Collections of common phrasal verbs and collocations are helpful for English students and teachers. This list of GET and TAKE Phrasal Verbs and Collocations will be a great reference for anyone who wants to take their English to the next level.
- get across
- get along with
- get around
- get around to
- get away
- get back (at somebody)
- get back (to somebody)
- get something over with
- take after somebody
- take something down
- take it out on (somebody or something)
- take over (from somebody)
You will find more than 50 natural example sentences to help you learn these expressions. Start using them in your own conversations today!
12 Phrasal Verbs with GET and TAKE
These GET phrasal verbs come from my post Learn and use 50 Common Phrasal Verbs (+free PDF). You can see all 50 phrasal verbs including even more Phrasal Verbs with GET by clicking here: 50 Common Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs with GET
get across
~ To be communicated or understood; to succeed in communicating something
- “I want to improve my English. I really hope to get my ideas across to my coworkers in Canada.” = I want to communicate and be understood by the staff at my company’s Canadian office.
get along with
~ To have a friendly relationship with someone
- “Jordan is close with most of his family, but he doesn’t get along with his brother.” = they don’t have a close relationship, their relationship is not good.
get around
~ To move from place to place or from person to person
- “My great uncle can’t walk anymore, but he gets around with an electric scooter.” = My great-uncle is able to move from place to place with the help of an electric scooter.
- “News of Mike’s divorce soon got around the office.” = Many people talked about Mike’s divorce at the office. The information went from person to person quickly.
get around to
~ To find the time to do something
- “I was so busy with my private students that I didn’t write a blog post last week. I wanted to, but I never got around to it.”
get away
①~ To have a vacation
- “I hope to get away for a couple of days next month. Work has been busy.” = I want to take a short vacation (a couple of days) next month.
get away (from…)
②~ To succeed in leaving a place
- “I won’t be able to get away from the office before 7:30.” = I won’t be able to leave the office before 7:30.
get back at somebody (informal)
~ To do something bad to someone who has done something bad to you; to get revenge on someone
- “My brother ate all my Halloween candy! I got back at him by hiding his school bag in the basement. Now he can’t find it.”
get back to somebody
~ To answer a question or a message later, to reply later
- A: “Is Patrick coming to the party?”
B: “I’m not sure. I’ll find out and get back to you.” = I’ll get the information and tell you later. - “I sent Richard 4 emails already, I hope he gets back to me soon.” = I hope that Richard answers my emails soon.
get something over with
~ To complete something unpleasant but necessary
- “I have to see the dentist to fix a cavity. I’m not looking forward to it! I’ll be glad to get it over with!” = I will be happy when my cavity is fixed and I don’t have to visit the dentist anymore. It’s necessary but unpleasant to fix a cavity.
Phrasal verbs with TAKE
take after somebody
~ to look or behave like an older member of your family, especially your mother or father
- “Your daughter doesn’t take after you at all.” = Your daughter doesn’t look or act like you.
take something down
① ~ to remove a structure, especially by separating it into pieces
- “At the end of our camping trip, we had to take down the tents and put them in the car.” = We had to separate the poles and other pieces that make our tents after our camping trip.
- “Workmen arrived to take down the scaffolding.” = Workers separated the pieces of scaffolding after the work was done.
② ~ to remove something from the internet or a website - “The webmaster will decide whether to take down the web page or make the required changes.” = The person in charge of the website will change the page or remove it from the website.
take it out on (somebody or something)
~ to behave in an unpleasant way towards somebody because you feel angry, disappointed, etc., although it is not their fault
- “OK, so you had a bad day. Don’t take it out on me.” = Don’t treat me badly because you are having a bad day.
- “She tended to take her frustrations out on her family.” = Her habit is to be unpleasant towards her family members when she feels frustrated.
take over (from somebody)
~ to begin to have control of or responsibility for something, especially in place of somebody else
- “Paul’s daughter took over the business last July.” = Paul’s daughter controls the business now.
40 Collocations with GET and TAKE
Get as Become
It’s common in natural conversation to use GET instead of BECOME. We can use this with an adjective to describe a situation:
It’s getting hot. = It’s becoming hot here, it’s starting to be hot here.
Or a feeling:
I’m getting hot. = I am becoming hot, I’m starting to feel hot.
Learn the English Idiom TAKE THE HEAT at my blog post here: Take the Heat meaning (Plus more Heat Idioms just for you)
It’s getting hot in here. I better turn on the air conditioning.
