for the job anyway." What does  

that mean? It means that you're making a formal  request. You are trying to get a scholarship.  

You are trying to apply for the job to get the  job a formal request. I would like this job. 

To back down. "The stray cat wasn't going to back  down. He was ready to fight." Or you could say,  

"When she knew that she wasn't going to win  the argument, she decided to back down."  

What does this mean? It means that you are  withdrawing your position. So for the cat,  

the cat is not withdrawing. The cat is ready to  fight, but if you're not going to win an argument,  

you can withdraw and say, "I'm done arguing."  "I don't want to talk about this anymore."  

"Maybe you're right." You can back down. A similar phrasal verb is, "To back off." You  

can say, "I could tell he was getting upset so I  decided to back off and give him some space." Or,  

"They decided to back off their threats after  someone called the cops." Do you get a similar  

feeling here? This generally means you are  becoming less aggressive. They are backing  

off their threats. Maybe someone's arguing in  the streets when they hear that someone called  

the cops. Well, it means you should probably chill  out a bit back off and go about your daily life. 

To back out of. This is a three part phrasal  verb, "back out of." You could say, "They  

decided to back out of the cease-fire agreement,"  or "She decided to back out of the vacation plans  

when she realized how much it cost." This means  that you're withdrawing from something that you  

previously agreed to do. So two countries agreed  to have a cease-fire agreement and then they said,  

"We're not going to do it." So they backed out  of that agreement. Or maybe this person said,  

"Yep, I'll go on that vacation," and then she  realized how expensive it was. So she's going  

to withdraw that agreement. "No, I'm  not going to go. It's too expensive." 

The last back phrasal verb is, "To back up."  And you could say, "You need to back up. You  

parked way too close to me." Or, Everyone back  up. Give me some space." So here we're talking  

about physically going backwards, and you'll  hear this a lot in crowded places. "Back up,  

everyone. Back up. Someone's coming through." "To bank on." "Clark is banking on his holiday  

bonus this year." Or, "He is banking on her saying  yes to his proposal of marriage." Ooh, what does  

this mean? It means you are basing your hopes and  dreams in something. So he has his hopes and his  

dreams tied up in her saying yes to his marriage  proposal. He's banking on her saying yes. Or maybe  

poor Clark has already bought Christmas presents  for his whole family even though he doesn't have  

enough money. So he is banking on his company  giving him a holiday bonus. I hope they do. 

"To boil down to." This is a fun one. You can  say, "A successful organization boils down to  

trust and leadership. Or, "In politics, it all  boils down to who has the most money and power."  

We use this phrasal verb when we're talking about  a summary of things. So a good organization, yes,  

there are many moving parts, but what are the key  elements? We can summarize by saying trust and  

leadership. And unfortunately for politics,  what is the summary of politics? Money and  

power. It boils down to those two things. "To block off." "The police had to block off  

a few streets while they were clearing the wreck."  Or you could say, "I need to block off a few hours  

in my schedule so that I can study English With  Vanessa." This means that you are separating  

or closing something. It could be physical like  the street, the police closed the street, or it  

could be a little more metaphorical. That you are  blocking off. You're separating some time in your  

schedule. And you say, "This is the hour that I  will watch Vanessa's phrasal verb lesson." Great. 

"To blow up." "Don't blow up at me. I told  you this would happen." Or you could say,  

"Don't light a match near the gasoline. It'll blow  up." One of these is more figurative. One's a much  

more literal, but this means to explode. So yes,  if you have a match near gasoline, there will be a  

big explosion. Do not do this. But we can also use  this for people. So in my first sentence I said,  

"Don't blow up at me." This means don't get  angry at me. I told you this would happen. 

To blow off. Do you remember this from the  beginning of this lesson? We could say, "Ugh,  

I really just wanted to blow off work today and  go do something fun." Or, "She didn't even say hi  

to me. She just blew me off." So rude. What does  this mean? Well, it means that you are ignoring  

something usually of responsibility. So it's  not a good thing. If you are ignoring your work,  

you are blowing off your work, and don't blow  off a friend. Instead, you should pay attention  

to them at least say hi. "She just blew me  off and didn't even say hi." The gall of her. 

