Key takeaways
- “Get” is one of the most productive verbs in English for forming phrasal verbs: combining it with different particles (up, over, through, out, along, into, back, rid, away, around, down, by, ahead) produces 13 distinct meanings, many of which cannot be guessed from the individual words.
- Some “get” phrasal verbs are separable (the object can go between the verb and the particle): get the message across, get your point across. Others are inseparable (the particle must follow immediately): get along with someone, get over something.
- These phrasal verbs appear in everyday conversation, professional settings, and informal writing at very high frequency. Native speakers use them naturally without thinking; learners who avoid them or overuse formal alternatives sound unnatural.
- Register varies across the list: get by and get ahead are appropriate in professional conversation; get away with has a slightly informal feel; get up is fully neutral across all registers.
Phrasal verbs with “get” are among the most frequently used structures in English, which means learners who do not master them are missing a significant portion of what native speakers say. The challenge is that the meaning of each phrasal verb is largely unpredictable: knowing what “get” and “over” mean separately does not tell you that “get over” means to recover from something emotionally or physically.
This guide covers 13 essential phrasal verbs with “get,” with precise meanings, example sentences in multiple contexts, separability notes, and register guidance.
Learners who avoid phrasal verbs and substitute formal alternatives (“recover from” instead of “get over,” “tolerate” instead of “get along with”) are grammatically correct but sound noticeably non-native. The fix is production practice with a teacher who notices those substitutions and redirects to the natural form.
With 10M+ learners matched to teachers since 2007, italki is where learners find English teachers who catch exactly those naturalness gaps in real conversation. Find an English tutor and use phrasal verb drilling as a regular part of your conversation sessions.
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Movement and daily routine
1. get up
Meaning: To rise from bed; to stand up from a sitting position. Separability: Not separable (no object). Register: Neutral, all contexts.
What time do you usually get up? She got up from the table and walked to the window. I need to get up earlier if I want to make it to the morning meeting.
2. get around
Meaning: (a) To travel or move around a place. (b) To avoid or find a way past an obstacle, rule, or difficulty. Separability: Inseparable (get around + noun). Register: Neutral.
| Meaning | Example |
|---|---|
| Travel around | It is easy to get around the city by metro. |
| Bypass/avoid | He always finds a way to get around the rules. |
| Spread (news) | Word gets around quickly in a small office. |
Progress and coping
3. get by
Meaning: To manage to survive or cope, usually with limited resources (money, skills, energy). Separability: Not separable. Register: Neutral; common in both casual and professional speech.
Her Spanish is basic but she can get by in most situations. They were struggling to get by on one income. I do not speak Mandarin well, but I get by.
4. get ahead
Meaning: To make progress, especially in career or financial terms; to move forward relative to others. Separability: Not separable. Register: Neutral to slightly formal; common in professional contexts.
Working hard is not always enough to get ahead in competitive industries. She got ahead by building relationships as well as skills. If you want to get ahead, you need to make yourself visible to senior management.
5. get through
Meaning: (a) To successfully complete a difficult task, period, or situation. (b) To make contact with someone (by phone or message). (c) To make someone understand something. Separability: Inseparable. Register: Neutral.
| Meaning | Example |
|---|---|
| Complete/survive | We got through a tough quarter but the numbers improved. |
| Make contact | I have been trying to get through to the support team all morning. |
| Make understood | I have explained it three times but I cannot seem to get through to him. |
An English teacher online can run rapid-fire drills: give a context, ask the learner to complete a sentence with the right phrasal verb, and correct when the meaning does not quite fit. italki has 30,000+ teachers across 150+ languages, including qualified English teachers who make grammar feel like conversation rather than exercises.
6. get down to
Meaning: To start focusing seriously on work or a task; to begin dealing with the actual substance of something. Separability: Inseparable (get down to + noun/gerund). Register: Neutral to slightly formal.
Once everyone arrived, we got down to business. It took him an hour to get down to actually writing the report. Let us get down to the main issue.
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Relationships and communication
7. get along (with)
Meaning: To have a friendly, compatible relationship with someone. Separability: Inseparable. Register: Neutral; common in both formal and informal contexts.
Do you get along with your colleagues? She and her sister did not get along as children but are close now. He is easy to work with. Everyone gets along with him.
