Phrasal verbs

Então, o que são phrasal verbs?

Phrasal verbs são duas ou mais palavras que juntas resultam em uma nova palavra.

Muito comuns no inglês falado, os phrasal verbs podem ser bastante confusos, pois seus significados nem sempre são fáceis de deduzir – e existem milhares deles. Na verdade, muitos phrasal verbs são variações distintas do mesmo verbo base, o que pode causar dúvidas.

Vejamos o phrasal verb get over, por exemplo. O verbo get significa “adquirir”, e a preposição “over” geralmente refere-se a estar mais alto ou acima de algo. No entanto, junte-os, e o phrasal verb get over significa “recuperar” ou “superar”, portanto, um novo significado.

Two-part verbs

São os phrasal verbs formados por um verbo e uma partícula:

  • grow + up
    The children are growing up.
  • take + after
    She takes after her mother.
    (= She looks like her mother or she behaves like her mother.)
  • count + on
    I know I can count on you.
    (= I know I can trust you or I know I can believe you.)

Inseparable phrasal verbs

Alguns two-part verbs possuem somente um padrão, os inseparable phrasal verbs, ou seja, não podem ser separados:

SubjectVerbParticleObject
The childrenare growingup.
Shetakesafterher mother.
Ican countonyou.

Mas outros two-part verbs possuem dois padrões. O usual é o separable:

Separable phrasal verbs

Quando o separable phrasal verb é seguido por um substantivo, podemos separá-lo ou não.

Noun (subject)VerbNoun (object)Particle
Shegavethe moneyback.
Heknockedthe glassover.
Wewill be leavingour friendsbehind.

A seguir, os advérbios mais comuns em um phrasal verb, que indicam que ele pode ser separável –SEPARABLE:

Apart, around, away, back , behind, down, out, over, together, off, over, up.

Mas que também aceitam o padrão INSEPARABLE:

Noun (subject)VerbParticleNoun (object)
Shegavebackthe money.
Heknockedoverthe glass.
Wewill be leavingbehindour friends.

Quando o phrasal verb é seguido por um um PRONOME PESSOAL (Imeyou, we, us), o verbo e a partícula devem sempre ser separados, ou seja, são sempre SEPARABLE:

  • She gave it back(NOT She gave back it.)
  • He knocked it over(NOT He knocked over it.)
  • We will be leaving them behind(NOT We will be leaving behind them.)

Three-part verbs

Alguns verbos são compostos por três partes: um verbo e duas partículas. Eles seguem o padrão INSEPARABLE:

Noun (subject)VerbParticleParticleNoun (object)
His girlfriendwalkedoutonhim.
Shecaughtupwiththe other runners.
Childrenshould lookuptotheir parents.

Os phrasal verbs são usados do mesmo modo que um verbo qualquer, ou seja, em qualquer forma ou tempo:

Simple past tense:  

  • I had the flu last week but got over it. 

Infinitive: 

  • I rested last week to get over the flu. 

Gerund: 

  • I spent last week getting over the flu.

Observe que apenas o verbo é conjugado. A ou as partículas que o seguem, permanecem como são.

Agora vamos praticar?

To pass away

RIP

Pass away transmite o sentido de morrer ou falecer. É possível usar o verbo to die em vez do phrasal verb, porém pass away é uma forma mais delicada de se referir à tal situação:

Brazilian leader passes away.
Líder brasileiro morre.
(Aqui você vê a estrutura na terceira pessoa – He passes away)

Brazil superfan passes away aged 60.
Superfã do Brasil morre com 60 anos.

Before they pass away.
Antes que eles morram.

On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales passed away.
Em 31 de agosto de 1997, Diana, princesa de Gales faleceu.
(Gostaria de lembrar que o exemplo acima e os que seguem abaixo estão no passado simples, por isso você vê passed away)

Ludovic Boumbas passed away after running towards a gunman.
Ludovic Boumbas faleceu após correr em direção a um homem armado.

How many Americans passed away in the Paris attacks?
Quantos Americanos morreram nos ataques em Paris?

He passed away in the arms of his friend.
Ele morreu nos braços do amigo.

Saudi King Abdullah passed away.
O rei saudita Abdullah faleceu.

Pass away também pode ser utilizado no sentido figurado, indicando que algo já não existe mais:

Remembering joys that have passed away.
Recordando alegrias que acabaram.
(Que já se foram)

Click here to listen to these examples.

Go through a difficult time

Phrasal verbs são estruturas muito importantes na língua inglesa. Elas tornam a fala mais natural, e devem ser compreendidas dentro de um contexto.

E esse phrasal verb, go through, é usado em vários contextos. Veja:

Experienciar

Passar por/pelo; atravessar uma situação difícil ou desagradável:

They’re going through a divorce. Eles estão passando por um divórcio.