To blow over. "I'm waiting for the storm to  blow over before I go on a hike." "Once the  

argument blows over, we'll be able to come to an  agreement." This phrasal verb means to go down  

or settle or just go away. Once the storm goes  away, I can go on a hike. Once we stop arguing,  

well we can come to an agreement. To be blown away. "She was blown away by  

how amazing the artwork was." "I'm blown away by  how much money we raised for charity." This means  

to be shocked by something. I can't believe we  raised so much money for charity. I'm blown away. 

To break even. "They thought they would make money  on the sale, but they just broke even." "Once we  

account for the cost of materials, we will break  even." This means that you don't gain money and  

you don't lose money. You just break even.  Notice that irregular past tense verb broke..  

Once they finished the sale, they broke even.  They didn't make money. They didn't lose money.  

They just had the same amount of money. To bring up. "Don't bring up her ex in  

conversation. It's still a really sensitive  subject." "He tried to bring up the possibility  

of a raise and his boss just blew him off." What  does this mean? To bring up means to mention  

something. He tried to mention a raise and did  his boss listen? Nope, his boss just blew him off. 

To call for. "This recipe calls for chicken, but  I'm using pork instead." Or this wonderful fixed  

proverb, "Desperate times call for desperate  measures." What does this phrasal verb,  

"to call for," mean? It means require.  So if you are having desperate times,  

maybe your house burns down, you lose your job.  Well, you are going to have to do something. You  

will be required to do something desperate. Maybe  you'll have to take a job that you would've never  

taken before because you're desperate. You need  money. You need to find somewhere to live. So  

you're going to have to do something desperate.  It is required. This phrasal verb is often used  

in recipes. So like my first sentence, "The  recipe calls for chicken." Or you could say,  

"It calls for 10 milliliters of..." whatever. But  this is a phrasal verb, often used in recipes. 

"To call on." "They called on all the available  staff to help with the event." Or you could say,  

"I know I can always call on her when  I need something." This means that  

you're asking someone to do something.  Usually a little favor. I'm calling on  

my friend when I have something that I need. To call out is quite different. You could say,  

"He called me out for eating the last cookie." Or,  "The politician called out his opponent for lying  

to the people." This means that you're pointing  out or denouncing some kind of problem. So,  

"Sorry, I ate the last cookie." And he says,  "Hey, you ate the last cookie. Everyone. Vanessa  

ate the last cookie." He is calling me out. This  often happens in politics that a politician will  

call out someone else and say, "Hey, he lied to  you last year. Don't vote for him this year." 

To carry over. For anything that didn't get done  today, you'll need to carry it over tomorrow." Or  

you can say, "If you don't pay your bill this  month, it will carry over into the next bill."  

This means that you're just transferring something  to a later point in time. If you don't pay your  

bill, well, it's not going to go away. Instead,  your bill next month is going to be double  

because you'll still need to pay the last bill. To check out. "Did you check out that article I  

sent you? I thought it was pretty interesting."  Or you can say, "I'm going to check out the new  

bookstore. I wonder what they have." And this  means that you are investigating something.  

You're reading an article, you're checking out  the article, you're checking out the bookstore,  

you're investigating. What's it like  there? You're checking out something. 

To check up on. Another three part phrasal  verb check up on. You can say, "I need to  

check up on my grandpa because he has the flu."  Or, "The kids seem mysteriously quiet, I should  

check up on them." And this means you're seeing if  someone is okay. "Is my grandpa okay? He has the  

flu." "Are the kids okay? They're too quiet." To come around. "I know you don't agree with  

me on this, but I think you'll come around." Or  you can say, "I used to not like sci-fi movies,  

but I'm starting to come around." What  do you think this means? This means  

that you're changing your opinion. "Well,  maybe now I kind of like sci-fi movies. I  

didn't like them before, but I'm coming around." To come after. "That bear was coming after me." Or  

you could say, "Dan, I swear I thought that spider  was coming after me. That's why I screamed."  

