I once watched a student rage-quit phrasal verbs in real time. He’d just discovered that “look up”, “look after”, “look into”, and “look out” mean four completely different things. He said, “This isn’t a language, it’s a trap.”
He’s not wrong. But the trap has a small key: you don’t need 500 phrasal verbs. A dozen carry most of everyday English. Here they are.
What makes a phrasal verb tricky
You learn them the same way you learned irregular plurals: by exposure and use, not by rule.
The 12 you should own first
1. Get up — leave your bed in the morning
I get up at 7 every weekday.
Don’t confuse with wake up (your eyes open) or get out of bed (the physical action). Get up is the everyday phrase.
2. Look up — find information
Can you look up the train times?
I looked the word up in the dictionary.
This one is separable — you can split the verb and particle: look it up, look the word up. When the object is a pronoun (it/them/her/him), splitting is required: look it up, never look up it.
3. Find out — discover, learn for the first time
I just found out she’s getting married.
Stronger than “learn”. Implies that you discovered something not obviously visible.
4. Pick up — collect, learn casually, or improve
This one is a workhorse:
- Collect: I’ll pick the kids up at 3.
- Buy on the way: Can you pick up milk?
- Learn informally: She picked up Italian in two months.
- Improve/get better: Sales are picking up.
5. Put off — postpone
Let’s put off the meeting until Monday.
I’ve been putting it off for weeks.
Separable: put it off, not put off it when using a pronoun.
6. Go on — continue, or happen
- Continue: Please go on — I’m listening.
- Happen: What’s going on here?
7. Run out (of) — have nothing left
We’ve run out of coffee.
My patience is running out.
8. Bring up — raise a topic, or raise a child
- Mention: Don’t bring up politics at dinner.
- Raise: She was brought up in Toronto.
9. Set up — arrange, establish
- Establish: They set up the company in 2015.
- Configure: Can you help me set up my new phone?
- Arrange: I’ll set up a meeting for Thursday.
10. Turn down — refuse, or reduce volume
- Refuse: I turned down the job offer.
- Reduce: Can you turn down the music?
11. Get along (with) — have a good relationship
I get along well with my coworkers.
How are you getting along in the new job?
12. Come up with — invent, suggest
She came up with a brilliant solution.
I can’t come up with a good answer.
Separable vs inseparable: the rule that matters
Some phrasal verbs let you put the object between the verb and particle. Some don’t.
Critical rule: If the object is a pronoun (it/them/him/her/us), separable verbs must be split: turn it down, never turn down it.
For inseparable phrasal verbs (especially ones with three words like come up with, look forward to), the object always goes after the whole phrase.
How to add new phrasal verbs to your active vocabulary
Three habits that work:
- Notice them in context. When you see a phrasal verb in a podcast transcript or article, pause and check you’d say it the same way.
- Use one new one each day in writing. Pick a phrasal verb at the start of the day and force it into one email, one message, or one journal entry.
- Don’t translate. Build the English-to-meaning connection directly. “Look up” means “find information”, not the translation of a phrase from your language.
Most are neutral — fine in everything from casual chat to professional emails. A few are clearly informal (“hang out”, “chill out”) and a few sound stiff (“put forth”), but the 12 here all work in any register. Practical core: around 100–150 phrasal verbs cover the vast majority of everyday English. Beyond that you’re handling specialised vocabulary. Don’t try to memorise 1,000 — focus on the ones you actually hear and read. Because the particle adds metaphorical meaning, not just literal direction. “Up” often means “completely” (eat up, drink up, finish up) or “create” (make up a story, set up a system). Once you spot the pattern, new phrasal verbs become easier to guess. Most teachers lump them together as phrasal verbs. Technically, phrasal verbs are separable (look it up), and prepositional verbs aren’t (look after her). For learning purposes the distinction matters less than knowing whether you can split it with a pronoun — which depends on the specific verb.Frequently asked questions
Are phrasal verbs only informal?
How many phrasal verbs do I need to know to sound fluent?
Why do some phrasal verbs have completely different meanings?
What’s the difference between “phrasal verb” and “prepositional verb”?
Sources & further reading