A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word (up, off, out, on) that together mean something new: give up = stop trying, run out of = have none left. Native speakers use them constantly in conversation, often where a textbook would use a longer word: put off instead of postpone, find out instead of discover. Below are 60 you will hear every day, in six groups, each with a meaning, a natural example and a note on how formal it is.
Register key: neutral = fine in speech and most writing; informal = friends, chats, relaxed talk; spoken = common in speech, replace it in formal writing.
A quick win: learn these three today and use each once before tonight: run out of, put off, find out.
Home and routine (1–10)
| # | Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get up | leave your bed | I get up at six on weekdays. | neutral |
| 2 | wake up | stop sleeping | The call to prayer woke me up. | neutral |
| 3 | stay up | not go to bed | We stayed up till two watching the match. | neutral |
| 4 | turn on / off | start / stop a device | Turn off the gas before you leave. | neutral |
| 5 | put on | dress in | Put on a jacket, it's cold outside. | neutral |
| 6 | take off | remove clothes or shoes | Please take off your shoes at the door. | neutral |
| 7 | throw away | put in the bin | Don't throw away the bread, give it to the birds. | neutral |
| 8 | tidy up | make a place neat | Tidy up your room before the guests come. | neutral |
| 9 | run out of | have none left | We've run out of sugar. | neutral |
| 10 | clean up | clean after a mess | Who's going to clean up after the party? | neutral |
Plans and time (11–20)
| # | Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | put off | postpone | Stop putting off your IELTS registration. | spoken |
| 12 | call off | cancel | They called off the concert because of the rain. | neutral |
| 13 | set off | start a journey | We set off for Chimgan at seven. | neutral |
| 14 | come back | return | When are you coming back from Moscow? | neutral |
| 15 | hurry up | be quicker | Hurry up, the metro closes soon. | informal |
| 16 | look forward to | wait with pleasure | I'm looking forward to Navruz. | neutral |
| 17 | turn up | arrive, appear | Only five people turned up to the meeting. | spoken |
| 18 | drop by | visit briefly | Drop by after work if you're free. | informal |
| 19 | sort out | solve, organise | I need to sort out my documents for the visa. | spoken |
| 20 | carry on | continue | Carry on, I'm listening. | neutral |
People and relationships (21–30)
| # | Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | get on with | have a good relationship | I get on well with my mother-in-law. | neutral |
| 22 | fall out (with) | stop being friends after an argument | They fell out over money. | informal |
| 23 | make up | become friends again | They argued but made up the next day. | informal |
| 24 | look after | take care of | My grandmother looks after the kids. | neutral |
| 25 | bring up | raise a child; mention a topic | She was brought up in Fergana. | neutral |
| 26 | grow up | become an adult | I grew up in a big mahalla. | neutral |
| 27 | catch up (with) | talk after a long time; reach the same level | Let's meet for coffee and catch up. | informal |
| 28 | hang out | spend free time | We usually hang out at Magic City. | informal |
| 29 | pick up | collect someone | Can you pick me up from the airport? | neutral |
| 30 | let down | disappoint | I promised to help, and I won't let you down. | neutral |
Phone, tech and travel (31–40)
| # | Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | hang up | end a phone call | He hung up before I could answer. | neutral |
| 32 | call back | return a call | I'm driving, I'll call you back. | neutral |
| 33 | log in / out | enter / leave an account | Log in with your student ID. | neutral |
| 34 | sign up (for) | register | I signed up for a speaking club. | neutral |
| 35 | back up | save a copy | Back up your photos before the update. | neutral |
| 36 | plug in | connect to power | Plug in the charger, my phone is dying. | neutral |
| 37 | check in / out | register at / leave a hotel or flight | We checked out at noon. | neutral |
| 38 | get on / off | enter / leave a bus, train, plane | Get off at Mustaqillik Maydoni. | neutral |
| 39 | break down | stop working (car, machine) | Our car broke down on the way to Bukhara. | neutral |
| 40 | pull over | stop a car at the roadside | The taxi driver pulled over to let me out. | neutral |
Study and thinking (41–50)
| # | Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | look up | search for information | Look up the word in a dictionary. | neutral |
| 42 | figure out | understand, solve | I can't figure out this maths problem. | spoken |
| 43 | go over | review, check | Let's go over the answers together. | neutral |
| 44 | fill in | complete a form | Fill in your name and passport number. | neutral |
