Phrasal Verbs And Their Meaning
- Phrasal Verbs And Their Meaning And Types
- List Ten Phrasal Verbs And Their Meaning
- Some Phrasal Verbs And Their Meanings
Sometimes the first word in a phrasal verb is not a verb at all, but when paired with the preposition, the whole phrase becomes a verb. For example, the phrasal verb 'clam up' is made of a noun (clam) and a preposition (up). When you combine them, however, they become one verb meaning 'to become quiet or refuse to speak.'
- English Phrasal Verbs. A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb; the combination creates a meaning different from the original verb. Abide by Respect or obey (the law, a decision, a rule.). 'If you want to stay at this school, you must abide by the rules.' Account for Give a reason or an explanation.
- Check out Ginger's list of phrasal verbs to master this tricky part of speech. Phrasal Verb: Meaning: Example. Their wedding gave us a chance to dress up.
Blow up. Flip out. Take off.
What the heck are these phrases considered, grammatically speaking?
Maybe you never exactly knew how to define them in English.
Moving on to Spanish studies, do you know the difference between echar and echar a?
Are they expressions? Idioms?
Well, yes, perhaps in a sense. But, more specifically, they’re an essential part of grammar called phrasal verbs.
English has a ton of phrasal verbs, but Spanish is also full of them.
Don’t worry. I’m going to explain everything you need to know here.
Learn these easy verb phrases to give your Spanish the kick in the butt it needs.
What Are Phrasal Verbs?
Phrasal verbs are verbs that change their meaning when a preposition or an adverb is added to them. Take “blow up” for example. Blow up doesn’t mean that you’re tilting your head back and blowing air towards the sky (unless you are, in which case you probably need to get a hobby).
Blow up means explode. “The Martians blew up the moon.” Of course, this doesn’t mean that they put a giant fan under it and blew the moon higher in the universe. No, they exploded it.
Phrasal verbs are constructed by adding a preposition or an adverb to the main verb.
Main verb + preposition/adverb = new meaning
Blow + up = explode
Flip + out = go crazy
Take + off = leave the ground
See, it’s easy. And it’s the same thing in Spanish. A preposition (de, con, and a are the most common) is added to a main verb to change the meaning of the verb. Take for example reírse. Reírse mean “to laugh.” But when you add the preposition de to it, reírse de, it means “to make fun of” or “to laugh at someone or something.”
Reírse + de = to make fun of, to laugh at
Me reí del chiste. (I laughed at the joke.)
Another example is dar con. By itself, dar means “to give.” But when combined with the preposition con, it means “to come upon or to find.”
Dar + con = to come upon, to find
Silvia dio con la solución a su problema. (Silvia found the solution to her problem.)
Why Learn Phrasal Verbs?
Phrasal verbs are an essential part of Spanish grammar. Many times the best or most common way to express an idea is by using a phrasal verb. You might already know acabar de, but if you don’t, this is by far the simplest, easiest and most common way to say that you have just done something. Yup, it’s a phrasal verb.
You need to know phrasal verbs because the difference between echar a and echar could mean you’ve just started a beautiful new relationship with a handsome Spaniardor that you’ve thrown it away. This tiny change has a huge impact on the meaning of the sentence.
With practice, you’ll have no problem distinguishing phrasal verbs in writing and in speech. Soon, using them will become second nature.
Here are 15 essential Spanish phrasal verbs to get you started.
To get started, we’re going to explore the Verbs of Action and Reaction.
Note that all of these expressions must be followed by an infinitive.
1. Echar a
Meaning: to start to, to begin to
Echar a is used with verbs of movement. You can speak about a new feeling if you make it reflexive: echarse a.
Me eché a investigar sobre los verbos con complemento preposicional en español. (I started investigating about phrasal verbs in Spanish.)
Pero cuando me di cuenta de lo fáciles que son, me eché a llorar. (But when I realized how easy they were, I began to cry.)
2. Dejar de
Meaning: to fail to, to stop, to neglect to
You’ll hear this very often in the command form.
Así que me dije—”¡Deja de estudiar!” (So I told myself, “Stop studying!”)
3. Acabar de
Meaning: to have just
Use this verb when you want to say that you’ve just finished doing something. I hope you never have to use it to say this:
Acabo de suspender mi examen de verbos. (I just failed my test on Spanish verbs.)
4. Volver a
Meaning: to return to doing something
This is the most common way to say that you’re going to begin something again.
