Three-part phrasal verbs
Put up with it, look forward to seeing you, who do you get on with: verbs with two small words.
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A three-part phrasal verb is a verb with two small words after it: put up with, look forward to, get on with. The three words together have one meaning, which you often can't guess from the parts, so learn them as one piece. At B1 you saw that they don't split. This page looks at more of them, at what comes after them, and at a small group that takes two objects.
Common three-part verbs
Verb | Meaning |
|---|---|
look forward to | wait for something with pleasure |
put up with | accept something unpleasant |
get on with | have a good relationship with; continue |
come up with | think of an idea or a plan |
run out of | have none left |
cut down on | do or use less of |
look up to | admire and respect |
look down on | think you are better than |
keep up with | move or learn as fast as others |
catch up on | do something you didn't have time for before |
get away with | do something wrong and not be punished |
stand up for | defend or support |
drop out of | leave a course or a competition early |
live up to | be as good as people expected |
The object goes at the end
The object, a noun or a pronoun, goes after the last small word, also when it is a short pronoun like it or him.
- I can't put up with this noise any longer.
- We've run out of coffee. I'll buy some more.
- She always stands up for her younger brother.
- The film didn't live up to my expectations.
- Incorrect: I can't put up it with.
- Correct: I can't put up with it.The object goes after the last small word, even when it is a pronoun.
A verb after them takes -ing
The last small word works like a preposition, so a verb after it takes -ing. With look forward to this is easy to get wrong, because to looks like the start of an infinitive.
- I'm looking forward to seeing you next week.
- We need to cut down on eating out.
- He got away with cheating in the exam.
- Incorrect: I'm looking forward to hear from you.
- Correct: I'm looking forward to hearing from you.To in look forward to is a preposition, so the verb takes -ing.
Questions and relative clauses
In a question or a relative clause, the three words stay together at the end. They don't move to the front with who or which.
- Who do you get on with best in your family?
- That's the kind of behaviour I won't put up with.
- It's the best idea anyone has come up with so far.
- Incorrect: With who do you get on best?
- Correct: Who do you get on with best?The particles of a phrasal verb stay with the verb, at the end of the question.
Two objects: talk someone out of something
A few three-part verbs take a second object straight after the verb, and the usual object at the end. The person or the thing in the middle is part of the meaning.
Verb | Example |
|---|---|
put something down to | I put his bad mood down to stress. |
talk someone out of something | She talked me out of selling the car. |
take someone up on something | Can I take you up on your offer? |
let someone in on something | They let me in on the secret. |
- My friends talked me out of buying the car.
(They persuaded me not to buy it.)
- I put the mistake down to tiredness.
(I thought tiredness was the cause.)
With the other verbs on this page, no object goes between the parts. An adverb sometimes can: I get on well with my boss.
Tenses and the passive
Only the verb changes for tense. In the passive, the small words stay after the participle.
- He has always looked up to his older sister.
- We were running out of time.
- She is looked up to by all her students.
- The old rules were done away with last year.
Learn the phrasal verb
When you learn one of these verbs, learn the whole phrasal verb, and use it. A one-word verb with a similar meaning is often more formal and doesn't fit the same sentences. In the quiz for this page, every answer is a phrasal verb.
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Related rules
Where this rule sits
All B2 rulesVerb patterns: all rules