Los phrasal verbs son verbos que consisten en un verbo y una o más partículas (preposiciones o adverbios) que pueden cambiar el significado del verbo. Hay dos tipos de phrasal verbs: separables e inseparables.
Ejemplos de phrasal verbs separables con frases
Los phrasal verbs separables son aquellos en los que la partícula puede separarse del verbo y colocarse después del objeto. La mejor manera de aprender el idioma es a través de Ejemplos en inglés.
- I turned off the lights. (turn off) Apagué las luces.
- She handed in her homework. (hand in) Entregó su tarea.
- They put on their coats. (put on) Se pusieron los abrigos.
- He looked up the word in the dictionary. (look up) Buscó la palabra en el diccionario.
- We picked out a new shirt for him. (pick out) Elegimos una camisa nueva para él
En todos estos ejemplos, la partícula (off, in, on, up, out) puede separarse del verbo (turn, hand, put, look, pick) y colocarse después del objeto (las luces, su tarea, los abrigos, la palabra, una camisa nueva).
Es importante tener en cuenta que cuando se utiliza un phrasal verb separable en el tiempo presente continuo o en el tiempo pasado continuo, la partícula no puede separarse del verbo. Por ejemplo:
- I am turning off the lights. ("Estoy apagando las luces.")
- She was handing in her homework. ("Ella estaba entregando su tarea.")
- They were putting on their coats. ("Se estaban poniendo los abrigos.")
En estos ejemplos, la partícula (off, in, on) no puede separarse del verbo (turning, handing, putting) porque se utilizan en el tiempo presente continuo o en el tiempo pasado continuo.
Phrasal Verbs
| Phrasal verb | Significado | Traducción | Ejemplo |
| ask [sb] out | invite on a date | invitar a una cita/pedir una cita | Carlos asked Julia out on her birthday. |
| ask around | ask many people the same question | preguntar por ahí | Ask around to find out which are the best italian restaurants |
| ask in | to invite somebody into your house | invitar a entrar | 'John's at the door' 'Ask him in' |
| ask over | to invite | invitar | They've asked us over for lunch on Saturday |
| break away | become separate | separarse, desvincularse | Three of the members of the band broke away yesterday. |
| break [sth] in | to crush or batter something to pieces | romper, destrozar | Whay are you breaking in the door? |
| break [so] in | to train someone to do a new job | entrenar, supervisar | I have to break in a new intern |
| break out | to escape | escaparse, fugarse | The prisioner broke out of jail. |
| break up | to desintegrate, to separate | deshacerse, separarse | John broke up with Lisa last week, now he's single |
| break for | run towards | lanzarse a, moverse hacia algo | Break for the exist when you hear my signal |
| check over | to look over; to examine | revisar, ojear | The teacher checked the students' papers over. |
| cut apart | Divide | separar, dividir | She is cutting it apart |
| cut away to [sth/sb] | Change of shot (tv or film) | cambio de plano | They cut away to the anchorman as soon as she finished talking |
| cut back [informal] | Reduce an amount of money avalaible to spend | recortar, reducir | The goverment is cutting back the annual budget |
| cut down [sth] | To reduce (lenght) | reducir o recortar el tamaño o extensión | The teacher asked him to cut down his essay |
| cut in | Give someone part of something, a share (coloquial) | dar una tajada, compartir (coloquial) | She said she would cut me in if she won the contest |
| cut [sb] off | To disinherit | Desheredar | Meg's dad found out that she was marrying Paul and he cut her off |
| cut out | To stop | dejar, parar de | The doctor advised Rachel to cut out cigarettes |
| cut over | Transfer (computing) | migrar, transferir (en informática) | The library will cut over the catalogue |
| do down | to undervalue | menospreciar, subestimarse | Ann is always doing herself down, but she is a great dancer. |
| do out for | to deprive, to cheat | hacer que alguien no consiga o no se quede con algo de manera injusta o deshonesta | Jessica has done Tony out of his job just for fun! |
| drop [sb] off | To drive someone somewhere | Llevar a alguien, dejar a alguien en algún sitio | Everyday, I drop my bestfriend off at work |
| drop [sth] off | To take something somewhere | Dejar algo en un sitio | Don't forget to drop the keys off when you leave |
| get across | to communicate | comunicar, hacerse entender | Although I couldn't speak the language, I managed to get my meaning across when necessary. |
