50+ COMMON ENGLISH PHRASAL VERBS (with workbook!)

Hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.

There are so many English phrasal verbs, right?

Hundreds and hundreds.

Today I'm going to take you through the fifty most

common phrasal verbs

so that you can make sure you recognise them,

you understand them

and you can use them confidently in English conversations.

We're going to take the very best of all of my phrasal verb lessons

and bring them together right here in this one lesson for you.

There's a fair bit to cover so to help you I've made you a free

workbook that you can use to practise and to remember

what you learned during this lesson.

Head down to the description, follow the link

and the instructions to get the download

and let's get into the lesson!

Bring up.

Now we use this phrasal verb in multiple ways but when we want to

start discussing something, we use it.

There's something I want to bring up.

So it's a really great way to introduce a new topic and it's usually

about something that's serious or important. It's usually used when

you're in a professional context or you want to talk about

something seriously.

Let's bring this up at our next team meeting.

To get across.

Now this phrasal verb is often used with the verb try

to show that you're attempting to communicate a message

when you want someone to understand something.

Here's a cool tip. There are several nouns that are often used

with get across and so learning them together is going to help

you to sound more natural and more accurate as you use this

phrasal verb.

So we use get across with facts, feelings, ideas,

a message, meaning, a point or a point of view.

All of these things are used with get across.

Am I getting the message across clearly?

I'm trying to get my point across but Paul keeps butting in.

I'm going to get to that phrasal verb soon.

Have you ever jumped in on a conversation?

This is a great phrasal verb for interrupting.

It's very informal.

Do you mind if I jump in here?

I've got something to share. I want to say it.

We don't literally mean jump in.

Jump in is just an informal synonym of interrupt.

Do you mind if I interrupt?

Do you mind if I jump in?

They're the same thing. The phrasal verb is just more casual,

more informal.

Now butt in is also used for interrupting

but very informal and perhaps a little rude when you're using that

to describe what someone else did. It suggests that that person

who's doing the action, I didn't really care about the other people

in the conversation or what they've been talking about.

They just interrupted and it was quite rude. They butted in.

And it's often -

Hey did you do the thing I told you to do the other day?

Because I need you to do it.

Anyway to butt in means to join a conversation or an activity

without being asked to or invited to.

I was speaking with Sue after she lost her job and then

Jim butts in and starts talking about his new promotion.

So it's quite a selfish action, right? Butt in.

To blurt out. This is quite a fun one. To blurt something out.

To blurt out something means to say something

without thinking about the effect it will have and it's usually

because you're nervous or you're excited.

Imagine that a friend told you that she was pregnant

but she specifically said:

"Don't mention it to anyone yet because I haven't told anyone else"

but then later in the day you saw another friend,

someone you hadn't seen in quite a while

and you were giving them all the updates about life and work and

then you say

"Oh guess what? Melanie's pregnant!"

It just slipped out of your mouth before you even thought about it.

That is blurting it out and you'd have to call her up

and you'd have to say

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I just blurted it out. I didn't think."

So this phrasal verb can be used in multiple ways, it's sometimes

used when you're trying to call someone and they don't answer.

I'm trying to get through but there's no answer.

But it's also used when you're trying to make someone

understand what you're trying to say.

It's difficult to get the message through to my team because we

all work remotely.

I'm trying to get the message through to Paul but he's not listening.

To talk over.

This phrasal verb is used to discuss a problem or a plan

and usually, it's when you're trying to find a solution or resolve it

in some way. It's when you're a little stuck, you've got to

talk about it some more so that you can come to a resolution

or to make it clear and when you use it you'll always need to use

an object as well all right? You'll need to talk over an issue,

a plan, something, it or this, whatever okay. It's something

that has to be talked over.

I know you're upset. Let's talk it over tonight when you get home.

Sometimes you might even hear people using talk over

in the context of speaking over the top of someone else.

Usually as a way to interrupt they might say

I don't mean to talk over you but we've already decided what to do.