"To come after," means to pursue or to  chase something. So that bear was very  

scary. It was coming after me. That spider  was very scary. It was coming after me. 

To crack down on. And you can imagine from  this hand emotion, to crack down on something,  

maybe what this could mean. You might say, "The  police are cracking down on speeding through the  

neighborhood." Or you could say, "The library is  cracking down on people who lose or damage books."  

This means that they're enforcing a law more  severely than before. Maybe the librarians  

are saying, "I'm sorry, you can't check out  any more books until you pay for the book  

that you lost or damaged. Sorry, but  we have to crack down on that rule." 

To crack up. Very different than, "To crack down  on." You could say, "My son cracks up every time  

he plays with our chickens. He thinks they are  so funny." Ooh, a little hint. Or you could say,  

"I know that TV show is old, but it cracks me up  every time I watch it." And this simply means that  

you think something is funny. It makes you laugh.  Notice the construction of that last sentence. It,  

the TV show. The TV show cracks me up. We can  split this phrasal verb with a pronoun like  

this. "It cracks me up." Or if you think  someone is really funny, you could say,  

"You crack me up. You're always saying funny  things. I love it. It helps my difficult  

days become brighter. You crack me up." To cut back on. "Ugh, I need to cut back  

on sweets. The dentist said I might be getting a  cavity." Or you could say, "I really need to cut  

back on my spending and save more money." What  does this mean? To cut back on something means  

you're reducing something or lowering something.  "I should eat less sweets. I should spend less  

money. I should cut back on spending money." Next is a fun one. To be cut out for something.  

"I think she is cut out for teaching. She's  just a natural teacher." Or you could say,  

"I am not cut out for construction. I hate loud  noises." This means that you are naturally good  

at something. So if someone is a naturally good  teacher, you could say they are cut out for  

teaching. It's almost as if the universe used some  scissors and cut them into the perfect shape of a  

teacher or the perfect shape of a mother. This is  what you were meant to do. You are naturally good  

at it. And you know what? I think you were cut out  for learning English. So thanks for being here. 

To cut up. "My son helps with dinner by  cutting up the vegetables." Or you can say,  

"I cut up the meat to put it in the stew."  And this means you're using a knife or  

maybe scissors to cut something. It's a very  straightforward, phrasal verb to cut up something. 

To fall for something. Be careful with this  phrasal verb. You could say, "I can't believe  

that you fell for that scam. They're just trying  to take your money." Or, "Don't fall for his  

tough guy act. He's really a sensitive guy."  This means to be deceived by something. So a  

company is trying to deceive you to take your  money. It's a scam. Don't fall for the scam.  

It's not real. Or if someone is pretending to  be tough, that they don't care about something,  

well really don't fall for that. It's just an act.  Inside, they're really a sensitive teddy bear. 

To fall in with. We could say, "My parents  always warned me about falling in with the  

wrong crowd." Or you could say, "I fell in with  the protestors as I was walking down the street."  

This kind of has the sense that you are not  in control, that something is just happening,  

that you're taking part in a group, maybe just  kind of by accident. The most common way to use  

this is that first phrase that I used, because  parents often say this to children, "Don't fall  

in with the wrong crowd. Don't accidentally get  pulled in to the wrong crowd." This means mean  

friends, maybe friends who are doing drugs  or doing something too risky. Don't fall in  

with the wrong crowd. Instead, make good friends. To fall down. "Please don't fall down the stairs.  

Hold on to the railing." Or you can say, "My  stocks really fell down over the last quarter."  

