Phrasal Verbs with BE

Phrasal Verbs with “BE”

Stop what you’re doing, I’ve got a headache. Have you got any painkillers? Have you got any aspirin? Yep. Thank you. It’s empty. Yeah, we’re out. I’ll buy some tomorrow. Can you go now? My head really hurts. We’re up by 9, at the moment. This is very important. I can’t leave. But, fine I’ll just go by myself, shall I? Oh, yeah. ring your uncle Tom. Nope. Phone him. He’s been really down since the divorce. Don’t care. Doesn’t your assignment have to be in today? Yeah. Well, have you done it? No. Whatever! Whatever! Oh, I wanna go watch Captain Marvel. Coolsies! When is Captain Marvel out? Is it out now? I don’t know. Really helpful, thanks. I’m off then. I don’t know it’s probably like 5 o’clock. Ok, bye. Leg!

Phrasal verbs with be, Let’s go. These are the most common and most useful phrasal verbs; You’ll hear them and use them all the time so you need to learn them. The first one is be off. When you want to say, okay, I’m leaving. You can say, okay I’m off, bye. To be off means leaving. Another way you can use this. Maybe you know someone, who’s going on holiday. You want to know, when are you leaving on holiday. You can ask: Oh yeah, you’re going on holiday. When are you off? Another meaning of be off means, when something is stale. It’s not good to eat or drink anymore. For example, in your fridge, you have milk. If it smells good, brilliant. If it smells bad, it’s off. Its old. It’s gone bad. I think the milk’s off. It smells like feet. Yeah, it’s off. Another meaning of be off means you’re away from work or school. Maybe a holiday. Maybe you’re sick. Oh my god. Where’s Karen? Karen’s off today, why? I need to speak to Karen.

The next one be up. If you’ve seen this incredible phrasal verbs video about phrasal verbs we’ve up. You know when you add the preposition up to a verb, usually it just means an increase or some advantage of some kind. So if a company wants to say, our profits are more this year. In general if you want to say an increase or an advantage or you’re winning something, something is more, you can say up. Our profits are up. Our profits are up this year. Or just winning in general. For example, points in sports, your team is winning by two points. You can say, we’re up by two points. If you want to say we’re winning. We’re up. But, if you put the specific points there, you need by the number. We’re up by 2 or up by two points. And be up for something, that means you want to do something. If someone asks hey do you want to do this thing? You want to say, yes, I want to do it. Just say, yeah I’m up for that. The negative would be yeah. I’m not up for that. Again it just means you want to do something be up for. You don’t want to do something, you’re not up for the thing.

The next one is be out. The most common use of this phrasal verb, just means to not be inside, like an office, for example. Yes, hello, can I speak to Mr. Fish and chips, please? I’m sorry Mr. Fish and chips is out right now. Can I take a message? You want to say someone is not here. They’re outside the office, for example. He or she is out. You can expand this and give more details. For example, he’s out to lunch. She’s out with a friend. They are out doing some work. Another really common meaning of be out, to say there is no more of something. A supply is finished. Its depleted. You use be out. For example, I’m out of beer. Again if you say the specific thing that you don’t have anymore of, I’m out of the thing. But, as a response if someone says to you, do you have any beer? No, I’m out. I’m out. I have no more of that thing. You might also use this for money. Did you spend all your money. Well, you are out of money. Also when you talk about things being released, movies for example. You would say the movie is out when it’s released. When I release a new video, I say my new video is out. Commonly you might use this with your friends. For example, you want to go to the cinema but you don’t know which movies are available. You want to ask is that movie available, has it been released. You would say: is that movie out? Is it in the cinema? Shall we go see a movie? Oh my god, yeah. What do you want to watch? I don’t mind, I like everything! Cool, I’ll check what’s out. Batman gets a haircut? No. Um the notebook 2: Zombie Love? No. Star Wars: War on The Planet Banana? No. Then what do you want to watch? I don’t mind. Anything.

Be down. Remember that to be up, can mean that you’re winning, in points for example. Well if you’re losing in points, you’re not up. You’re not winning. You’re losing, you’re down. And again if you use the specific number of points, you say you’re down by that number. No, we’re down by 8, we’re gonna lose, life is over. Another meaning is if you feel sad, you might say, I’m a bit down. You can also say, you’re feeling down. To be down, it means you’re sad, you’re upset. You’re not happy.

So, I hope none of you are down today. If you are, I’m sending you a virtual hug. Also, to be down for something can mean the same as to be up for something. Do you remember that example? Rewind, rewind, rewind, this one. Yeah you can also say for this one. Yeah, I’m down, or yeah I’m down for that. This is more American to say, I’m down for that. Whereas I’m up for that, is what you would in England.

Let’s add the preposition with, be down with. This is talking about getting sick and just resting. You’re not studying, you’re not working. You’re just resting. Resting with a not serious illness. Like a cold or the flu. Oh my god, where’s Karen? I told you she’s off today. Karen’s always off. She’s down with the flu. She’s down with the sickness.

To be in, you’re at University and you remember, oh my god, my assignment, the deadline is today. When we talk about deadlines in English, you would say something like this: No, my assignment is supposed to be in today. To be in, in this case, in this context, when does some work, when does an assignment have to be submitted or delivered. Side note, when you submit or deliver your assignment, use the phrasal verb, hand in. For example: heh, I can relax now, I just hand it in my assignment .I submitted it. I delivered it.

The final one, be on. In general this means something is happening. Oh my god, Oxford Street is so busy. Everyone’s out. Oh, yeah, the sales are on. The sales are on, they’re happening everyone’s out, literally outside. Also if there is an event, happening at a certain place, you can say: there’s an event on at Buckingham Palace. Should we go? Oh my god. I’m so up for that. There’s an event happening at Buckingham Palace. I really want to do that.