So in this context it's always followed by a person followed by

the person who's being interrupted.

To talk around.

So when you want to talk someone around, you want to convince

them or you want to persuade them to agree with you right?

So it kind of suggests that the person didn't agree with you

to start with and you're trying to convince them that

your idea is the right one, is the best one.

I didn't want to go but he succeeded in talking me round.

To shut down. You might know this phrasal verb already because

it has a common meaning to close something,

usually permanently like it might be a restaurant that gets

shut down but it is also informally used during conversations when

you get rejected, especially if your hopes are up.

It was kind of awkward, she just shut him down mid-sentence.

So she just stopped him in the middle of his sentence and told him

that his idea was no good or that he's wrong.

She interrupted in a rude way and shut his idea down.

So it's definitely a negative thing to do or to experience

yourself right?

My boss didn't like the suggestion. He shut me down straight away.

Now it would be much better if your boss backed you up right?

Which means to give support by telling other people that

they agree with something that you said or something that you did.

Thanks for backing me up during the meeting.

When we think about or we talk about the past then we can use

look back on

something, an event or a time or an experience in the past.

I try to look back on the mistakes I made in the past

and learn from them.

We look after

people you know we take care of them.

I offered to look after my sister's kids on Thursday night.

Who's going to look after your dog while you're away?

To look down on someone is to have a low opinion of them

or to think that you're better than them in some way.

It's really common for people who value university education

to look down on those who don't have a degree.

Can you think of other times in your life or around you

in your community where people look down on each other?

See if you can write a sentence about that down below.

We look for things, right, you know when we lose something

and we're trying to find it.

Now of course, we always need to use a noun that follows

this phrasal verb right to explain what it is we're looking for.

I'm looking for my keys, I can't find them anywhere.

Of course, we look forward to something happening, right?  

We are waiting for something to happen and feeling really excited

or really pleased about it.

Lots of you know that I love the warm weather

and I usually complain about our

relatively mild winter here in Australia

but as you can imagine we are just coming out of winter

and heading into summer now and I am very excited about it.

I'm looking forward to summer.

We look around or we look round.

And that's when we visit a place and see what's there.

Before I book the venue, I'd like to come and look around

if that's okay, just to make sure that it's suitable.

Look out, to look out.

We use it as an exclamation to tell someone to be careful.

That's a really common use, we say:

"Look out! You're about to knock the glass off the bench!"

Look out.

We look out for people. Can you hear that?

Look out.

Look out for someone, it means to take care of them 

and make sure that they're okay.

My nephews are always looking out for each other at school,

it is so sweet.

You might already know the phrasal verb look up.

Are you already thinking of a few different phrasal verbs

that use look up?

When we look something up usually we're trying to find out

some information right or we use a dictionary or Google or Youtube

to find the right answer or the truth, right?

If you don't know a word you look it up in the dictionary.

Now look up is a separable phrasal verb and that means that we

can insert the object into the phrasal verb or we can have it

follow so we can say

look up the word or

look the word up. Both of them are okay, it's possible.

Now if we keep thinking about look up, then I can say that I

look up to someone right? I respect them. I want to be like them.

I really look up to my boss.

I guess you could say that she's my mentor.

Now this phrasal verb is also inseparable, the object always

follows the phrasal verb.

Who do you look up to? Is there someone in your life

that you respect and you admire?

Write about it in the comments below.

To look into something is to investigate it

and this phrasal verb is quite useful to use in a

professional context. If a colleague says

"We sent out the invitations last week but no one's responded.

Do you think there's a problem with the website?"

That's odd. Maybe I'll look into it and report back after lunch.

Another great phrasal verb to use in a work context is to look over

something and this means to examine it but usually quickly,

you know probably not going into a whole heap of detail.

I'll look over the report tonight and let you know if i want to add anything.

We can look through something.

Now of course we have the more literal meaning of look through

but like look over it's also used when we examine

something especially to find the information that you need.

I can spend hours looking through recipes

getting inspiration for dinner each night.