What's this mean? Well, it means that something is  decreasing, usually in a bad way. Well, of course,  

I don't want my son to fall down the stairs. I  don't want my stocks to fall down. Instead, I want  

everyone to be safe and my money to be secure. To fall back on. This is an important phrasal  

verb. You could say, "Well, when I lost my job, I  had to fall back on my savings." Or you could say,  

"If you lose your job, well, you can  always fall back on joining the circus."  

Maybe if you're really good at juggling something,  and this means that you have a backup plan. Well,  

when you lost your job, you didn't have any money,  so you had some savings. Or if you lost your job,  

well, you could do another career in  the circus. Kind of unusual but cool. 

To fall out. "He left home after falling  out with his parents." Or you could say,  

"They had fallen out over whose fault it was and  now they don't talk to each other anymore." Do  

you get the sense this is a negative thing? This  means that you had a disagreement and you just  

couldn't agree with each other in the end, so your  relationship has been broken. We sometimes use the  

full expression, "To have a falling out." This is  using this phrasal verb as a noun. "Yeah, we had a  

falling out a couple years ago and I haven't seen  him since." This is breaking of a relationship. 

To fill in. "You need to fill in the correct  answers on a test if you want to get a good  

score." Or you could say, "Oh, you missed class  yesterday, don't worry, I will fill you in.  

This means that you're putting some information  somewhere where there wasn't information before,  

maybe it's on a piece of paper, or maybe  it's in someone's mind. You're telling them  

what happened while they weren't there.  "Don't worry, I'll fill you in on what  

happened during class while you weren't here." A similar but slightly different phrasal verb is,  

"To fill out." "Don't forget to fill out every  section on the job application." Or you could say,  

"You need to fill out these forms before the  doctor will see you." And this means that  

you're adding information to a form. Usually  we use to fill out for something larger,  

fill out a section, fill out a form, and to  fill in is just one line. You need to fill  

in each answer. You need to fill in that spot. The next phrasal verb is, "To fill up." "I made  

the mistake of filling up on free bread before  our meal came." Or you could say, "I need to  

fill up my gas tank," and this means that you're  adding something to it. I added too much bread  

to my stomach. I need to add some more gas to  my car. I need to fill up the gas in my car. 

To give out. "They were giving out free samples of  cheese at the grocery store. Yum." Or you can say,  

"I like to give out presents for Christmas.  It's so fun to see people's reactions and  

think about if they'll like it or not." This  means that you're distributing something.  

They were distributing free cheese samples.  And I like to give out presents. I like to  

distribute presents at Christmas. To give up on. Kind of a sad,  

phrasal verb. "I give up on eating healthy during  the holidays. There's so many good things to eat,  

I just can't stop." Or we could say,  "He didn't want to give up on his team,  

but he knew that they definitely would not win."  This means that you are admitting defeat. There is  

no way that I can eat healthy during the holiday  season because there's just too many sweets and  

yummy things to eat. Or you're admitting defeat  that, "My team will not win. I'm just giving  

up on my team." Kind of sad, but it happens. To give way. "Be careful. Don't step on that  

floor. It might give way." Or you could say, "I'm  worried that that old bridge might give way before  

they repair it." And this means something is  collapsing or breaking because of physical  

stress. "Don't step on those old floorboards.  They might collapse. They might give way" 

To hang on. We're not talking about physically  hanging on. Instead we can say, "Hang on,  

I'll be right there." Or, "If you want to hang on  a minute, I can walk with you to the park." And  

this simply means wait. If you're willing to wait  a couple minutes while I finish what I'm doing,  

I can walk with you to the park and  it might be nice to go together. 

