Phrasal verbs: Transitive/intransitive, separable/inseparable

Phrasal verbs: transitive and intransitive, separable and inseparable

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Phrasal verbs consist of a verb + a preposition or an adverb. When we add the preposition or the adverb to the verb, the original meaning of this verb changes. The adverb or preposition that we add to the verb is called the ‘particle‘. Verb + particle = phrasal verb.

Some phrasal verbs consist of a verb + two particles; for example:

• I am looking forward to my holiday.
• I get on with my father.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Transitive verbs are verbs that need an object. The object is the receiver of the action, and it goes after the verb. For example, in the sentence “I bought a T-shirt”, the verb is “buy”, and “a T-shirt” is the object because it tells us what was bought. If you use a transitive verb without an object, the verb does not make sense because it needs an object; for example:

• I bought.  
• I bought a T-shirt.
• They wrote.
• They wrote a letter. 

Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, are verbs that do not have an object. They describe an action or occurrence that does not involve a direct object. Here are a few examples of intransitive verbs:

• He slept.
• She laughed.
• They danced.

The action described by these verbs is NOT done to anything or anybody; we do NOT *sleep something; we just sleep.

Intransitive phrasal verbs – Inseparable

As we said, intransitive phrasal verbs have no object, and this means the verb and the particle are always together; they cannot be separated. For this reason, intransitive phrasal verbs are called inseparable. Here are some examples:

• I like to get up late.
• Joe isn’t here. He’s gone out.
• The price of oranges has gone up.

Transitive phrasal verbs – Separable

Transitive phrasal verbs need an object, and they can be separable or inseparable. When a phrasal verb is separable, we can use either verb + particle + object or verb + object + particle.

• You need to put on your jacket. 
• You need to put your jacket on. 
• I took off my shoes.
• I took my shoes off. 

We can also replace the object with a pronoun, but then the object MUST go between the verb and the particle.

• You need to put it on. 
• You need to put on it.
• I took them off.
• I took off them.

Transitive phrasal verbs – Inseparable

Some other transitive phrasal verbs can NEVER be separated, even if the object is replaced by a pronoun.

• I am looking for my notebook.
• I am looking for it.
• I am looking my notebook for.
• I am looking it for.

Examples of each type of phrasal verb:

Intransitive phrasal verbs (Always inseparable).

• COME BACK: Jim is coming back from Italy soon.
• GET ALONG: My sister and I get along very well.
• GO AWAY: I told him to go away.
• GROW UP: He needs to grow up.
• HURRY UP: Please hurry up!
• STAND UP / WALK AWAY: I stood up and walked away.

Transitive separable phrasal verbs

• FILL IN: We filled our forms/them in. | We filled in our forms.
• LOOK UP: I looked the word/it up. | I looked up the word.
• PAY BACK: I paid the money/it back. | I paid back the money.
• THROW AWAY: I threw the bread/it away. | I threw away the bread.
• CALL OFF: They called the concert off. | They called off the concert.
• TRY ON: I tried the dress/it on. | I tried on the dress.
• TURN ON: Please turn the light/it on. | Please turn on the light.
• TURN UP/DOWN: Can you turn the music/it up? | Can you turn up the music?
• WRITE DOWN: I wrote his name/it down. |  I wrote down his name.

Transitive inseparable phrasal verbs

• GET ON WITH: I don’t get on with my brother/him.
• LOOK AFTER: I looked after the children/them.
• LOOK FOR: He is looking for his keys/them.
• SEARCH FOR: I searched for my ring/it.
• TAKE CARE OF: She takes care of the garden/it.