I went through a hard time last year. Eu atravessei um período difícil ano passado.

We had to go through that experience to learn the lesson. Tivemos que passar por aquela experiência para aprender a lição.

Processo

How to go through customs in the U.S? Como passar pela alfândega nos Estados Unidos?

Everybody has to go through immigration. Todos precisam passar pela imigração.

Examinar, verificar, discutir

First of all let’s go through the checklist. Antes de tudo, vamos passar pelo check-list.

He went through all the channels a thousand times! Ele passou por todos os canais mil vezes!

Go through the documents before sending them to the lawyer. Verifique os documentos antes de enviá-los ao advogado.

Let me go through that paperwork. Deixe-me verificar aquela documentação.

Busca; vasculhar, revirar

They went through my belongings at the airport. Eles vasculharam meus pertences no aeroporto.

The policeman went through my pockets and baggage. O policial revirou meus bolsos e malas.

He found out somebody had gone through his emails. Ele descobriu que alguém havia vasculhado seus e-mails.

Praticar

Let’s go through the routine from the top. Vamos repassar a coreografia do começo. 

Viram como essa expressão é versátil? Agora é só praticar criando sentenças a partir de sua realidade.

Para escutar estas e outras sentenças com go through, clique aqui.

E para ver a versão em inglês desta lição, clique aqui.

Long time no see! We have a lot of catching up to do.

Learning language from students’ genuine experiences and interests create authentic learning opportunities, from their contexts, for using and developing their English skills.

Teaching approaches and methodologies must create authentic opportunities for students to communicate and express their opinions.

So, the first thing I like to do when I meet my students is to catch up on the things that have happened to them since the last time we met.

The first meaning of the phrase to catch up, in the literal sense (/ kætʃ / caughtcaught), is to walk faster or run to catch up to someone. 

But, the figurative meaning of to catch up, is to talk with someone you know and you have not seen for some time to find out what they have been doing, or to exchange or to learn the latest news or information.

  • Let’s have a coffee next week and catch up.
  • By the time coffee came, John and Paul had already caught up a little bit.
  • Let’s go for a coffee – I need to catch up on all the gossip.
  • I’ll catch up with you another time, Kevin.
  • It’s always good to catch up with old friends.
  • He used the train journey to catch up with/on the morning news.

As a noun, catch-up means a meeting at which people discuss what has happened since the last time that they met.

  • I’m seeing my boss for a catch-up next week.
  • I’ll leave you two alone – I’m sure you’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

For other meanings, go to https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/catch-up

Go through

Watch the video about the phrasal verb ‘go through,’ read about it below, and make notes of the examples that are not in the text.

The phrasal verb ‘go through’ has several uses in professional and social contexts.

To ‘go through’ something can mean:

To examine, study, or search for something in a thorough or detailed way.

You might ‘go through’ an article, for example, to find specific information; or ‘go through’ your work to look for any mistakes

If a request, contract, law, or change in rules is accepted or approved, you can say that it has been ‘gone through’, meaning that it has passed many stages and is now ready to be put into action.

With credit or debit card payments, if they are approved you can say they ‘went through,’ or if the payment is rejected, you can say it ‘didn’t go through.’

To ‘go through’ something can also mean to experience or survive a difficult or unpleasant situation or period in your life. So, you can ‘go through a tough time’ or ‘go through a difficult experience’, for example.

To ‘go through’ something can also mean to ‘use up’ materials or resources.

So, you can say you ‘go through’ a lot of coffee when you are working late, for example.

To ‘go through’ something can also mean to rehearse or to practice something.

You might ‘go through’ a speech a few times before delivering it, or a dancer or athlete might ‘go through’ their movements many times to perfect them.

If you follow a particular schedule or precise steps or procedures, you can say you ‘go through several steps’ or you ‘go through a routine’.

Examples of ‘go through’ are:

1 A friend’s company has a job opening they think you should apply for. They offer to help you tailor your CV for the application:

“I can meet you this evening to go through your CV before you apply for the job.”

2 A colleague has asked you to send a report to their new e-mail address. You received an e-mail telling you that your message could not be sent:

“I tried to send the report to you yesterday evening, but it appears the e-mail did not go through.”

3 Your company is hosting an educational event for students from local schools. You want to make sure you have enough sandwiches for lunch:

“How many sandwiches do you think 80 school children will go through?”

4 You are driving for a long time and you want to stop for lunch:

“We can turn off the motorway, and go through the town to look for a restaurant.”

So as you saw, this phrasal verb has many different uses.

Now, listen to ‘go through’ in the video below at 0.47 seconds.