A phrasal verb is a verb combined with a small word — called a particle — that together create a single unit of meaning. The particle is either a preposition (after, into, with), an adverb (up, down, out), or both.
The key property: the meaning of the whole phrase is usually not the sum of its parts. Get up is not a version of get. Run into someone has nothing to do with running. You have to learn the combination as one item, the same way you learn a single word.
One verb, many particles
The clearest way to see how a particle changes meaning is to keep the verb fixed and swap the particle. Compare:
| PHRASAL VERB | MEANING |
|---|---|
| look up | search for information |
| look after | take care of |
| look into | investigate |
| look for | try to find |
| look forward to | anticipate with pleasure |
The verb look is the same in every row. The particle does all the work.
This is why phrasal verbs cannot be translated word by word. In most other languages, look plus after would simply mean look and then after. In English, it means take care of, and nothing in the two words tells you that.
Two parts or three
Most phrasal verbs have two parts: a verb and one particle.
A smaller but very common group has three parts: a verb and two particles. These always stay together as one unit.
Three-part phrasal verbs are never separated. The three words move as a block, and the object always follows them.
With an object or without
Some phrasal verbs take an object — these are transitive. Others stand alone — these are intransitive.
Transitive (there is something the action is done to):
Intransitive (nothing follows):
A few phrasal verbs can be either, depending on the meaning. Take off means leave the ground when intransitive (the plane took off) and remove when transitive (take off your coat).
Together or apart
When a phrasal verb takes an object, the object sometimes goes between the verb and the particle, and sometimes after the whole phrase.
Some phrasal verbs are separable in this way; others must stay together. Three-part phrasal verbs, for instance, never separate.
The full rules for separation — including what happens with pronouns like it or them — are covered separately. For now, the important thing is to recognise that the particle belongs to the verb and carries part of the meaning.
Why they are worth learning
Phrasal verbs are everywhere in spoken English and in everyday writing. A native speaker will say I ran into Anna far more often than I encountered Anna, and the meeting was put off more often than the meeting was postponed. The formal single-word alternatives exist, but they sound distant in ordinary conversation.
The challenge is that phrasal verbs are idiomatic. There is no reliable rule that tells you why give up means quit or why look after means take care of. The meanings have to be learned as chunks, the way you learn vocabulary — not derived from a formula.
A single phrasal verb can also have several meanings. Take off can mean leave the ground, remove clothing, or become suddenly successful. Context tells you which one is in play:
The practical approach is to learn each phrasal verb with an example sentence, not with an abstract definition. The sentence fixes the meaning in a way that a translation cannot.
Common mistakes
Translating literally
Forgetting the particle
Breaking a three-part phrasal verb
Using the wrong particle