Así que volví a estudiarlos. (So I started to study them again.)
5. Estar para
Meaning (Spain): to be about to
Meaning (Latin America): to be in the mood for
This is a tricky one. Not only are there a couple regional usage variations to keep in mind here, but you’ll also need to be careful not to confuse estar para with the next phrasal verb on this list.
Y ahora estoy para ir a España y practicar lo que aprendí. (And now I’m about to travel to Spain and practice what I learned.)
Next up, we’re going to explore some Verbs of the Mind.
6. Estar por
Meaning (Spain): to be in favor of
Meaning (Latin America): to be about to
In Spain, this is a great way to express what you would like to do. Use it to express your preferences. It’s strong but not rude. Like when you’re tired of museums. In Latin America, use it when you’re on the verge of doing something at the moment.
Me aburre el Reina Sofía; estoy por ir a Kapitol. (The Reina Sofia is boring; I say we go to Kapitol.)
7. Pensar de
Meaning (Spain): to think about, to have an opinion about
Once you learn this phrase, you’ll find yourself using it in all sorts of situations. This is the best way to express what you think about something. Be careful not to mix it up with the next phrasal verb on this list.
¿Qué piensas de la chica de los tacones azules? (What do you think about the girl with the blue heels?)
8. Pensar en
Meaning: to think of, to direct your thoughts to
This differs from the previous verb because it often implies intention. Use this to express what’s occupying your thoughts. Like the girl with the blue heels.
No puedo dejar de pensar en ti. (I can’t stop thinking about you.)
9. Soñar con
Meaning: to dream about
You probably already know soñar, but you might not know that when you’re talking about your dreams, you must use con. Note that you can follow con with either a noun or a verb.
Soñé con bailar con ella toda la noche. (I dreamed about dancing with her all night.)
10. Contar con
Meaning: to rely on, to count on
This is a great way to let someone know how important they are to you. Especially when you forget where you put her number.
¿Diego tiene el número? Sabía que podía contar con él. (Diego has the number? I knew I could count on him.)
Alright, now let’s move on to some Verbs of the Heart.
11. Reírse de
Meaning: to make fun of, to laugh at
This construction is absolutely essential if you want to express that you thought something was funny. Or you need to tell your friends why you’re at the bar.
Mi novia se rió de mí. (My girlfriend was laughing at me.)
12. Alegrarse de
Meaning: to be glad to
When you get bored with estar feliz, that old Spanish 101 phrase, alegrarsede is useful for saying that you’re happy about something. Like that you and your girlfriend have made up.
Me alegro de hacer las paces con mi novia. (I’m glad to make up with my girlfriend. / Making up with my girlfriend makes me happy.)
13. Enamorarse de
Meaning: to fall in love with
How could you travel to any Spanish-speaking country without knowing this verb?!
Al verla hacer una tortilla, me enamoré de ella de nuevo. (When I saw her making a tortilla, I fell in love with her all over again.)
14. Casarse con
Meaning: to marry
It’s a common mistake to leave out the preposition in this construction, but when you want to indicate that a person got married to someone, you have to use con.
Pero se casó con mi mejor amigo cuando le cantó una canción de Jarabe de Palo. (But she married my best friend when he sang her a Jarabe de Palo song.)
15. Echar de menos
Meaning: to miss
You’ll hear this expression often in Spain. It’s interchangeable with extrañar. Don’t forget to add a before the object.
Ahora que me ha dejado, echo de menos a Mercedes más que nunca. (Now that she has left me, I miss Mercedes more than ever.)
That’s it!
Now all it takes is a little practice and you’ll be speaking like a local in no time.
And once you get a grip on these 15 Spanish phrasal verbs, you’ll be more than ready to win over the man or woman of your dreams, fall in love, get married and miss them when they go away on business trips.
Now, keep studying to take your Spanish to the next level!
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Phrasal Verbs And Their Meaning And Types
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Definition: A phrasal verb consists of a verb and a preposition or adverb that modifies or changes the meaning; for example, ‘give up’ is a phrasal verb that means ‘stop doing’ something, which is very different from ‘give’. The word or words that modify a verb in this manner can also go under the name particle.
Phrasal verbs can be divided into groups:
Intransitive verbs:
These phrasal verbs don’t take an object.
- They had an argument, but they’ve made up now.
Inseparable verbs
The object must come after the particle.
- They are looking after their grandchildren.
Separable verbs
With some separable verbs, the object must come between the verb and the particle:
- The quality of their work sets them apart from their rivals.
