Phrasal Verbs: 200+ Essential English Phrasal Verbs with Meanings

Phrasal verbs are everywhere in English conversation. They look simple because they use short words, but their meanings can be surprisingly specific. A basic verb joins with a particle, usually a preposition or adverb, and the new phrase often means something different from the verb by itself. For example, "give up" means to quit, not to hand something upward. "Look up" may mean search for information, although the same words can also describe looking toward the sky.

If you want English to sound natural, phrasal verbs are hard to avoid. Speakers use them at home, at work, in texts, in movies, and in casual writing. This guide groups more than 200 useful phrasal verbs by topic, explains what they mean, and shows how they fit into real sentences.

How Phrasal Verbs Work

A phrasal verb is built from a main verb plus one or two particles, such as up, out, in, on, off, away, over, down, or into. Together, the words form a meaning that is not always obvious from the separate parts:

• put + off = postpone ("They put off the interview until Monday.")
• run + into = meet by chance ("We ran into our neighbors at the market.")
• break + down = stop working ("The printer broke down before lunch.")
• bring + up = mention or raise a topic ("Marco brought up the budget during the call.")

Phrasal verbs appear especially often in informal English. More formal writing often chooses a single-word verb instead: "discover" for "find out," "postpone" for "put off," or "investigate" for "look into."

Separable, Inseparable, and Object-Free Forms

Phrasal Verbs You Can Split

With separable phrasal verbs, the object may appear between the verb and the particle, or it may come after the whole phrasal verb:

• "Switch off the lamp." OR "Switch the lamp off."
• "Fill out the form." OR "Fill the form out."

If the object is a pronoun, such as it, them, him, or her, the pronoun goes in the middle:

• "Switch it off." (correct) — NOT "Switch off it."
• "Fill them out." (correct) — NOT "Fill out them."

Phrasal Verbs That Stay Together

Inseparable phrasal verbs cannot be split. Their object comes after the particle:

• "Tom looks after his younger sister." — NOT "Tom looks his younger sister after."
• "Mina ran into a former coworker." — NOT "Mina ran a former coworker into."

Phrasal Verbs Without Objects

Some phrasal verbs are intransitive, which means they do not take an object:

• "The engine broke down."
• "Our guests showed up early."
• "The helicopter took off."

Everyday Phrasal Verbs

Business and Workplace Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal Verbs About People and Relationships

Phrasal Verbs for Speaking and Messages

Travel and Movement Phrasal Verbs

• check in / check out: register at/leave a hotel — "We checked out before breakfast."
• pull over: stop at the side of the road — "The driver pulled over to answer the call."
• set off / set out: begin a journey — "They set out just after sunrise."
• get on / get off: board/leave a bus, train, plane — "Get off at the next station."
• slow down / speed up: decrease/increase speed
• take off: leave the ground (planes) — "Our flight took off thirty minutes late."
• pick up / drop off: collect/deliver someone — "I’ll drop you off outside the library."
• get in / get out: enter/exit a car — "The taxi stopped, and we got in."

Study and Classroom Phrasal Verbs

• hand out: distribute — "The instructor handed out the quiz at the start of class."
• look up: search for information — "Look up unfamiliar terms in a dictionary."
• drop out (of): leave a course/school — "She dropped out of the program after one semester."
• keep up (with): maintain the same pace — "He studies every night to keep up with the group."
• go through: review — "Go through your notes before the exam."
• catch up (with): reach the same level — "I missed two lessons, so I need to catch up."

50 Phrasal Verbs You Will Hear Often

The following phrasal verbs appear again and again in ordinary spoken and written English:

break down, bring up, call off, carry on, carry out, check in, check out, come across, come back, come up with, cut down, do over, drop off, end up, fall apart, figure out, fill in, fill out, find out, get along, get back, get over, get up, give up, go ahead, go on, go over, grow up, hang out, hold on, keep on, keep up, let down, look after, look for, look forward to, look into, look up, make up, pick up, point out, put off, put on, run into, run out of, set up, show up, take off, turn out, work out

Better Ways to Learn Them

• Sort them by theme: Study phrasal verbs for daily routines, work, relationships, learning, and communication in separate sets.
• Notice whether they split: Each time you learn a phrasal verb, check whether it is separable or inseparable.
• Use real context: Lists can help, but phrasal verbs stick better when you meet them in books, videos, conversations, and messages.
• Practice in your own sentences: Write short examples or paragraphs with new phrasal verbs. Using them actively helps much more than simply recognizing them.
• Group them by particle: Compare phrasal verbs with "up" (give up, look up, pick up, make up), "out" (find out, work out, carry out, turn out), and other common particles.
• Listen to English media: TV shows, films, podcasts, and interviews give you natural examples of how speakers use phrasal verbs.

Phrasal verbs can feel unpredictable at first, but they become much easier when you learn them in situations rather than as bare word pairs. Start with the common ones, pay attention to word order, and use new phrases in speech or writing as soon as you can. Little by little, they will make your English sound more relaxed, fluent, and natural.