| 45 | hand in | give work to a teacher | Hand in your essays on Friday. | neutral |
| 46 | write down | note on paper | Write down the new words. | neutral |
| 47 | find out | discover information | I found out the exam date from the official site. | neutral |
| 48 | give up | stop trying; stop a habit | Don't give up after one bad score. | neutral |
| 49 | keep up with | stay at the same level | It's hard to keep up with the teacher. | neutral |
| 50 | point out | show, mention | My teacher pointed out my article mistakes. | neutral |
Health, money and shopping (51–60)
| # | Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | cut down on | reduce | I'm cutting down on sugar. | neutral |
| 52 | take up | start a hobby | My dad took up swimming at fifty. | neutral |
| 53 | work out | do exercise; calculate | I work out three times a week. | informal |
| 54 | come down with | start to have an illness | I think I'm coming down with a cold. | spoken |
| 55 | get over | recover from | It took me a week to get over the flu. | neutral |
| 56 | try on | test clothes in a shop | Can I try on this coat? | neutral |
| 57 | pay back | return money | I'll pay you back on Monday. | neutral |
| 58 | save up (for) | keep money for a goal | She's saving up for a laptop. | neutral |
| 59 | shop around | compare prices | Shop around before you buy a phone. | neutral |
| 60 | pick up | learn casually; buy | I picked up some Turkish on holiday. | informal |
Word order: "turn it off", never "turn off it"
Some phrasal verbs can be split. With a noun, both orders work: Turn off the TV / Turn the TV off. With a pronoun (it, them, me, him), the pronoun must go in the middle: Turn it off, not Turn off it.
Others never split: look after the kids → look after them, get over the flu → get over it. Three-part verbs (run out of, look forward to, cut down on, get on with) never split either.
A safe habit: when you learn a new phrasal verb, learn it with it or someone: put it off, pick someone up, look after someone. The slot shows you the word order.
Where Uzbek and Russian speakers trip
- Translating word by word. Give up has nothing to do with "giving" or "up". Learn the whole unit as one word, like taslim bo‘lmoq.
- Using only the formal verb. I will postpone our meeting is correct, but in a chat with a friend Let's put it off sounds natural. Knowing both lets you switch register.
- Forgetting the preposition in three-part verbs. I'm looking forward our trip → I'm looking forward to our trip. And after to comes -ing: looking forward to seeing you.
- One verb, many meanings. Pick up = collect someone, learn casually, buy, answer the phone. Context decides, so learn meanings with examples.
- Mixing them up with idioms. Give up is a phrasal verb; call it a day is an idiom. Both are fixed chunks you can't translate literally, and they often appear together in relaxed speech. The everyday idioms list covers the second group.
For 30 phrasal verbs explained in Uzbek with short dialogues, see kundalik suhbat uchun phrasal verblar. If you need them for meetings and emails, the next list is phrasal verbs for work.
Quiz: complete with the right phrasal verb
Use the correct form: run out of, put off, find out, look after, hang up, fill in, get over, turn up, catch up, figure out, sign up, cut down on.
- We've ___ bread. Can you buy some on the way home?
- The doctor told him to ___ salt.
- I'm going to ___ for a free English club at the library.
- Could you ___ my cat while I'm in Samarkand?
- Don't ___ your homework until Sunday night.
- Please ___ this form in capital letters.
- She was so angry that she ___ on me.
- It took him a month to ___ the breakup.
- I can't ___ how to change the language on this app.
- We haven't seen each other for years. Let's meet and ___.
- Only half the students ___ for the exam.
- How did you ___ about this job?
Answers
- run out of. Present perfect: We've run out of bread.
- cut down on. Reduce, not stop completely.
- sign up. Sign up for = register.
- look after. Take care of; it never splits.
- put off. Postpone.
- fill in. Complete a form (in American English also fill out).
- hung up. Past simple; hang up on someone = end the call rudely.
- get over. Recover from something emotional or an illness.
- figure out. Understand how to do something.
- catch up. Talk about everything that happened since you last met.
- turned up. Arrived, appeared.
- find out. Discover information.
Using phrasal verbs out loud
Reading a list gives you recognition; speaking gives you the verb when you need it. In BandMate, talk with Bandi about your routine or your plans for the weekend and try to use five verbs from this page in one conversation. The feedback shows where a more natural phrasal verb would fit, and where a pronoun ended up in the wrong place.
Add BandMate as a preferred source on Google
