¿Qué son?
Un phrasal verb = verbo + partícula (preposición o adverbio). Juntos significan algo diferente al verbo solo. En inglés canadiense se usan MUCHO en el día a día.
I take off my shoes.
Take off = quitarse (ropa/zapatos). No es "tomar" ni "afuera".
Trampa común: algunos phrasal verbs cambian de significado según la partícula. Take off (quitarse), take on (aceptar responsabilidad), take up (empezar un hobby), take out (sacar).
Aprender por familia de verbo es más eficiente que aprender uno por uno.
Familia: TAKE
take off | Quitarse (ropa) / Despegar (avión) | Please take off your coat. |
take on | Aceptar (responsabilidad, trabajo) | She took on a new project. |
take up | Empezar un hobby o actividad | I want to take up yoga. |
take out | Sacar / Llevar a alguien a un lugar | He took out the trash. |
take over | Tomar control | She'll take over when the manager retires. |
Familia: PUT
put off | Posponer | They put off the meeting until next week. |
put on | Ponerse (ropa) / Encender | Put on your jacket, it's cold. |
put up with | Tolerar, aguantar | I can't put up with the noise. |
put out | Apagar (fuego) | They put out the fire. |
Familia: GET
get up | Levantarse de la cama | I get up at 6 am. |
get along with | Llevarse bien con | She gets along with her coworkers. |
get over | Superar (enfermedad, ruptura) | He's still getting over the flu. |
get in / off / on | Subirse / bajarse (transporte) | Get on the bus. Get off at Main Street. |
Familia: LOOK
look after | Cuidar de | She looks after her grandmother. |
look for | Buscar | I'm looking for my keys. |
look forward to | Esperar con ganas (formal, en correos) | I look forward to hearing from you. |
look up | Buscar información (diccionario, internet) | Look up the word in the dictionary. |
look into | Investigar | We'll look into the problem. |
Otros muy comunes
call off | Cancelar | The meeting was called off. |
fill out | Llenar (formulario) — común en Canadá | Please fill out this form. |
find out | Enterarse, descubrir | I just found out she moved. |
give up | Rendirse, dejar (algo malo) | She gave up smoking last year. |
go off | Sonar (alarma) / Explotar | The alarm went off at 6. |
turn off / on | Apagar / Encender (aparatos) | Turn off the lights, please. |
work out | Resolver / Hacer ejercicio | They worked out a solution. |
pick up | Recoger / Aprender rápido | Can you pick up the kids from school? |
run out of | Quedarse sin | We ran out of milk. |
set up | Establecer, configurar | I need to set up my email. |
Tip para CELPIP: los phrasal verbs suben tu nivel de writing y speaking. Usa 3 o 4 correctamente en tu Writing Task y ya suenas mucho más natural.