Sunday, 1 November 2015

LOS 40 ... PHRASAL VERBS

Una persona angloparlante usa phrasal verbs de manera habitual. Tanto si quieres mejorar tus habilidades para la escucha y la comprensión como si quieres hablar el inglés más actual, debes familiarizarte con el significado y uso de los phrasal verbs. 

Aquí tienes una lista de 40 phrasal verbs que pueden marcar la diferencia en tu nivel de inglés.



1. Argue out  →  to argue about a problem to find a solution (debatir)                                            
If we can’t argue our differences out, I’ll have to speak with your parents
2. Be down →  to be depressed (estar deprimido, ‘estar de bajón’)                                                  
Mary’s been down since his brother went to India
3. Be in  →  to be at home or at work (estar en casa o en el trabajo)                                                 
 He is never in, he always sleeps in his girlfriend’s house
4. Belong to  →  to be a member or be connected to a time, place, belief… (ser miembro de o estar conectado a un tiempo, lugar, creencia…)                                                                                  
She belongs to a business club
5. Block in   to park a car obstructing another car (bloquear)                                                       
We couldn’t drive this Saturday because someone had blocked us in.
6. Calm down  → to become less excited and tense (calmarse, tranquilizarse)                             
My boss calmed down the meeting
7. Call off  →  to cancel (cancelar algo)                                                                                                 
The meeting was called off
8. Call back → to return a phonecall (devolver una llamada)                                                                
 I must call the hotel back to confirm the booking
9. Cut down on  → to reduce in size or amount (reducir la cantidad o el consumo de cigarrillos, bebida, producción…)                                                                                                       
Agatha cut down on smoking
10. Find out  → discover (descubrir, averiguar).                                                                                  
The boss would be interested in finding out more details about the sell
11. Get away  → to escape (escapar, huir)                                                                                           
The cat got away when it saw the dog
12. Get over  → to recover from something (superar)                                                                    
Mary has got over her Internet addiction
13. Give out  → to distribute (distribuir algo entre un grupo de personas)                                      
The coach gave out the football balls for the match
14. Go for → to attack (atacar a una persona o animal)                                                                        
The cat went for Peter
15 Lay off  → to stop employing (despedir)                                                                                         
The company laid off two hundred workers last month
16. Look after  → take care (cuidar)                                                                                                     
Her friend Susan looked after the twins while their mother went to the bank
17. Look for → try to find (buscar)                                                                                                              
You should look for another way to finance the business
18. Look forward to  → to think with pleasure about a future event (esperar con interés)  
Jimmy is looking forward to the next summer
19. Look into  → to investigate (investigar)                                                                                         
The police are looking into my company
20. Look over → inspect (revisar, examinar)                                                                                     
They came to look the house over with a view to buying it
21. Make up for → to compensate for (compensar)                                                                       Outsourcing could make up for a lack of human resources
22. Pick up → to collect someone or something (recoger algo o alguien, habitualmente en un vehículo)                                                                                
Peter picked up the dessert from the bakery
23. Put forward → to offer for consideration (ofrecer una propuesta a consideración)              
We put forward the plan in the annual meeting
24. Put off  to delay (posponer hacer algo durante un determinado tiempo)                           
The new manager put off the meeting until the end of the week
25. Put on  to dress (ponerse, vertir ropa o complementos)                                              
Anne put on her new boots
26. Put out  →  to extinguish (apagar un cigarrillo, un fuego, una luz…)                                        
George put out the light (George put the light out) before leaving the room
27. Put through → to connect (conectar una línea telefónica o personas)                                     
He put me through to Mr. Pratt
28. Run into  →  to meet by chance (encontrarse por casualidad)                                                     
 I ran into Mary yesterday night
29. Run out of  →  to use all of (consumir todo)                                                                                 
The car ran out of petrol
30. See off  → to say goodbye (despedir a alguien en el lugar desde donde parte de viaje)       
 Billy drove to the airport and saw him off
31. Set off → to start a journey (empezar un viaje, partir de viaje)                                            
Karen set off at five o’clock
32. Speak up  → to speak louder (hablar más alto)                                                                            
The nun said, ‘speak up’
33. Take after  → to look or be like an a relative (parecerse o comportarse como un familiar o conocido)                                                                                                                                         
My sister takes after my mother
34, Take down  → writing (anotar)                                                                                                          
 He took my telephone number down
35. Take over → to assume responsability for (asumir la responsabilidad)                                       
When my father died, my oldest brother took over his responsibilities
36. Take up  → to begin to study or do something (empezar a estudiar, practicar o hacer algo)
He’s taking up a new university career
37. Tear up  → to destroy completely (destruir totalmente)                                                          
Brian tore up all his mother’s letters
38. Tell off  →  to speak angrily (reprender a alguien)                                                                       
The boss told him off for breaking the agreement
39. Think over  → to consider (valorar una propuesta o situación)                                              
They are thinking over their next sell
40. Try on: to put on an article to see if it fits (probar ropa)                                                             
The boy didn’t want to try on the shoes

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