Phrasal Verbs Quick Table

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a little word (up, out, off, on, down, back) that together mean something new — look up a word, give in to a demand, run out of milk. The little word changes the meaning completely: give and give in are not the same thing at all. This is a quick table of the most useful ones, grouped by that little word (the particle), so you can find one fast. For how they actually work — and the tricky bit about where the object goes — see the full lesson, Phrasal Verbs.

Grouped by their little word

UP

• look up — find (a word, a fact): I looked up the answer.
• give up — stop trying: don't give up.
• tidy up — make neat: tidy up your room.
• make up — invent, or become friends again: they made up after the argument.

OUT

• run out (of) — have none left: we ran out of bread.
• find out — discover: I found out the truth.
• sort out — fix or organise: sort out your bag.
• work out — solve, or exercise: work out the sum.

OFF

• take off — remove, or leave the ground: the plane took off.
• set off — start a journey: we set off early.
• put off — delay, or discourage: don't put it off.
• tell off — scold: the teacher told him off.

ON

• carry on — continue: carry on reading.
• get on (with) — make progress, or be friendly: they get on well.
• try on — test clothes: try on the trainers.
• put on — wear, or switch on: put on your coat.

DOWN / BACK

• calm down — become calm: calm down, it's fine.
• write down — record: write down the date.
• give back — return: give back my pen.
• pay back — return money, or get revenge: I'll pay you back.

IN / AWAY

• give in — stop resisting: she gave in and helped.
• hand in — submit: hand in your homework.
• join in — take part: everyone joined in.
• give away — hand out for free, or reveal a secret: don't give it away.
• throw away — put in the bin: throw away the wrapper.

Two things worth knowing

• The meaning is not always guessable. Look up (find) has little to do with up meaning "higher". You often just learn the whole phrase as one word.
• Some particles are really prepositions. Depend on, good at, listen to are fixed verb + preposition pairs — close cousins of phrasal verbs, covered in Dependent Prepositions.

Keep this table for a quick reminder, and head to the full lesson when you want the how and why.

Where next

• Reference — the young-learner shelf — the bigger map this sits inside
• Phrasal Verbs (the full lesson) — how these multi-word verbs actually work
• Dependent Prepositions — the fixed verb + preposition pairings
• What Is a Preposition? — the little words inside phrasal verbs