Come down with.

So when you come down with something you are

starting to show the signs of an illness.

They both came down with a terrible cold.

So it's the same as saying catch you know we say

to catch a cold or catch an illness. It has the same meaning.

They came down with a cold. They caught a cold.

Same thing.

Now usually come down with is used with non-serious illnesses

like a cold or the flu, a stomach bug or even just something

when we're a little unsure. We might say

I feel like I'm coming down with something.

Now notice that come down with is transitive and inseparable

so that means that we always need an object to complete

that thought or that action right? We need that object

but it's also inseparable which means that the object needs to go

after the phrasal verb and not in between it.

You can also fight off a cold, can't you?

When you free yourself of that illness and your body overcomes

that illness by fighting against it.

She came down with a cold

but luckily she was able to fight it off quickly. She overcame

the cold quickly. So the fighting here in this phrasal verb is figurative

not literally fighting a cold or punching that virus in the face.

No, it's inside her body. Her immune system is working hard

to fight off that virus you know, until she's feeling well again.

So this phrasal verb is transitive. We need an object but this time

it is separable so that means that our object can either go

between the verb and the particle or it can go after the phrasal verb.

She fought off the cold.

She fought the cold off.

She fought it off.

There is one little tip here that I want to share about

separable phrasal verbs so when that object is a pronoun

like in this sentence here, so we're not saying

that cold or that illness. We're saying 'it'.

Then the object always goes between the verb and the particle.

She fought it off.

Not she fought off it.

Okay? That's something to keep in mind for separable phrasal verbs.

People don't always overcome an illness, do they?

They become more and more unwell until eventually

they pass away.

So this is a polite and respectful way of saying to die.

Now it's just a little bit softer and more indirect to say that

someone has passed away

rather than saying he's dead or he died

which sometimes it can sound quite direct and maybe a little

disrespectful as well. When I talk about my dad, I don't say

he died, I say he passed away.

Notice that this time the verb is intransitive and inseparable

so we don't actually need an object to express this idea, do we?

To pass away we know what that means, it's complete

and because there's no object it also means that we can't separate

the verb and the particle, right, so that's kind of obvious.

Check out this phrasal verb here, to dip into.

If you dip into something you are spending some of your money

but usually it's money that you are saving for a specific purpose.

They have dipped into their savings to pay for their renovation.

Now interestingly the object of this phrasal verb always describes

a sum of money so it's a specific noun, it could be

savings or a pension or a retirement fund for example.

You get the idea, it's a specific type of noun that you would dip into.

Now maybe you've heard this phrasal verb in a line from a really

famous Beatles song.

With a little help from my friends, I get by with a little help

from my friends/

Get by means to manage to live or to do a particular task  

using just the money or the knowledge that you have

at that time and nothing else.

Even though Tim has been without work for six months

they've been getting by.

They don't have as much money as they usually do but

they manage to live with what they have.

They don't need anything else to survive, they're getting by.

But if you go without that means that you know you're living

without the things that you need or you'd like to have.

If you think about the storms in Texas a couple of days ago,

people have been going without power for five days or more.

There was no power. They just had to find a way to live without

that power. They went without power for five days.

I'm sure you can think of a time when you went without something

for a little while. Did you go without sugar? Did you go without

a break? Did you go without...

Hey! I'm not going to finish that sentence for you.

See if you can write your own sentence down in the comments

below. I'll be down to check them.

Let's start with come up.

Come up has a few different meanings.

It can mean to be mentioned or talked about in a conversation.

If anything important comes up during the meeting,

I'll tell you about it later.

It can also mean to approach or to go towards someone especially

if they are on a higher level than you are.

Come up on stage and collect your award!

Come up to my apartment. It's on the fourth floor.

Now if something like a job or an opportunity comes up

it becomes available.

This new opportunity has come up and we need to take it.

Now if a problem or an issue comes up

it happens and it needs to be dealt with immediately.

