23 Easy English Phrasal Verbs for Beginners

Pick up your pen because today you'll learn 23 phrasal verbs that are perfect for beginners. I use these phrasal verbs every day and you can too. Welcome back to J Forrest English. Of course, I'm Jennifer. Now, let's get started. Our first phrasal verb is the first thing you do every single day. Of course, you which means to stop sleeping and become awake. I usually wake up at 630. She woke up late this morning and missed the bus. Now, this phrasal verb is generally used without an object. When used with an object, it means to cause someone to stop sleeping. For example, I'm so sorry my music woke you up. So in this case, you is the object. I'm sorry if I woke you up. Don't worry about taking these notes. I summarize everything in the free lesson PDF. You can find the link in the description. Now, after you wake up, or even instead of using wake up, you can use get up. This means to leave your bed after sleeping. Just know that natives commonly use get up to mean wake up. We don't distinguish them. For example, what time did you get up today? What time did you get up? I actually want to know what time you opened your eyes. I don't want to get up, which means I want to keep sleeping. Now you can use both wake up, which means stop sleeping and get up, which means leave your bed. For example, you could say, I woke up at seven, but I didn't get up until almost nine. Does that describe your weekend? And after you get up, you may use this next phrasal verb, put on to place clothing, shoes, or accessories on your body. So you could say, put on your jacket before you go outside. Put on your jacket, Mr. Christian. You're giving this as an instruction. Now you can say she put her glasses on to read the menu. So notice here, the object glasses comes between the verb and the preposition. And here's something that describes me. I always put on my slippers as soon as I get up. They're right beside my bed. So you're out of bed. You have your slippers on and now it's time to whip up. Do you know this phrasal verb? It means to prepare food or a meal, but do it quickly. For example, she whipped up a quick breakfast before work. Or you could ask your spouse, can you whip something up for the kids? Can you prepare a meal for the kids? I'm sure I can whip something up. Or your roommate says, I whipped up some scrambled eggs while you were getting ready. They prepared them quickly. Or maybe you use this next phrasal verb, run out of. This means to use all of something so that none is left. So if someone asks you, can you whip up some eggs? You could say, oh, sorry, we ran out last night. Now notice here, I just said ran out. You use of when you specify the object eggs, but it wasn't necessary because the context made it obvious. You could say, she ran out of money before the end of the trip. We ran out of money. Or I was supposed to present today, but we ran out of time. So you can use this with many things, not just physical objects. And if you do run out of eggs, you may need to go out. Our next phrasal verb, which means to leave home, to do something social or entertaining. I can't believe we ran out of coffee. So someone says, let's go out. Let's go out for breakfast. We're going to go out for breakfast. So you can use for plus the purpose. Or you can say she went out with some friends after work. So you use with people. And maybe when she went out with friends, this next phrasal verb happened. Run into, which means to meet someone unexpectedly. We went out for dinner last night, and I ran into my childhood English teacher. How awesome would that be? You'll never guess who I ran into. But it isn't always awesome to run into someone. You might say, I can't believe I ran into my boss at the grocery store. It was so awkward. Or as advice, don't go out in your pajamas. You never know who you'll run into. You have to dress to impress. Let's review. Drop off. This means to take someone or something somewhere and leave them or it there. For example, do you have time to drop off the kids at school? So you can specify the location with at, at school. You can offer, I'll drop you off at the airport. Or remember, you can use this with things. She dropped off the package on her way to work. So here, the location isn't specified. At the post office on her way to work. The opposite of drop off is pick up. This means to go somewhere to collect someone or something. You can drop off the kids and I'll pick them up. She picked up the package from the post office. So notice, you drop off at the location, you pick up from the location. Or you could ask, can you pick me up after the concert? Mom, can you pick me up? So here, the location isn't specific, but it's assumed that it might be the location of the concert. But maybe it's at a restaurant close to the concert. Let's review. Give back. This means to return something to the person who had it before. Potentially the rightful owner. I'll give you your pen back after the meeting because I need to use it. I forgot mine. Now here, you is in parentheses because it's optional. You could say, I'll give your pen back after the meeting. If I'm talking directly to you, it's obvious. You can also say, I'll give your pen back to you after the meeting. So you can use to plus the person. You could say she gave back the keys before she left. So here, the person receiving the keys isn't specified. Maybe that's why she gave back the ring. Let's review. Fill out. This means to complete a form by providing the required information. Please fill out this form before your appointment. Okay, so please fill out this form. Or I filled the application out online. Have you filled it out yet? Now just know fill out means fill in when referring to an entire form. So if you're wondering, Jennifer, I thought we use fill in. You can use either. They're both correct. But the entire form