Phrasal Verbs . What are Phrasal Verbs ?

Phrasal verbs are old acquaintances ( viejo conocidos ) of any English learner. Throughout ( durante todo) the learning process, students run across ( encuentran) dozens of phrasal verbs, from the familiar get on / get off of the early stages to the more sophisticated put up with or look down on of the higher levels. As an English learner, you’ve probably noticed that the more you hang out ( relacionarse ) with these “old friends”, the more comfortable you feel with them. Let's look into (examinar ) various types of phrasal verbs . Are you ready to start off ? (empezar ) .

What are Phrasal Verbs?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary a Phrasal verbs is " a phrase which consists of a verb in combination with a preposition or adverb or both, the meaning of which is different from the meaning of its separate parts" so get up (levantarse) , go away (marcharse) or make up for ( compensar por) are all phrasal verbs.

Depending on the phrasal verb, the particle can be either separable or inseparable from the verb. This means that a noun or noun phrase can come either immediately after the phrasal verb or split ( dividir ) the phrasal verb in two parts.  Check the following examples:

Separable phrasal verb: pick up 

Pick up the phone.

  Pick the phone up.

Inseparable phrasal verb: stick to

 Stick to your ideas.

                    BUT NOT Stick your ideas to.

Notice that in separable phrasal verbs, if the object is a pronoun, you must always separate the verb and the particle. Compare these examples:

With an object noun phrase: 

 Pick the phone up. / Pick up the phone.

I turned my mobile on. / I turned on my mobile.

With an object pronoun:

Pick it up. / BUT NOT Pick up it.

I turned it on. NOT I turned on it.

And finally, there are phrasal verbs that consist of three words, where the verb is followed by two particles. These expressions are always inseparable.

Verb + Adverb + Preposition (inseparable only)

She’s looking forward to meeting Stefan Edberg.

If you do not know if a phrasal verb is separable or not, you can check it in the following website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/630/02/

An emergency trick ( truco) to use phrasal verbs correctly when you don’t have a grammar book at hand is to use the phrasal verb with a noun or noun phrase and not to separate it !!!  Good luck and have fun!