List Ten Phrasal Verbs And Their Meaning
With some separable verbs, the object comes either before or after the particle, though when apronoun is used, it comes before the particle:
- Turn the TV off.
- or turn off the TV.
- Turn it off.
- Or Turn off it (incorrect)
Separable Phrasal Verbs
The object may come after the following phrasal verbs or it may separate the two parts:
- You have to do this paint job over.
- You have to do over this paint job.
Some Phrasal Verbs And Their Meanings
When the object of the following phrasal verbs is a pronoun, the two parts of the phrasal verb must be separated:
- You have to do it over.
Verb | Meaning | Example |
blow up | explode | The terrorists tried to blow up the railroad station. |
bring up | mention a topic | My mother brought up that little matter of my prison record again. |
bring up | raise children | It is not easy to bring up children nowadays. |
call off | cancel | They called off this afternoon’s meeting |
do over | repeat a job | Do this homework over. |
fill out | complete a form | Fill out this application form and mail it in. |
fill up | fill to capacity | She filled up the grocery cart with free food. |
find out | discover | My sister found out that her husband had been planning a surprise party for her. |
fill up | fill to capacity | She filled up the grocery cart with free food. |
find out | discover | My sister found out that her husband had been planning a surprise party for her. |
give away | give something to someone else for free | The filling station was giving away free gas. |
give back | return an object | My brother borrowed my car. I have a feeling he’s not about to give it back. |
hand in | submit something (assignment) | The students handed in their papers and left the room. |
hang up | put something on hook or receiver | She hung up the phone before she hung up her clothes. |
hold up | delay | I hate to hold up the meeting, but I have to go to the bathroom. |
hold up (2) | rob | Three masked gunmen held up the Security Bank this afternoon. |
leave out | omit | You left out the part about the police chase down Asylum Avenue. |
look over | examine, check | The lawyers looked over the papers carefully before questioning the witness. (They looked them over carefully.) |
look up | the search in a list | You have misspelled this word again. You had better look it up. |
make up | invent a story or lie | She knew she was in trouble, so she made up a story about going to the movies with her friends. |
make out | hear, understand | He was so far away, we really couldn’t make out what he was saying. |
pick out | choose | There were three men in the line-up. She picked out the guy she thought had stolen her purse. |
pick up | lift something off something else | The crane picked up the entire house. (Watch them pick it up.) |
point out | call attention to | As we drove through Paris, Francoise pointed out the major historical sites. |
put away | save or store | We put away money for our retirement. She put away the cereal boxes. |
put off | postpone | We asked the boss to put off the meeting until tomorrow. (Please put it off for another day.) |
put on | put clothing on the body | I put on a sweater and a jacket. (I put them on quickly.) |
put out | extinguish | The firefighters put out the house fire before it could spread. (They put it out quickly.) |
read over | peruse | I read over the homework, but couldn’t make any sense of it. |
set up | to arrange, begin | My wife set up the living room exactly the way she wanted it. She set it up. |
Write down | make a written note | These are your instructions. Write them down before you forget. |
take off | remove clothing | It was so hot that I had to take off my shirt. |
talk over | discuss | We have serious problems here. Let’s talk them over like adults. |
throw away | discard | That’s a lot of money! Don’t just throw it away. |
try on | put clothing on to see if it fits | She tried on fifteen dresses before she found one she liked. |
try out | test | I tried out four cars before I could find one that pleased me. |
Turn down | Lower volume | Your radio is driving me crazy! Please turn it down. |
turn down (2) | reject | He applied for a promotion twice this year, but he was turned down both times. |
turn up | raise the volume | Grandpa could not hear, so he turned up his hearing aid. |
turn off | switch off electricity | We turned off the lights before anyone could see us. |
turn off (2) | repulse | It was a disgusting movie. It really turned me off. |
turn on | switch on the electricity | Turn on the CD player so we can dance. |
use up | exhaust, use completely | The gang members used up all the money and went out to rob some more banks. |
Inseparable Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)
With the following phrasal verbs, the lexical part of the verb (the part of the phrasal verb that carries the “verb-meaning”) cannot be separated from the prepositions (or other parts) that accompany it: “Who will look after my estate when I’m gone?”