| keep [sth] back | to mask, to hide | ocultar, esconder | William's been acting strange. I think he's keeping something back from me. |
| keep [sth] down | to hold under control or at a reduced level; to reduce | reducir, bajar | Could you keep the music down, please? |
| keep in | to make someone to stay in a place | quedarse | The teacher kept me in after class because I talked all the time. |
| keep off | to stay away from | alejarse de, apartarse de | Keep the children off the oven, I'm baking bread. |
| keep on | to continue | continuar, seguir | You have shown great improvement, keep on practicing. |
| keep out | to wait outside, don't let someone entry | no dejar entrar, permanecer fuera | If Jonh comes, please keep him out, because I don't want to see him. |
| keep to | to save a secret | cumplir con, mantener un secreto | I'll tell you what really happened, I know you'll keep it to yourself. |
| keep up | to continue | continuar haciendo algo | You're doing a wonderful job. Keep it up! |
| pick apart | to refute or find flaws in by close examination. | refutar o encontrar defector | The lawyer picked the testimony apart. |
| pick off | to shoot after singling out | disparar | The hunter picked the ducks off. |
| pick out | to discern from the surroundings; to distinguish | reconocer, distinguir | Tom and Laura picked out their cousins from the crowd. |
| Put aside | Lay down | Apartar | He put the newspaper aside |
| Put aside | Ingnore a disagreement or problem | Dejar de lado | Let's put our differences aside |
| put away | Tidy up, put in a correct place | ordenar, guardar, guardar en su sitio | The teacher told us to put away our books |
| Put away | Save money | guardar o ahorrar dinero | Everymonth, he puts away some money for his holydays |
| Put down | Disparage, say bad things about someone | Hablar mal de alguien, menospreciar, ningunear | She always puts her boss down |
| Put down | Write, make a note | escribir, tomar notas | He put down all the information |
| put forth [st] | Propose | proponer, hacer una propuesta | We can put forth some changes |
| put forward | Suggest | ofrecerse, proponer, postular | Howard put himself forward as a possible candidate |
| put in [informal] | To work | trabajar | I put in more thar 10 hours everyday |
| put in | to insert, place something inside | Introducir en, meter en | Put in those files |
| put in for | To apply for something | solicitar algo | He put in for an early retirement |
| put off | Delay until later | posponer, retrasar | The meeting has been put off until further notice |
| put off | To repel or repulse | repeler, causar rechazo | His attitude has put us off |
| put on | To wear | llevar | Put those close on right now |
| put on [informal] | To mislead | hacer que alguien se equivoque | You are putting me on! |
| put on | To add | añadir, poner, sumar | You must put on some weight |
| put out [informal] | To inconvenience | suponer un problema | Did our early arrival put you out? |
| put [sth] out | To extinguish | extinguir, apagar | The firemen put the fire out |
| put over | To convey, communicate | exponer | We haven't been able to put over the benefits of our product |
| put [sth] up | To mount, to display | colgar, desplegar, mostrar | He put up a signal for the upcoming visitors |
| put [sth] up | To raise | levantar | Put your hands up |
| take [sth] off | when a plane leaves; to remove a piece of clothing or to have a period of time away from work | despegar, quitarse | The plane is going to take-off at seven o´clock. |
| take [sth] up | to start a hobby, to accept or to move in | empezar a hacer, instalarse | He took up smoking after breaking up the relationship. |
| take [sb] out | to go on a date with | salir con alguien | Lisa was happy that Max wanted to take her out |
| take [sth] out | to excise, to apply for, to remove | sacar | Can you take the rubbish out? |
| take on | to accept, to fight, to hire | hacerse cargo, enfrentarse, contratar | Taking on the directorship was his first challenge. |
| take [sb] in | to allow someone to stay in your house or to be deceived or swindled | permitir a alguien la entrada o ser engañado o estafado | Don't take Elisa in by your nonsense. |
| take [sth] in | to observe something or to make a piece of clothing narrower or tighter | estrechar, ajustar | She had lost weight so the shirt had to be taken in more at the waist. |
| take apart | to disassemble something | desmontar | He was a good mechanic and could take an engine apart in less than two hours. |