A phrasal verb refers to a verb that is combined with an adverb or a preposition, or sometimes both. This results in a new meaning.

For example, you could have a verb and a preposition, such as in the phrase "to take over", which means to take control of something.

You could also have a verb and an adverb, like in the phrase "to pay back" which means to give somebody their money back, or to get revenge.

Finally, there are also phrasal verbs that consist of a verb, preposition and an adverb. A common example of this is "to look forward to", which means that you are excited about something.

So, why are these phrasal verbs so tricky?

Well, let's first take a look at German. In German, you don't have "phrasal verbs", although you do have something similar called "Partikelverb". But let's not worry about that and take a look at some examples.

What do these phrases mean in German?

Ich schreibe die Notizen ab.
Ich schreibe die Notizen auf.
Ich schreibe die Notizen um.

You will notice that the sentences are identical apart from the preposition at the end of each sentence. And, actually, that completely changes the meaning of the sentence.

So in the first case, we would translate the sentence to something like "I copy down the notes", such as from the whiteboard. The second sentence means "I write down the notes", such as during a meeting, and the third sentence means "I rewrite the notes", such as when you change or edit notes.

This is the idea of phrasal verbs. We use the same verb, but the preposition or adverb can completely change the meaning - that's why they are so tricky!

Now let's move onto examples in English.

Here, we have:

I look after my brother.
I look for my brother.
I look up to my brother.

Think you know what they all mean? Feel free to pause this video to write down your ideas, then press 'play' again to check what you wrote.

So, what does it mean if you "look after" someone?
It means you take care of them. So, here, the brother might be a young child or baby and you are taking care of him whilst your parents are out.

If you are looking for your brother, then perhaps you weren't looking after him very well! To look for something means to search for it because you can't find it.

Finally, if you look up to your brother, it means that you have a lot of respect for him and he is perhaps a role model. The opposite would be to "look down on" someone which means you have no respect for them and think you are better than them!

"Look" isn't the only verb that forms part of a variety of phrasal verbs. Think about these examples and what they could mean. Look them up if you're not sure.


Phrasal verbs are definitely something you need to learn by heart, so don't worry if this seems all a little daunting at first.

Why don't you carry on this section and check out the quizzes to test your knowledge? Good luck!