8. get into
Meaning: (a) To become interested in or passionate about something. (b) To be accepted into a programme, institution, or group. (c) To enter a vehicle. Separability: Inseparable. Register: Neutral.
| Meaning | Example |
|---|---|
| Become interested | I got into running during the lockdown. |
| Be accepted | She got into her first-choice university. |
| Enter a vehicle | Get into the car, we are late. |
| Start a bad habit | He got into gambling in his twenties. |
Getting out of situations
9. get out of
Meaning: (a) To avoid a responsibility or obligation. (b) To leave a place or situation. (c) To derive benefit or value from something. Separability: Inseparable. Register: Neutral.
| Meaning | Example |
|---|---|
| Avoid obligation | She tried to get out of attending the meeting. |
| Leave | We need to get out of this traffic. |
| Derive benefit | What did you get out of the workshop? |
10. get away with
Meaning: To do something wrong or against the rules without being caught or punished. Separability: Inseparable. Register: Informal to neutral; slightly colloquial.
He submitted the report late and got away with it. You cannot get away with poor grammar in a job application. She thought she could get away with not revising, but the exam was harder than expected.
11. get rid of
Meaning: To remove something, dispose of it, or stop having it; to eliminate a problem, habit, or unwanted thing. Separability: Inseparable (though the object can precede in casual speech: “get it rid of” is nonstandard; correct form is “get rid of it”). Register: Neutral; very common across all contexts.
She finally got rid of all the old furniture. I need to get rid of this habit of checking my phone constantly. The company got rid of two underperforming product lines.
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Returning and recovering
12. get back
Meaning: (a) To return to a place. (b) To recover something that was lost or taken. (c) To reply or respond (get back to someone). Separability: Separable when meaning “recover”: get the money back / get back the money. Register: Neutral.
| Meaning | Example |
|---|---|
| Return | What time do you get back from the conference? |
| Recover | I never got my deposit back. |
| Reply/respond | I will get back to you by Thursday. |
13. get over
Meaning: (a) To recover from an illness, disappointment, or emotional difficulty. (b) To stop being surprised or upset by something. Separability: Inseparable (get over + noun/pronoun). Register: Neutral; extremely common.
It took her months to get over the break-up. He still has not got over losing the championship. I cannot get over how much the city has changed. She had a cold for a week but got over it quickly.
For the money-related idioms and expressions that pair naturally with phrasal verbs like get by and get ahead, the guide to English money idioms covers common expressions from break the bank to rolling in it.
Separable vs. inseparable: a reference table
| Phrasal verb | Separable? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| get up | not applicable (no object) | get up at 7 |
| get around | inseparable | get around the city |
| get by | not applicable (no object) | just getting by |
| get ahead | not applicable (no object) | get ahead at work |
| get through | inseparable | get through the week |
| get down to | inseparable | get down to business |
| get along with | inseparable | get along with colleagues |
| get into | inseparable | get into cycling |
| get out of | inseparable | get out of a meeting |
| get away with | inseparable | get away with it |
| get rid of | inseparable | get rid of old files |
| get back (place) | not applicable | get back tonight |
| get back (thing) | separable | get the money back |
| get over | inseparable | get over a cold |
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Making phrasal verbs automatic
The goal with phrasal verbs is not to know their meanings but to have them available in real-time speech without translation or hesitation. That requires production, not just recognition.
italki has English teachers who embed phrasal verbs into natural conversation from the first sentence, so learners hear how they sound in flow rather than encountering them only as vocabulary items. Book a trial lesson and ask the teacher to run a conversation entirely using the phrasal verbs from this list as natural prompts.
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FAQ
What is the most common phrasal verb with “get”?
Get up is the most universally used, appearing in daily conversation, instructions, and written English. Get over and get back to are also extremely high frequency, particularly in professional and interpersonal contexts.
Are phrasal verbs with “get” formal or informal?
It varies. Get ahead, get through, get down to business are all appropriate in professional contexts. Get away with and get rid of are more informal. Get up is neutral across all registers. In very formal written English, substitutes like “rise,” “recover from,” or “dispose of” might be preferred, but in spoken professional English, phrasal verbs are the norm.
What is the difference between “get out” and “get out of”?
Get out means to leave physically: get out of the car, get out of the building. Get out of in the sense of avoiding something is slightly different: get out of a meeting, get out of doing something. Both use “of” when referencing a container or enclosed space; the idiomatic “avoid” meaning requires “of” plus the thing being avoided.
How do I know if a phrasal verb is separable?
Separable phrasal verbs allow the object to appear between the verb and the particle (get it back / get back the money) or after the particle (get the money back). When the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and particle (get it back, never get back it). Inseparable phrasal verbs require the object to come after the complete particle sequence: get along with him, never get him along with.
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