Something's just come up so I need to cancel my appointment.

come in well you've probably heard this one  and it means to enter a building or a room  

The TV was so loud he didn't notice me come in.

But it can also mean arrive.

The train comes in at three o'clock.

News is coming in that they found survivors in the crash.

But it can also be used when talking about clothing

or fashion.

These shirts come in three colours.

If some information comes out, something that was previously

unknown becomes known.

After ten years, the truth finally came out.

Now it can also be a synonym for a pier.

There was a dead tree coming out of the water  .

And of course, after a big thunderstorm,

the sun always comes out from behind the clouds.

We use this phrasal verb to say that the sun or the moon or

the stars have appeared in the sky.

If your favourite band is working on a new album

they'll probably tell you when it's going to come out.

The new album will come out in June.

My sister's new book comes out in December.

It can also mean to go somewhere with someone

for a social event.

Do you want to come out with us on Friday night?

Come on.

Come on is an expression that you'll hear all the time.

It can mean hurry up.

Come on we're going to be late!

Or you could use it to encourage or support someone.

Come on you can do it.

It can also be used when you don't believe something

that someone said.

Come on! That's not true.

Come on can also mean to start working.

The light in the bathroom just came on.

The hot water isn't coming on. Are you sure it's working?

It can also be used

when you're referring to a sickness that is just starting to develop

usually with a common cold.

I think I've got a cold coming on.

To come down. Now generally this phrasal verb is a synonym for

reduce or fall. It's used when something moves in a

downwards direction.

There was a big storm last night and many of the trees came down.

Come down here now.

You can use this when you're talking to someone who's

higher than you, perhaps they're upstairs or in a tree.

Come down here.

Come down is also used when something reduces

so often the price but what about to come down on?

Now to come down on someone is a really negative thing,

it means to punish someone because

they didn't perform as expected.

My boss came down on me really hard because I didn't finish

the report in time.

Come over.

Again this phrasal verb has multiple meanings but the most

commonly used one is used to describe movement,

the movement from one place to another.

Come over here.

Why don't you come over to my house for dinner?

To come back.

Now most commonly this phrasal verb is used when somebody

or something returns to a place or returns to an original state.

I'll come back in half an hour and get you.

I thought I got rid of my cold but I think it's coming back.

To brush up on.

This is a phrasal verb but one that's idiomatic and it means

to update or to improve your skills in some way.

It can be used in any context really, formal or informal

but this expression is so useful in a professional context

because sometimes it can be a little awkward

or embarrassing to say that you don't have fantastic skills

in one area, right?

But by saying that you need to brush up on those skills

is a much softer way of saying that you're not that good at something

but you are willing to practise or study to improve those skills.

I'm brushing up on my Italian

because I've got a business trip in July.

I got the job at the publishing company

but I really need to brush up on my editing skills.

I'm out of practice.

To turn down.

Again, this is another common phrasal verb but it's also idiomatic.

It means to say no to something or refuse something.

They offered me tickets to the conference

but I had to turn them down because it's my son's birthday.

As you probably know phrasal verbs are made up of a verb

with a particle, maybe even two. All the phrasal verbs in this lesson

include the particle up and by focusing on up,

we get to study the meaning and understand how the verb

is influenced by the particle and we're going to split the phrasal

verbs from this lesson into five different categories.

Ones that generally mean to move up, to increase or improve,

to create, to fix and to complete.

So we're going to start with phrasal verbs that have a general

meaning to move up.

So the word up means to take something from a low position

to a high position, doesn't it? So if I pick up my mug

and I move it higher, I move it up

then I'm taking it from a low position to a high position.

So there are a few phrasal verbs that fall into this same category

right and they use up.

So of course, we have pick up. Pick up.

So that means to lift or to move something or someone, right?

We can pick up our mug, we can pick up our child.

We can also get up and get up can mean to rise after sleeping

or sitting down for a period of time.

You might say: "I have to get up and go to my meeting."

