Essen­tial Phrasal Verbs (intermediate)

agree with (estar de acuerdo)

"All women are bad drivers." "I don't agree with you."

be about to (estar a punto de)

"I was about to leave the house when my friends arrived."

be back (regresar)

"I'm work­ing late tonight so I won't be back until 10."

be out of (quedarse sin)

"We're out of eggs so we can't make a tortilla."

be over (final­izar, ter­minar)

"When the foot­ball match was over, we went to the pub."

be up (estar levantado)

"Phil isn't up yet: he's still in bed. Phone again in ten minutes."

blow up (estallar — una bomba)

"The bomb blew up killing six people."

blow up (inflar)

"We blew up a hun­dred bal­loons for the Christ­mas party."

break down (averi­arse)

"My car broke down on the way to Motril."

call back (volver a llamar)

"I'm afraid the man­ager is out. Could you call back later?"

carry on (seguir, con­tinuar)

"I'm sorry if I inter­rup­ted you. Please carry on."

carry out (cump­lir — una promesa)

"The Pres­id­ent car­ried out his prom­ise to reduce taxation."

carry out (llevar a cabo)

"The exe­cu­tion was car­ried out at seven in the morning."

clear up (poner en orden)

"It took four hours to clear up after the party."

come across (encon­trarse con)

"I came across an old friend on the metro in Madrid."

come back (regresar)

"I'm going to Eng­land but I'm com­ing back on the fifth."

come in (entrar)

"Good morn­ing. Come in and sit down."

come on (¡Vamos!)

"Come on. We're going to be late."

cut down on (con­sumir menos)

"You must cut down on cholesterol."

cut off (cor­tar, descon­ectar)

"When we didn't pay the bill, the elec­tri­city was cut off."

cut up (cor­tar en ped­azos)

"We cut up the birth­day cake and gave every­one a slice."

do up (abrochar, atar)

"I was five before I knew how to do up my shoelaces."

do with (tener algo que ver con)

"What's MS DOS?" "It's got some­thing to do with computers."

do without (pre­scindir de)

"The shops are shut so we'll have to do without sugar."

draw up (pararse)

"The car drew up at the zebra crossing."

get back (volver, regresar)

"Cinder­ella had to get back by twelve o'clock."

get in(to) (entrar)

"I lost my keys and so I couldn't get into the house."

get off (bajar — de un auto­bús, tren)

"You have to get off the bus at the next stop."

get on (subir — a un auto­bús, tren…)

"Quick! Get on the train, it's about to leave."

get up (levantarse)

"When I got up this morn­ing, it was still dark."

give back (devolver)

"If he doesn't like it, the shop will give you your money back."

give up (per­der la esper­anza, rendirse)

"If you find phrasal verbs dif­fi­cult, don't give up."

give up (dejar — de fumar, beber)

"You'll get can­cer if you don't give up smoking."

go ahead (por supuesto, adelante)

"Can I use the tele­phone?" "Yes, go ahead."

go away (irse, marcharse)

"Are you going away for Christmas?"

go back (volver, regresar)

"She's going back to Uni­ver­sity to study French."

go down (bajar)

"The price of fruit goes down in the summer."

go out (salir)

"I always go out and have a few drinks on Sat­urday night."

go up (subir)

"The price of cigar­ettes went up in Janu­ary 1992."

hang on/hold on (esperar)

"Hold on for a minute as Pablo will be back in five minutes."

hang up (col­gar — el telé­fono)

"My ex-girlfriend hung up when I phoned her."

keep up with (mantener el ritmo)

"I can't keep up with my father when we go cycling."

knock down (der­ribar, demoler)

"My grandfather's old house was knocked down."

leave behind (olvidar, dejar)

"I real­ized I had left my pass­port behind."

let in (dejar entrar)

"She opened the door and let in the cat."

look after (cuidar)

"My mother looks after the chil­dren when we go away."

look for (bus­car)

"I spent an hour look­ing for my glasses before I found them."

look for­ward to (estar deseando)

"I'm look­ing for­ward to the Easter holidays."

look out (tener cuid­ado)

"Look out! There's a car coming."

look up (bus­car — en un dic­cion­ario)

"If you don't under­stand the word, look it up in a dictionary."

put in (meter, intro­du­cir)

"Put ten pence in the machine and you will get a coffee."

put on (encender)

"Put on the light, it's get­ting dark."

put on (pon­erse — la ropa)

"Put your coat on or you'll get cold."

run out of (quedarse sin algo)

"We ran out of pet­rol so we had to get the bus."

set off (pon­erse en cam­ino)

"We set off to Mad­rid at five o'clock to avoid the traffic."

take after (pare­cerse a)

"Pablo takes after his mother: they are both optimistic."

take off (des­pegar)

"The plane even­tu­ally took off at 6 p.m."

take off (quit­arse la ropa)

"Take off your coat and make your­self comfortable."

take out (extraer, sacar)

"He took out a cigar­ette and lit it."

throw away (tirar — a la bas­ura)

"Don't throw these papers away: they're important."

turn down (bajar — el volu­men)

"Turn down the radio: it's too loud."

turn up (subir el volu­men)

"Turn up the radio. I can't hear it."

turn on (encender — luces, TV, etc.)

"Turn on the tele­vi­sion, please, I want to see the news."

Sarah and John 1996 (c) Lin­golex