only use fill in if there's one blank or one missing word. So in English exercises, you often hear fill in the blank, fill in the missing word. Do you know how to use the phrasal verb fill in for? This means to temporarily do someone else's job or duties. Can you fill in for me tomorrow? So can you do my tasks or duties tomorrow? Because maybe I'm sick, or I have an appointment, or I'm traveling. There's some reason. By the way, can you fill in for me on Monday morning? You could say she filled in for her manager while he was away. Or someone could ask you, Sarah has an appointment this afternoon. Can you fill in? You could say can you fill in for her? But again, it's obvious based on context. So you could just say can you fill in? What about hand in? This means to give completed work or a document to someone in authority. You need to hand in your assignment by Friday. That's the due date. Or you could say she handed in her report yesterday. Or you might ask, where should I hand this in? Now we generally use hand in with something physical. So you're physically giving a document to a person. Submit is more commonly used when it's electronically. For example, I submitted my application on Friday. You don't need to say electronically is just implied. What about hand out? This means to distribute something to a group of people. The teacher handed out the worksheet. Can you hand these papers out to everyone? Can you hand these out for me? Or someone might ask, where did you get that bottle of water? They were handing them out at the entrance. So it doesn't have to simply be papers. That's common in a school setting. But you can hand out anything. Let's review call back. This means to return someone's phone call. I'll call you back after my meeting. I'll call you back after 30 minutes. Now you can say this to someone who calls you. Sorry, I can't talk now. I'll call you back after my meeting. Or you could even text it. If you see you have a missed call, you can text someone and say I'll call you back after my meeting. You could say she called back as soon as she saw my message. So you don't need to specify who is receiving the call. Or you might say I don't know why she hasn't called me back yet. I'm getting worried. So you absolutely can specify the person receiving the call. How about hang up to end a phone call? I think she hung up. You can add on me to specify the person receiving the hang up the end of the phone call. So hello. Hello. I think she hung up on me. Or you might say it sounded like a scam. So I hung up. Of course you just press a button. You don't actually do She hung up before I could answer. Has that happened? You hear your phone ringing, you try to get there, but then it stops. She hung up she ended the call because she thought you weren't going to answer. She hung up in my face. Let's review login. This means to access a computer website or account by entering your information. I can't log in to my account. So if you specify the object, you need to use the additional preposition to can't log in. You can say she logged in using her new password. So here I'm not using to because I'm not specifying the object. Or you might say don't share your login details with anyone. This is good advice. But login here is not a phrasal verb. It's an adjective. It describes what type of details. The opposite of login is a log out to exit a computer website or account. For safety, remember to log out when you're finished if this is a shared computer. Or she logged out of her account. So notice login to log out of. And now she can't log back in. You can use back in to mean log in again. If I log out of my computer and I log into another one, will I still get the same calls? Let's review. Tidy up. This means to make a place neat and organized. I need to tidy up before everyone arrives. She tidied up the kitchen after dinner. You need to tidy up your closet. It's a disaster, which means it's extremely unorganized. Now don't confuse this with clean up, which means to make a place clean by removing dirt, mess, or unwanted things. We need to clean up after the party. I think we need to clean up that room. She cleaned the kitchen up before the guests arrived. Can you help me clean up after the party? As you tidy up and clean up, you'll use this phrasal verb put away, which means to return something to the place where it is normally kept. Make sure you tidy up by putting away all these toys. That's how you make this space look organized. I swear I put these away every year untangled. Or can you help me put these dishes away? Or you could say these tools have been here for months. When are you going to put them away? Let's review take out to remove something from a place or container. He took his phone out of his pocket. Can you take out the trash before you leave? You take out the trash before you lock up. She had taken the food out of the freezer earlier. Notice that additional preposition of when you specify the location. Let's review take up. This means to begin a new activity, hobby, or interest. I'm thinking about taking up yoga. She took up painting during the winter. Notice your verb and ing. Or you could say to someone, I didn't know you knitted. And then they say, I took it off a few months ago. So here it represents knitting the activity. And every two years you take up knitting. Do you want me to keep helping you learn beginner phrasal verbs? If you do put yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, put yes, yes, yes in the comments below. And of course, make sure you like this lesson, share it with your friends and subscribe so you're notified every time I post a new lesson. And you can get this free speaking guide where I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently. You can click here to download it or look for the link in the description. 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