To hold out. "He's holding out on buying a new  car because he thinks he can get a good deal  

somewhere else." Or you could say, "The troops  held out the attacks because they knew that  

reinforcements were on their way." This means  that you're waiting. But there's also a kind of  

nuance here that you're hoping things will get  better. You have an expectation that the future  

will be better than now. So he's not buying any  old car that he sees. Instead, he's holding out,  

he has hope in his heart that there is a better  deal out there somewhere. The troops are not  

just giving into the attacks, instead they're  holding out because they know reinforcements,  

more troops, are coming soon to help them. To hold up. "The weather is holding up our  

project that we were trying to do outside." Or  we could say, "The wreck held up traffic for  

hours." This is talking about a delay. "Well,  we couldn't do our project outside because it  

was delayed by the weather." Or, "The traffic was  delayed by the wreck. The wreck held up traffic."  

A beautiful phrasal verb to use. All right,  we have four frail verbs left. Are you ready? 

The next one is, "To keep off." "The sign says  keep off the grass, but everyone is ignoring it."  

Or you can say, "I wear a sun hat during the  summer to keep the sun off my face." And this  

is talking about avoiding touching something,  avoid touching the grass. And I don't want the  

sun burning my face every day, so I wear  a sun hat to keep the sun off my face. 

The next phrasal verb is, "To keep on." "I know  it's hard to practice, but keep on practicing and  

you'll get better." Or you could say, "My dad  always told me to keep on keeping on." This is  

a fun fixed phrase that's supposed to encourage  someone. And how can it encourage someone? Well,  

this phrasal verb means to continue doing  something. So continue continuing, keep on,  

keeping on, and that's my encouragement for you.  Some days learning English will feel great. "Yes.  

This is so fun. I got this. Oh, I watched a  new lesson. Oh, I spoke with someone." But  

some days it's not going to feel like that.  Some days you'll be in a slump. You'll feel  

discouraged. So my advice for you is keep on  keeping on. Continue and continue. Don't stop.  

Even just do a little bit. Listen to a song, watch  a little video. Maybe just take a deep breath and  

encourage yourself in English. Keep on keeping on. To keep up with. "When we go running, I can never  

keep up with my friend. She runs so fast." "When  I went to the new college, I could not keep up  

with the professor. His ideas were just way over  my head." This means to move at the same rate as  

someone. It could be physically like keeping up  with a friend while they're running. You're at  

the same pace, but it could be intellectually as  well. So if you watch an English movie or TV show  

and it's just boom, boom, boom, so fast, you might  say, "I cannot keep up with that movie. It is too  

fast." So this is not moving at the same rate as  what you can understand. It's moving too fast. 

And our last phrasal verb is finally  here. It is, "To keep to yourself."  

"My neighbors just kind of keep to themselves."  Or you could say, "When you're sick, it's a  

good idea to keep to yourself so that other  people don't get sick." Do you get the sense  

for what this means? It means to be private. My  neighbors are pretty private. They don't really  

talk with other people. But when you're sick, you  probably should be private and stay to yourself.  

So note that this word has to match with the  subject. "My neighbors keep to themselves," or,  

"You should keep to yourself." Those need  to match when you use this phrasal verb. 

Well, congratulations. You have learned  these top 50 phrasal verbs in English. And  

if you feel like this is too much to remember,  well remember that learning new vocabulary in  

English boils down to keep on, keeping on. You  have to continue practicing to remember them,  

and you can do it. And now I have a question  for you, using one of these fun phrasal verbs.  

I want to know in the comments, what is a  job that you are not cut out for? So for me,  

I would say I know that I am not cut out  for being a paramedic. There's just too  

much stress and too much blood. I can't handle  it. I am not cut out for being a paramedic.  

What about you? Let me know in the comments.  And don't forget to download the free PDF  

worksheet for this lesson. It's a big one. All  of the phrasal verbs, all of the definitions,  

all of the sample sentences and ideas we  talked about today, plus you can answer  

Vanessa's challenge question at the bottom of  that free PDF worksheet. You can click on the  

link in the description to download that today. Well, thank you so much for learning English with  

me and I'll see you again next Friday for a  new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

But wait. Do you want more? I recommend  watching this video next, where you will  

learn a very important difference between to  break and to break down. Don't mix them up.  

I wonder what the difference is. Well,  I'll see you in that video to find out.