We use phrasal verbs a lot in conversations. Here are 7 easy phrasal verbs that you can use when you go shopping.
Even if you only use one of these, it will make you sound more like a native English speaker!
Remember: a good way to learn phrasal verbs is to learn the meaning of the particle (the word like on, out, up, down, etc which follows the verb.) These 7 shopping phrasal verbs are organised by three particles: out, on and back.
Video Transcript
Hi there! I’m Clare from english-at-home.com
So, whether you love it or you hate it, you have to go shopping sometimes! In today’s video, I’ve got some phrasal verbs for shopping for you.
But before we get started, if you’re new here, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, because you get a new English video every week to help you with speaking, pronunciation and vocabulary. And you can subscribe by clicking that button here!
OK, so – phrasal verbs for shopping. We use phrasal verbs a lot when we speak English. A phrasal verb is a verb which is followed by a particle. A particle is a word like up, down, in, out. So phrasal verbs could be, for example, go up, go down, go back, go away, and so on.
Phrasal verbs with “out”
Often, with out, you get the idea of “no more”. Here are 2 shopping phrasal verbs with out:
1. Run out
Run out means you nave no more of something. So, for example:
“I’ve run out of coffee” or “We’re running out of milk. Can you get some when you go shopping?”
2. Sell out
So when a shop sells out of something, it means that it has no more in stock. So for example:
“I can’t believe it! The supermarket has sold out of bread!” Or
“Get your iphone soon before they sell out!”
Phrasal verb with “on”
With “on” you get the idea of something on your body. So for example, “Put your coat on – it’s cold outside.”
3. Try on
So if you go clothes shopping, you want to wear something, you want to put it on your body before you buy it to make sure it fits. So you can say to the sales assistant:
“Can I try this on please?”
Phrasal verbs with “back”
With “back” you get the idea of return. So here are four phrasal verbs with back.
4. Bring back
Imagine you’re in a shop and you buy, I don’t know, a pair of jeans for somebody else and you say to the shop assistant:
“Can I bring these back if they don’t fit?”
It means, can I take these jeans and come back to the shop to get a refund. So to bring back – to return something to a shop so you get the money.
5. Take back
So, I buy you a present and I’m not sure if you like it, so I can say to you:
“Look, I’ve got the receipt, so if you don’t like it you can take it back.”
It means you can take this present back to the shop and either exchange it or get some money.
6. Get back
Now if you get your money back, it means you get a refund. It means they will give you the money. For example
“If you’ve got insurance, you should get the money back.”
7. Send back
If you buy something online, and then you don’t like it, you can send it back to the person who you bought it from, and get your money. For example:
“I bought these earrings, but I don’t really like them. I’m going to send them back.”