Phrasal Verbs Grammar: Separable, Inseparable and Word Order

A phrasal verb is a verb plus one or two small words called particles: up, down, in, out, on, off, away, back, over, through and others. Together they make a new meaning, and often you cannot guess it from the two parts. Give up means stop trying, not give something in an upward direction.

Some phrasal verbs are easy to understand because the particle keeps its normal meaning: sit down, come in, go out. Others are idiomatic: put up with means tolerate, and turn down an offer means refuse it.

Phrasal verbs are very common in spoken English, and native speakers use them much more than the one-word verbs with the same meaning. For a list of the most useful ones with meanings, see everyday phrasal verbs. This page focuses on the grammar: where the object and pronouns go.

Some phrasal verbs are intransitive: they have no object. The verb and particle always stay together, and nothing comes after them except maybe a time or place phrase: I woke up early. The plane took off at noon.

Some verbs can be both. Take off can have no object (The plane took off, meaning it left the ground) or an object with a different meaning (Take off your shoes, meaning remove them). In the second meaning it is separable: Take your shoes off. Take them off.

Many transitive phrasal verbs are separable. With a noun object, you can put the noun before or after the particle: Turn the music down. Turn down the music. Both are correct and mean the same thing.

With a pronoun object (it, them, him, her, me, us, you), there is only one correct position: between the verb and the particle. Say Turn it down, not Turn down it. This is the most important rule on this page, and the most common mistake. Review object pronouns in subject and object pronouns.

If the object is long, put it after the particle so the listener does not have to wait for the end of the verb: Can you pick up the kids from their swimming lesson?

Some phrasal verbs are inseparable: the object, even a pronoun, always comes after the particle. Look after the children, look after them. Get over the flu, get over it. Run into an old friend, run into him.

Many of these are really verb + preposition combinations, like look at, listen to and wait for, which follow the same rule. You can learn more about these in dependent prepositions.

Three-part phrasal verbs have a verb, a particle and a preposition: look forward to, run out of, get on with, come up with, put up with, catch up with. They are almost always inseparable: the object goes at the end.

If a three-part verb ends in a preposition and you want to use another verb after it, use the -ing form: I'm looking forward to seeing you, not to see you. To in look forward to is a preposition, not part of an infinitive. See gerunds vs infinitives.

In any tense, the verb part changes and the particle stays the same: give up, gave up, have given up, am giving up. Irregular verbs keep their irregular forms: She took her coat off. They've broken up.

In questions, the particle often goes to the end: What are you looking for? Who are you getting on with? This is normal in English and is not a mistake.

Separable phrasal verbs can be passive: The match was called off. The problem has been sorted out. In the passive, the particle comes right after the past participle.

Many phrasal verbs have a related noun, usually written as one word or with a hyphen: a breakdown, a takeoff, a workout, a check-in, a comeback. In the verb, the stress is on the particle (to check IN). In the noun, the stress is on the first part (the CHECK-in desk).

In everyday conversation, phrasal verbs often sound more natural and friendly than their one-word equivalents. You will hear find out more than discover, put off more than postpone, and come back more than return. In formal writing, such as reports or academic essays, the one-word verb is often a better choice.

When you say a phrasal verb, the particle is usually stressed: Pick it UP. Turn it OFF. Calm DOWN. Stressing the particle helps people hear the meaning, because it is the part that changes the verb.

To learn phrasal verbs well, learn them in a full example sentence with a pronoun, like turn it off or look after her. Then you learn the meaning and the word order at the same time. Many phrasal verbs are also used as commands, which you can read more about in imperatives.