🎯 Why This Matters
To understand and sound like native speakers.
Natural, colloquial English usage.
🇪🇸 The Challenge
Idiomatic meaning. Verb + particle combinations like 'give up', 'look after', 'put off' have meanings that can't be guessed from the parts.
🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 Literal translation fails
Problem: Phrasal verb meanings are idiomatic, not compositional
Watch out: Translating 'give up' as 'dar arriba' instead of understanding it as 'rendirse/abandonar'
✅ Fix: Learn phrasal verbs as vocabulary items with their own meanings
🧠 Mental Note: Each phrasal verb = one new vocabulary word to learn
🇪🇸 Same idiom challenge
Problem: Phrasal verbs don't exist in Spanish
Watch out: Avoiding phrasal verbs and using formal alternatives
✅ Fix: Embrace phrasal verbs! They're essential for natural English.
🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)
Verb + Direction = New Meaning
Learn phrasal verbs as UNITS, not word-by-word. 'Give up' = one concept (quit).
🗣️ Pronunciation Guide
How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:
Stress on particle
Spanish Habit: Even stress on verb and particle
English Reality: Often the particle gets more stress than the verb
Examples:
- give UP → /ɡɪv ˈʌp/
- turn OFF → /tɜːrn ˈɒf/
- look AFTER → /lʊk ˈɑːftər/
Practice: Stress the particle (UP, OFF, OUT) for clarity
📖 How It Works
Teacher Recommendation: Self-study friendly
Time Investment: 3 hours
🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)
These words/phrases appear with this structure:
| English | Spanish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| give up | abandonar/dejar | Don't give up! / ¡No te rindas! |
| look after | cuidar | I look after my brother / Cuido a mi hermano |
| put off | posponer | Don't put it off / No lo pospongas |
| find out | descubrir | I found out the truth / Descubrí la verdad |
| run out of | quedarse sin | We ran out of milk / Se nos acabó la leche |
💬 Real Examples
Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:
Example 1: Give up = quit
✅ CORRECT: "I gave up smoking last year."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Dejé de fumar el año pasado."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "I gave smoking up last year. (awkward)"
Why wrong? Both 'gave up smoking' and 'gave smoking up' are grammatical, but the first is more natural
Example 2: Look after = care for
✅ CORRECT: "She looks after her elderly parents."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Ella cuida a sus padres ancianos."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "She looks her parents after."
Why wrong? LOOK AFTER is inseparable. Can't split it!
Example 3: Turn off with pronoun
✅ CORRECT: "Turn it off."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Apágalo."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "Turn off it."
Why wrong? With pronouns (it, them, her), the pronoun goes BETWEEN verb and particle
✏️ Practice Exercises
Ready to test your understanding? Let's practice!