Common Phrasal Verbs: Examples You'll Hear Every Day

The Phrasal Verbs That Actually Matter

English has thousands of phrasal verbs. You don't need to learn them all.

You need to learn the ones you'll actually hear — the 80-100 combinations that native speakers use constantly in meetings, conversations, and daily life.

This page organizes the most common phrasal verbs by situation. Each one includes:

  • What it means
  • How it sounds in fast speech
  • Example sentences you'll hear

Use this as your reference library. Come back whenever you encounter a phrasal verb that trips you up.

Business & Meetings

These phrasal verbs appear in almost every professional conversation.

Planning & Reviewing

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
go over review, examine "go-wover"
look into investigate "look-into"
look over examine quickly "look-kover"
run through review quickly "run-through"
go through examine in detail "go-through"

You'll hear:

  • "Let's go over the numbers before the meeting."
  • "Can you look into why sales dropped?"
  • "I'll run through the agenda quickly."

Communication & Follow-up

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
get back to respond later "get-back-tuh"
follow up continue with action "follow-wup"
reach out contact someone "reach-out"
bring up mention a topic "bring-gup"
point out identify, highlight "poin-tout"

You'll hear:

  • "I'll get back to you by Friday."
  • "Can you follow up with the client?"
  • "I wanted to bring up the budget issue."

Starting & Finishing

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
set up arrange, organize "set-tup"
put together create, assemble "put-t'gether"
wrap up finish, conclude "wrap-pup"
wind down gradually finish "wine-down"
kick off start (energetically) "kick-coff"

You'll hear:

  • "Let's set up a meeting for next week."
  • "Can you put together a presentation?"
  • "We need to wrap up by noon."

Problems & Solutions

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
figure out solve, understand "figger-out"
work out solve, calculate "work-cout"
sort out organize, fix "sort-tout"
deal with handle "deal-with"
come up with create, invent "come-up-with"

You'll hear:

  • "We need to figure out what went wrong."
  • "Let me work out the details."
  • "How should we deal with this complaint?"

Movement & Transportation

These phrasal verbs describe how people move through spaces and vehicles.

Vehicles (Buses, Trains, Planes)

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
get on board (large vehicle) "get-ton"
get off exit (large vehicle) "get-toff"
get in enter (car, taxi) "get-tin"
get out of exit (car, taxi) "get-oudda"

The Rule:

  • ON/OFF for vehicles you walk inside (bus, train, plane)
  • IN/OUT for vehicles you sit down into (car, taxi)

You'll hear:

  • "I got on the train at 8 AM."
  • "Get off at the next stop."
  • "Let me get in the car first."

Buildings & Spaces

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
go in enter "go-win"
come in enter (toward speaker) "come-min"
get out exit "get-tout"
come out exit (toward speaker) "come-mout"
go up ascend "go-wup"
go down descend "go-down"

You'll hear:

  • "Come in, the door's open."
  • "I need to get out of here."
  • "Go up to the third floor."

Arriving & Leaving

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
show up arrive "show-wup"
turn up arrive (often unexpectedly) "turn-nup"
take off leave quickly "take-coff"
head out leave, depart "head-dout"
set off begin a journey "set-toff"

You'll hear:

  • "What time did she show up?"
  • "I need to head out soon."
  • "We should set off early tomorrow."

Daily Life & Routine

The phrasal verbs you'll hear in casual conversation.

Morning & Evening

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
wake up stop sleeping "wake-cup"
get up rise from bed "get-tup"
turn on activate "turn-non"
turn off deactivate "turn-noff"
go to bed retire for sleep "go-tuh-bed"

You'll hear:

  • "What time do you usually wake up?"
  • "Can you turn off the lights?"
  • "I need to go to bed early tonight."

Activities & Free Time

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
hang out spend time casually "hang-gout"
go out leave home for activity "go-wout"
stay in remain at home "stay-yin"
work out exercise "work-cout"
chill out relax "chill-lout"

You'll hear:

  • "Want to hang out this weekend?"
  • "I don't feel like going out tonight."
  • "I try to work out three times a week."

Communication

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
call back return a phone call "call-back"
pick up answer (phone) "pick-cup"
hang up end a call "hang-gup"
talk over discuss "talk-cover"

You'll hear:

  • "I'll call you back in five minutes."
  • "Why didn't you pick up?"
  • "We need to talk this over."

Emotions & Relationships

Phrasal verbs that describe feelings and interactions.

Positive

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
cheer up become happier "cheer-rup"
calm down become relaxed "calm-down"
get along have good relationship "get-talong"
look forward to anticipate happily "look-forword-tuh"

You'll hear:

  • "Cheer up, it's not that bad."
  • "I really get along with my coworkers."
  • "I'm looking forward to the weekend."

Negative

Phrasal Verb Meaning Fast Speech Sound
give up quit, surrender "give-vup"
let down disappoint "let-down"
put off postpone "put-toff"
turn down reject "turn-down"
fall out argue, end friendship "fall-lout"

You'll hear:

  • "Don't give up yet."
  • "I don't want to let you down."
  • "They turned down my application."

Verb + "UP" Patterns

"Up" is one of the most common particles. It often adds the meaning of "completely" or "increasing."

Phrasal Verb Meaning Pattern
clean up clean completely completion
fill up fill completely completion
use up use completely completion
speed up go faster increase
grow up become adult increase
speak up talk louder increase
show up appear, arrive appearance
come up arise, appear appearance
make up invent, reconcile creation
set up arrange preparation

Verb + "OUT" Patterns

"Out" often means "completely," "to the end," or "from inside to outside."

Phrasal Verb Meaning Pattern
figure out understand completely completion
work out solve / exercise completion
find out discover discovery
turn out result in result
run out exhaust supply depletion
check out examine / leave hotel examination
point out indicate indication
hand out distribute distribution

Separable vs. Inseparable

Some phrasal verbs can split. Others cannot.

Separable (Object Can Go in Middle)

These can split when using a pronoun:

  • "Turn off the light" → "Turn the light off" → "Turn it off"
  • "Pick up the phone" → "Pick the phone up" → "Pick it up"
  • "Figure out the problem" → "Figure the problem out" → "Figure it out"

Rule: With pronouns (it, them, him, her), the pronoun MUST go in the middle.

  • ✅ "Turn it off"
  • ❌ "Turn off it"

Inseparable (Object Must Follow)

These never split:

  • "Look into the issue" → ✅
  • "Look the issue into" → ❌
  • "Get along with her" → ✅
  • "Get her along with" → ❌

Common inseparable phrasal verbs:

  • look into, look after, look forward to
  • get along with, get back to
  • come up with, put up with
  • run into (meet by chance)

Practice: Listening for Particles

Exercise 1: Predict the Particle

When you hear these verbs, what particle might follow?

Verb Possible Particles
look up, into, over, after, forward to
get up, on, off, in, out, back, along
put on, off, up, together, away
turn on, off, up, down, out
come in, out, up, back, along

Exercise 2: Catch the Combination

Listen to English content (podcasts, meetings, shows) and:

  1. Notice when you hear a common verb (look, get, put, take, come, go)
  2. Listen for the particle that follows
  3. Ask: "What does this combination mean?"

Exercise 3: Shadow Complete Phrases

Practice saying full phrasal verbs as single units:

  • "look-INTO" (not "look... into")
  • "get-BACK-to" (not "get... back... to")
  • "figure-OUT" (not "figure... out")

Continue Your Learning

Understand the theory: → Why Phrasal Verbs Are Hard to Hear — Why particles disappear in fast speech

Master the complete method: → Phrasal Verbs Complete Guide — Step-by-step training for automatic recognition

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