Overview: A phrasal verb is a multi-word verb in English that pairs a main verb with one or more particles — short words that look like prepositions or adverbs. The combination can produce a meaning that is predictable from its parts (literal) or one that is idiomatic and not directly inferred from the individual words. Phrasal verbs are especially frequent in everyday conversation and informal writing and can pose challenges for language learners.

Structure and types

Phrasal verbs typically fall into patterns determined by transitivity (whether they take an object) and separability (whether the object can come between the verb and the particle). Common distinctions include:

  • Intransitive: no object is required (e.g., "The plane took off.")
  • Transitive separable: the object can appear after the particle or between verb and particle (e.g., "look up the word" / "look the word up"; pronouns must come between: "look it up").
  • Transitive inseparable: the particle cannot be separated from the verb (e.g., "run into someone").

Meaning and idiomatic use

Some phrasal verbs keep a literal sense ("turn off the light"), while others are idiomatic and must be learned as units ("break up" meaning end a relationship). Because of idiomatic uses, phrasal verbs often have one-word synonyms in other languages; for example, "get up" corresponds to single verbs in Romance languages. For further reading, see a grammar overview and a learner’s guide.

Examples

  • Look up: "She looked the address up in the directory." (example)
  • Run out (of): "We’ve run out of milk."
  • Get up: "He gets up at six every morning."
  • Take off: "The rocket took off with a roar."
  • Break down: mechanical failure or emotional collapse.

Learning and usage tips

Learners benefit from noting whether a phrasal verb is separable and recording common collocations and objects. Practice in context, with example sentences, helps fix idiomatic meanings. Dictionaries aimed at learners mark separability and register; consult a reliable learner dictionary or corpus data via resources like reference A, reference B, or reference C.

History and cross-linguistic notes

Phrasal verb constructions arise naturally in Germanic languages, including English; their prominence increased as particles combined with verbs to create compact, flexible expressions. Many languages express the same ideas with single verbs — for example, "get up" can be translated by a reflexive verb in Spanish (Spanish equivalent) and in French (French equivalent). For contrastive examples and exercises see contrastive materials.