The following collocations use GET as BECOME
| Get angry/upset – If I play music too loud my neighbors get angry. |
| Get dark – It’s getting dark, we should get home. |
| Get divorced/married – If you get married for the wrong reasons there is a good chance that you will get divorced after a few years. |
| Get dressed/undressed – I wake up at 6:30, have breakfast, get dressed, and go to work. |
| Get drunk – I got drunk on Friday and I felt terrible on Saturday morning. |
| Get fired – Harris got fired yesterday. He was caught sleeping at work. |
| Get frightened/scared – I heard a loud BANG and got scared. |
| Get hungry – It’s 1:00 PM, and I’m getting hungry. Time for lunch. |
| Get late – It’s 1:00 AM, it’s getting late. Time to end the party. |
| Get lost – IKEA is huge. I was there last weekend and I got lost in the store for 30 minutes. |
| Get old – My car is getting old. I will have to buy a new one soon. |
| Get pregnant – My Grandmother got pregnant with her first child when she was just 19. |
| Get stuck – Let’s leave early, I don’t want to get stuck in traffic. (Being stuck in traffic means there are many cars on the road moving very slowly so you can’t move.) |
| Get tired – I’m getting tired of being stuck inside. |
| Get wet – It may rain later. Take your umbrella so you don’t get wet. |
| Get worried – It’s getting late and Peter isn’t home yet. I’m starting to get worried. |
When GET is used with a noun it means to receive or possess that thing. Here are some common examples:
- Get a call
- Get a chance
- Get a degree/ a diploma
- Get a tan
- Get good/top/bad marks
- Get some sleep (This is the noun form of sleep)
I really need to get some sleep tonight.
EVEN More common uses!
- Get away – Leave a place or situation ~ Those guys look dangerous. Let’s get away from them.
- Get going – Start moving/depart ~ It’s 8:30, we have to get going!
- Get the message – Understand what is meant ~ She told me that wants to see other people which means we are broken up. I got the message.
- Get nowhere – Not make progress ~ All this discussion gets us nowhere. It’s time to act.
- Get permission – Consent ~ I got permission from the boss to hire an assistant. It will make things easier for me.
- Get started – Begin ~ If everyone is ready why don’t we get started.
- Get home – Arrive at your house ~ I didn’t get home from work until 9:00 last night.
- Get into trouble – Receive punishment ~ I got into trouble a lot when I was in Jr. high school.
- Get ready – Prepare for something ~ A big typhoon is coming. It will hit in 2 days so we had better get ready.
- Get to sleep – Fall asleep ~ It’s time to get to sleep, I have an early meeting tomorrow.
- Get together – Meet and spend time with ~ John and I got together after work on Friday. It was nice to catch up. (Catch up means to talk about what has happened since we last met.)
It was great to get together and catch up last night.
Take Collocations
| Take a look (at) = focus on something – The rash on your arm is getting bigger. You should have a doctor take a look at it. |
| Take a bath/shower – I take a shower before I go to bed. |
| Take a break/rest – I’ve been studying for hours. I need to take a break. |
| Take a picture – I woke up at 4:30 today so I could take a picture of the sunrise. |
| Take a seat = (please) sit down – Please come in and take a seat. |
| Take notes = write notes – It’s good to take notes during your lessons. This helps you remember new information. |
| Take care = be careful (sometimes used as a parting greeting – when you go away from each other) – Thanks for coming to my party. Take care and I’ll see you later. |
| Take care of = look after someone or something – My neighbor is visiting Peru for 3 weeks so I will take care of his cat while he is gone. |
| Take a class/a course – I’m taking a course in Ikebana. Ikebana is Japanese flower arranging. |
| Take a taxi/train/bus – When it’s raining hard I take a bus to the train station. (Take the bus and the train are also possible.) |
| Take a test/an exam – I don’t like to take tests. I get nervous every time. |
| Take your time = don’t rush, do something slowly – It’s only 4:30 so please take your time. We’ll have dinner after you arrive. |
| Take a bite (of something) – Who took a bite of my sandwich! |
| Take medicine – The doctor gave me some cream for my rash but I don’t have to take any medicine. |
| Take a trip/a vacation – My family takes a trip to Hawaii every year. |
Can you think of any Phrasal Verbs or Collocations that I forgot? Tell me in the comments.
Check out these other helpful English blog posts.
- 42 Advanced Phrasal Verbs (That You Need to Know)
- GET and TAKE Phrasal Verbs and Collocations (More than 50)
- Phrasal Verbs With Stop (Compound Nouns and Adjectives too)
- How to Learn Phrasal Verbs – Tips from an ESL Teacher (PDF)
- Put Something Up or Out? (An ESL Teacher has your Answer)
- Learn 50 Phrasal Verbs (List, Examples, Video, 42-page PDF)
- How to use “Break down” 4 ways (Learn Phrasal Verbs)
