Phrasal verbs with give

What does ‘give’ mean?

The word ‘give‘ can mean many different things. As a verb, the meaning is to transfer possession or allow.

For example:

• I gave Sammy my jumper. (transfer possession)
• My mum has given me permission to go to the party. (allow)

 

Give is an irregular verb. The past tense is gave and the past participle is given.

phrasal verbs with give

Phrasal verbs with ‘give’ include:

• give away
  meaning – distribute something for free, tell a secret
  example – I’ve bought mum a puppy! Don’t give it away, I want it to be a complete surprise.
• give back
  meaning – return something you borrowed, or someone has lost
  example – I gave back the money you lent me last week. Have you forgotten?
• give in
  meaning – surrender or submit and essay, a form, homework etc.
  example – I gave in my final assignment then headed straight to the pub.
• give in to
  meaning – let your desires control you or reluctantly agree to something
  example – I’ll have to give in to the kids and let them have a puppy.
• give off
  meaning – emit something
  example – My small torch gives off a lot of light.
• give out
  meaning – distribute or emit
  example – The crowd gave out a huge cheer when he won the Oscar.
• give over
  meaning – stop doing something annoying or pass the responsibility to another
  example – When Terry got too old, he gave the company over to his son.
• give up
  meaning – stop doing something or surrender
  example – I give up! Tell me the answer.
• give up on
  meaning – lose faith in something
  example – I gave up on my team winning the league months ago.
• give + reflexive pronoun + up
  meaning – surrender to the police
  example – The gang gave themselves up as their hideaway was surrounded by armed police.

picture phrasal verbs with give

Let’s learn the meaning of the phrasal verbs that contain the verb ‘give’ in more detail and see some examples in use.

You can download a table of phrasal verbs with give below.

Did you know that many idiomatic expressions (idioms) in English also contain a lot of verbs? Just like phrasal verbs, idioms are a major part of the English language (slang in particular). They are used constantly amongst native English speakers and are handy to know and understand.

 

Now you’ve learnt all the phrasal verbs with give, how about learning the idioms with give too?