Everyday English

Common phrasal verbs in English: the ones you really hear

Updated: October 3, 2026

Common phrasal verbs like wake up, find out and sort out are everywhere in spoken English. Native speakers use them in almost every conversation, at home, at work and with friends. For learners they are tricky for two reasons: the meaning is often hard to guess from the two words, and the object can move around. This post explains what phrasal verbs are, the one word-order rule you need (turn it off, not turn off it), and then gives you 34 high-frequency phrasal verbs grouped by situation, each with a meaning and an example sentence.

What is a phrasal verb?

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word called a particle, such as up, out, off, on, down or back. Sometimes there are two particles, as in run out of. The particle changes the meaning of the verb, and often the new meaning is not the sum of the parts. Give is easy and up is easy, but give up means “stop trying”.

• The plane took off an hour late.

  take off = leave the ground (a plane)

• I'll find out what time the shop opens.

  find out = learn a fact

• We need to sort this problem out.

  sort out = solve or organise

• The meeting went on until six.

  go on = continue

Grammar books split these multi-word verbs into three groups. Phrasal verbs have a verb and an adverb particle (turn off, pick up). Prepositional verbs have a verb and a preposition (look after, deal with). Phrasal-prepositional verbs have both (put up with, look forward to). In everyday talk, people call all three “phrasal verbs”, and so do we in this post. The difference matters for one thing only: where the object goes.

Separable or inseparable: the word-order rule

Separable phrasal verbs let the object go in two places. If the object is a noun, you can put it after the particle or in the middle: Turn off the TV and Turn the TV off are both correct. But if the object is a pronoun (it, them, her, me...), it must go in the middle. This is the rule learners break most often.

• Turn the lights off. / Turn off the lights.

  noun object: both orders are fine

• Turn them off.

  pronoun object: always in the middle (not “turn off them”)

• Can you pick me up at eight?

  pronoun in the middle (not “pick up me”)

• She brought up three children on her own.

  long objects usually go after the particle

Inseparable verbs never split. The object always comes right after the whole verb, even when it is a pronoun. Most verbs with a preposition work like this (look after, look for, deal with, get over), and so do all verbs with two particles (come up with, put up with).

• Who looks after her when you're at work?

  look after + object (not “looks her after”)

• I'm looking for my phone. Have you seen it?

  look for + object

• She came up with a great idea.

  three-part verbs never split

Finally, some phrasal verbs take no object at all: wake up, get up, break down, set off, grow up, eat out. You cannot put anything in the middle, because there is nothing to put there. How do you know which type a verb is? A good learner's dictionary shows it. If the entry is written turn something off, the verb is separable. If it is written look after someone, it is not.

34 common phrasal verbs, grouped by situation

There are thousands of phrasal verbs in English, so start with the ones you will hear this week. The lists below are everyday verbs grouped by situation. Learn them as phrases, not as single words, and say the example sentence out loud.

Daily routine

Work and study

Problems and solutions

People and relationships

Phrasal verbs or formal verbs?

Many phrasal verbs have a one-word partner with a similar meaning. The phrasal verb is usually more informal and more common in conversation. The single word is often more formal and fits reports, official letters and academic writing. Neither is wrong. Choose by situation: if you say we will postpone the dinner to a friend, it sounds a little stiff; if you write we put the conference off in a formal report, it sounds too casual.

How to learn phrasal verbs (and remember them)

1. One meaning at a time. Most phrasal verbs have several meanings. A corpus study by Garnier and Schmitt (2015) built the PHaVE List, a list of the 150 most frequent phrasal verbs in a large corpus of American English, and found that phrasal verbs have 5.6 meanings on average, many of them rare. Their advice for learners: learn the most frequent meaning first. Pick up can mean “collect”, “lift”, “learn without studying” and “answer the phone”, but you only need the first one to start.

2. Always in a sentence. Learn run out of milk, not run out of = not have. The sentence shows you the type (separable or not), the usual objects and the tense in one go. When you meet a new phrasal verb, write down the whole sentence where you found it.

3. Group by particle. Particles are not random. Many of them carry a general idea that repeats across verbs. These are patterns, not rules, but they make new verbs easier to guess:

4. Train your ear. In fast speech, a phrasal verb and its pronoun join together: pick it up sounds like one word, “pi-ki-tup”. If you only read phrasal verbs, you may not recognise them when you hear them. Listening to real sentences and writing them down is the quickest way to connect the sound with the spelling.

A 10-minute practice routine

1. Pick one table above (for example, Daily routine) and read the examples aloud twice.
2. Cover the Meaning column and explain each verb in your own words.
3. Rewrite three separable examples with a pronoun: Turn the lights off becomes Turn them off.
4. Write three true sentences about your own day using verbs from the table.
5. Tomorrow, review the same verbs before you add new ones. Five verbs you can use are worth more than thirty you only recognise.

Practise it

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal Verbs You Really Hear

Get, turn, look, take and put in your life

B1 · 1 units · 4 lessons

Real-Life English

English for real life

Long sentences the way people really talk

B1 · 2 units · 8 lessons

Survival English

Survival English for daily life

Shopping, money, health and getting help

A1 · 2 units · 8 lessons