You can "look up" lists of phrasal verbs (verb + adverb or verb + preposition which creates a new meaning seperate from the individual words) on the internet by searching for "phrasal verbs." Here is one list: http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.htm

up/ʌp/ adverbio (in upward direction): ~ a bit … left a bit un poco más arriba … un poco a la izquierda; we saw them on the way ~ los vimos cuando subíamos; from the waist ~ desde la cintura para arriba (of position) arriba; ~ here/there aquí/allí arriba; 300ft ~ a una altura de 300 pies (upstairs, on upper floor): I'll be ~ in a minute subiré en un minuto (raised): with the blinds ~ con las persianas levantadas or subidas; face ~ boca arriba (upright): the nurse helped him ~ la enfermera lo ayudó a sentarse (out of bed): they're not ~ yet todavía no se han levantado (of numbers, intensity): she had the volume ~ high tenía el volumen muy alto; from $25/the age of 11 ~ a partir de 25 dólares/de los 11 años (at or to another place): the path ~ to the house el sendero hasta la casa (in position, erected): is the tent ~? ¿ya han armado la tienda or (AmL) la carpa?; the shelves are ~ los estantes están colocados or puestos (going on) (colloq): what's ~ with you? ¿a ti qué te pasa?; what's ~? (what's the matter?) ¿qué pasa?; (as greeting) (AmE) ¿qué hay? (colloq) (finished): your time is ~ se te ha acabado el tiempo (Sport) (ahead in competition): they're two goals ~ van ganando por dos goles; to be one ~ on sb tener(conj.⇒) una ventaja sobre algn (in phrases) up against (next to) contra (confronted by): you don't know what you're ~ against no sabes a lo que te enfrentas up and down (vertically): to jump ~ and down dar(conj.⇒) saltos; to look sb ~ and down mirar a algn de arriba abajo (back and forth) de arriba abajo up till o until hasta.. Check this site. It is also in your mother tongue. There is no other way but reading. http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=up

there might be some etymological reason for it because in german at least "give up" and "stand up" are constructed in just the same way. You might know that the languages are closely related. as for "stand up" it's easy to explain because standing up is an upward movement right? as for the others, when you think about the very basic meanings of them you might understand the original sense of the "up". i'm sure there's some scientific papers about it as well. In germany there's a major subject called "Indogermanistik" which poses just this kind of questions. but such considerations really fall into an abstract scientific field. people don't really think about the original etymological meaning of the words when they use them. while aquiring the words as children they just learn them as fixed vocabulary, which is just what you'll have to do.

you cannot explain them. Phrasal verbs.