COMMON AND ESSENTIAL PHRASAL VERBS
I would like to make a list of phrasal verbs for study, due to their extreme importance in the English language and striking difference with the Portuguese and Spanish languages. Students who are able to study and practice this list will excel in their language learning capabilities. For practical reasons, I am dividing this list between transitive verbs and non-transitive verbs. When a verb is found on both lists an explanation will be noted along with the Portuguese so that the context may be understood.
Enjoy!
Transitive verbs
infintive s. past tense Portuguese
to clean up cleaned up limpar/arrumar
to hang up hung up pendurar
to take out took out levar fora
to put away put away aguardar
to pick up picked up apanhar/pegar
to turn down turned down abaixar/recusar
to turn on turned on ligar
to turn off turned off desligar
to start up* started up arrancar/ligar máquinas
to count on* counted on contar com
to cut off cut off cortar/seperar
Non-transitive verbs
infinitive s. past tense Portuguese
to pass away passed away falecer
to pass out passed out desmaiar
to hang up* hung up desligar na cara
to catch on caught on perceber
to catch up caught up alcançar (atrasado)
to look out looked out ter cuidar
to work out work out funcionar/ malhar
to cheer up cheered up alegrar
to calm down calmed down acalmar-se
to call back called back retornar uma ligação
to eat out ate out comer fora de casa
to hang out hung out ficar em um lugar cômodo
to help out helped out dar uma mãozinha/ ajudar to give up gave up dar-se por vencido to stop by (someone's house) stopped by passar pela casa de alguém
to set up set up montar (área de trabalho etc.)
As you can see here, phrasal verbs are unique because they express an action using a verb and a preposition combination.
The rule with transitive phrasal verbs deserves attention because as you know, transitive verbs must include the object in the phrase of the sentence is lacking and incomplete. If the noun is used (example: the music) then the rule is that you can include this object between the verb and the preposition that together form the phrasal verb, or you can include it after the phrasal verb (example: He turned the music down. He turned down the music.).
But if you choose to use a pronoun to represent the object, you must always put the object pronoun between the verb and the preposition. (Example: He turned it down.)
TIP
Remember that the object pronoun must always correspond to the object in number. (We use "it" for the singular and "them" for the plural.)
Example:
We counted on Nick and Andy to help out.
We counted on them to help out.
* "Start up" could be used generally speaking without an object. This is because the understanding is like a reflexive pronoun. Example: Did it start up? Se arrancou?
* "Count on" is an exception to the normal collocation of object pronoun between the phrasal verb and preposition. The difference is expressed in Portuguese with the use of a preposition also (com). Because of this the object must always come after the complete phrasal verb.
* The meaning of "hang up" is differs between transitive and non-transitive verbs. When used as a non-transitive, it refers to phone calls.
Remember that this is not a complete list, but a list of some of the more important phrasal verbs. There are also those that you already know well, such as "look for".
