Video Transcript

What does transitive mean? Transitive…

OK.

Hi guys, welcome back to English with Max.

This is the 2nd part of my introduction to phrasal verbs.

If you haven’t yet seen “Introduction Part 1″, which I filmed quite a while ago, I recommend that you first go and watch that, and you can do so by clicking on the card above.

In that video I explain what phrasal verbs are and when they are used.

And in this video I’m going to talk about the types of phrasal verbs.

Don’t worry, there are only two.

After that you will have all the theory that you need to know!

In brief, phrasal verbs can either be separable or inseparable.

Let’s first look at separable phrasal verbs.

If a phrasal verb is separable, you can put the object between the main verb and the adverb or preposition.

In other words, you can put the object between the main verb and the particle.

I know that all sounds a bit technical, but don’t worry, we will now look at some examples and it will all become clear.

Let’s look at the phrasal verb “clean up”.

Because “clean up” is a separable phrasal verb, you have two options if there is an object.

In this example the object is “the mess”.

You can say: I clean up the mess.

OR: I clean the mess up.

Both mean the same thing.

It’s the same for “write down”.

In this example, the object is “his number”.

So you can say: I write down his number.

OR: I write his number down.

Of course nowadays it’s a bit different.

Normally we just hand somebody a phone, and say, “Give me your number.”

But in the past it was a bit different.

Maybe I’m not as young as you are.

Like I said, you have a choice.

I clean up the mess. I clean the mess up.

I write down his number. I write his number down.

But be careful!

If the object is a personal pronoun (so me, you, him, her, it, us or them), you only have one choice – you have to separate the main verb from the adverb or preposition.

Let’s look at the phrasal verbs we just saw.

Clean up.

You can say: I clean up the mess.

OR: I clean the mess up.

But if we use “it” for “the mess”, you can only say: I clean it up.

“I clean up it” is not possible.

In other words, it is incorrect.

Write down.

You can say: I write down his number.

OR: I write his number down.

But you can only say: I write it down.

You cannot say: I write down it.

Here are some more examples:

I take off my shoes. OR: I take my shoes off.

With a pronoun, this becomes: I take them off.

I pick up Frank. OR: I pick Frank up.

With a pronoun, this becomes: I pick him up.

Now, most transitive verbs are separable.

Yes, this is my cat.

What does transitive mean?

A transitive verb is simply a verb that takes a direct object.

So there is an action being done to something or someone.

For example: drop. I drop the cup.

Don’t worry, it was empty.

Tell. Politicians tell lies.

Bite. The cat bites the dog.

The examples I gave before were also transitive verbs: pick up, take off, write down, clean up.

Now let’s look at inseparable phrasal verbs.

These are the easier ones.

A phrasal verb is inseparable if you cannot separate the main verb from the preposition or the adverb.

Let’s look at some examples.

Look after.

John looks after his sister.

You cannot say: John looks his sister after.

OK, bye bye.

If we use a personal pronoun for “his sister”, we have: John looks after her.

You cannot say: John looks her after.

Another example: get through (which basically means “survive”).

I thought I was going to die during the English exam, but I got through it.

I got through the exam.

You cannot say: I got the exam through. OR: I got it through.

So how do we know if a phrasal verb is separable or inseparable?

Well, there are some rules.

Firstly, if a phrasal verb is intransitive, which means there’s no object, then it is always inseparable.

For example: stand up.

I stand up.

OR: take off.

The plane takes off.

This is very logical, because there is no object to separate the phrasal verb, so of course it’s going to be inseparable.

As for transitive phrasal verbs, that is, all the rest, most of them are separable.

I think about 80-90% of transitive phrasal verbs are separable.

Because there’s no way to know just by looking at it, what I recommend is when you learn a new phrasal verb, don’t learn it in isolation.

Learn a short sentence that has the phrasal verb in it, like some of the sentences that I’ve given in this video.

I hope you liked this video.

If you did, please give me a thumbs up.

Remember that you can follow me on social media.

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And don’t forget to subscribe.

See you next time!

Most transitive phrasal verbs… Start again, OK.

Um, yeah… I’m so shit with this. OK.

… either be…

If a phrasal verb…thph… F**k.

Shit.

Um… take off.

Get through… My voice has gone all funny.

Another example… (coughing sounds)… 

Oh God… (cough)

You cannot say, “John looks his sister”…

He’s licking me.