We also fill up things so when we fill up something

we put something inside it all the way to the top until it's full.

So we can fill up our glass with water.

So you'll notice that in all of these phrasal verbs we're taking

something from a low position and moving it to a high position.

The next box is to increase or improve in some way.

And so these words really mean to make something greater or

better or bigger which is similar to moving something upwards

but not quite. Let's think about some of the phrasal verbs with up

that help to express this same idea.

We climb up

or maybe we go up a set of stairs and that's to increase

the height that you're at and to reach a higher

level of a building.

I climbed up the stairs to get to the balcony and watch the sunset.

We also use go up to talk about an increase in value

or an increase in number as well.

You can also back up. This is a great phrasal verb.

It means to provide extra support or increase the support

that you need.

She backed up her stories with photographic evidence.

You know we might even say that someone backed you up,

they provided support. They argued on your side.

They were supportive of you so they backed you up.

We say grow up and that means to increase in size or maturity.

We say our kids grow up too quickly.

Cheer up. We use it when we want to improve our mood right?

To cheer up.

Cheer up. The weather's going to be better tomorrow.

We also dress up which means we increase the quality  

of our clothes, maybe we make ourselves look better, look nicer.

All the phrasal verbs in this box relate to create.

You know I love to cook right so the phrasal verb

to cook up is a really great one to use when you want to make

something, some food for someone else. To cook up some dinner,

to cook up a steak, for example.

It can also mean to get an idea ready.

An exciting, interesting idea. I'm cooking up a plan to do something

interesting maybe a surprise party.

Now whip up is a little similar to cook up, it means to cook

something but to do it really quickly.

You know I'm just gonna whip up a sandwich during my break, right?

We wouldn't whip up an entire roast dinner but we can whip up something quickly

How about to dream up.

To think of a new idea or to imagine something new,

to be creative with your thoughts.

I dreamt up an entire new plan for the party.

We also set up and we use set up when we organise

or we plan something like an event or maybe even a system.

I set up my studio every time I need to film a lesson for you.

Make up is a good one as well. Make up can refer to

inventing or creating a lie or a fake story.

She would often make up stories to make her life

seem more interesting.

Make up cool, huh?

Not to be confused with the noun makeup but the phrasal

verb make up is to creatively think up a story or an idea.

We can also use come up with when we're creating something,

a new idea or a solution because come up with

means to suggest or to think of a new idea.

You know Elon Musk? Great example. He comes up with

grand plans to save humanity like electric cars and flying to Mars.

So can you see how all of those phrasal verbs have something

to do with, they're connected to the idea of creating or making

something and that's why they're grouped together.

But there are many more of them as well but that's why

paying attention to the particle and the meaning that the particle

offers the verb can help you to learn and to practise and

to remember and even to guess the meaning of new phrasal verbs.

So in the next box is fix or get better so to fix something

or to repair it, to make it whole again.

Let's go back to make up because if you make up with someone

you're repairing your relationship after you've had an argument.

Sarah and John had another argument

but they always make up.

And again that's not to be confused with our other meaning

right? Our noun or our other phrasal verb meaning to make up.

Heal up is another one. Heal up is when an injury gets better.

His broken leg healed up really quickly.

So it fixed itself, it got better.

To sober up means to become less drunk or intoxicated.

Coffee and breakfast will help you to sober up after a long,

crazy night out on the town.

Patch up is a great one, a little informal but a lovely phrasal verb.

It means to fix or to make something whole again.

I'm gonna patch up the hole in my jumper so that I can use it again,

I can wear it again. I'm gonna fix it. I'll patch it up.

Inside the last box we have phrasal verbs that mean to complete,

to completely finish something. We finish up something.

We complete it.

Please finish up the design by Friday.

Another phrasal verb with a very similar meaning is wrap up.

It's almost time to wrap up this lesson, to finish up, to wrap up

and we can say drink up.

Drink up or eat up,

that means finish your food or your drink.

Finish it, we're gonna be late.

Drink up! We're gonna be late.