Verb | Meaning | Example |
call on | ask to recite in class | The teacher called on students in the back row. |
call on (2) | visit | The old minister continued to call on his sick parishioners. |
get over | recover from sickness or disappointment | I got over the flu, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get an overmy broken heart. |
go over | review | The students went over the material before the exam. They should have gone over it twice. |
go through | use up; consume | They country went through most of its coal reserves in one year. Did he go through all his money already? |
look after | take care of | My mother promised to look after my dog while I was gone. |
look into | investigate | The police will look into the possibilities of embezzlement. |
run across | find by chance | I ran across my old roommate at the college reunion. |
run into | meet | Carlos ran into his English professor in the hallway. |
take after | resemble | My second son seems to take after his mother. |
wait on | serve | It seemed strange to see my old boss wait on tables. |
Three-Word Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)
With the following phrasal verbs, you will find three parts: “My brother dropped out of school before he could graduate.”
Verb | Meaning | Example |
break in on | interrupt (a conversation) | I was talking to Mom on the phone when the operator broke in on our call. |
catch up with | keep abreast | After our month-long trip, it was time to catch up with the neighbors and the news around town. |
check up on | examine, investigate | The boys promised to check up on the condition of the summer house from time to time. |
come up with | to contribute (suggestion, money) | After years of giving nothing, the old parishioner was able tocome up with a thousand-dollar donation. |
cut down on | curtail (expenses) | We tried to cut down on the money we were spending on entertainment. |
drop out of | leave school | I hope none of my students drop out of school this semester. |
get along with | have a good relationship with | I found it very hard to get along with my brother when we were young. |
get away with | escape blame | Janik cheated on the exam and then tried to get away with it. |
get rid of | eliminate | The citizens tried to get rid of their corrupt mayor in the recent election. |
get through with | finish | When will you ever get through with that program? |
keep up with | maintain pace with | It’s hard to keep up with the Joneses when you lose your job! |
look forward to | anticipate with pleasure | I always look forward to the beginning of a new semester. |
look down on | despise | It’s typical of a jingoistic country that the citizens look down on their geographical neighbors. |
look in on | visit (somebody) | We were going to look in on my brother-in-law, but he wasn’t home. |
look out for | be careful, anticipate | Good instructors will look out for early signs of failure in their students. |
look up to | respect | First-graders really look up to their teachers. |
make sure of | verify | Make sure of the student’s identity before you let him into the classroom. |
put up with | tolerate | The teacher had to put up with a great deal of nonsense from the new students. |
run out of | exhaust supply | The runners ran out of energy before the end of the race. |
take care of | be responsible for | My oldest sister took care of us younger children after Mom died. |
talk back to | answer impolitely | The star player talked back to the coach and was thrown off the team. |
think back on | recall | I often think back on my childhood with great pleasure. |
walk out on | abandon | Her husband walked out on her and their three children. |
Intransitive Phrasal Verbs
The following phrasal verbs are not followed by an object: “Once you leave home, you can never really go back again.”
Verb | Meaning | Example |
break down | stop functioning | That old Jeep had a tendency to break down just when I needed it the most. |
catch on | become popular | Popular songs seem to catch on in California first and then spread eastward. |
come back | return to a place | Father promised that we would never come back to this horrible place. |
come in | enter | They tried to come in through the back door, but it was locked. |
come to | regain consciousness | He was hit on the head very hard, but after several minutes, he started to come to again. |
come over | to visit | The children promised to come over, but they never do. |
drop by | visit without appointment | We used to just drop by, but they were never home, so we stopped doing that. |
eat out | dine in a restaurant | When we visited Paris, we loved eating out in the sidewalk cafes. |
get by | survive | Uncle Heine didn’t have much money, but he always seemed to get by without borrowing money from relatives. |
get up | arise | Grandmother tried to get up, but the couch was too low, and she couldn’t make it on her own. |
go back | return to a place | It’s hard to imagine that we will ever go back to Lithuania. |
go on | continue | He would finish one Dickens novel and then just go on to the next. |
go on (2) | happen | The cops heard all the noise and stopped to see what was going on. |
grow up | get older | Charles grew up to be a lot like his father. |
keep away | remain at a distance | The judge warned the stalker to keep away from his victim’s home. |
keep on (with gerund) | continue with the same | He tried to keep on singing long after his voice was ruined. |
pass out | lose consciousness, faint | He had drunk too much; he passed out on the sidewalk outside the bar. |
show off | demonstrate haughtily | Whenever he sat down at the piano, we knew he was going to show off. |
show up | arrive | Day after day, Efrain showed up for class twenty minutes late. |
wake up | arouse from sleep | I woke up when the rooster crowed. |
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