1014 - Phrasal Verbs for Social Situations

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Have you ever made plans with a friend and they say something like,

let's hang out this weekend?

Or maybe someone told you, just drop by anytime.

Or you hear people say, let's catch up soon.

These are all very common phrasal verbs that we use all the time when talking about social situations.

Phrasal verbs are everywhere in daily life.

So, for today's podcast English lesson, we're going to look at several very practical phrasal verbs that you can use when talking about friends, plans, and everyday social life.

Welcome to another happy English podcast coming to you from New York City.

And here's your English teacher, Michael.

Alright, thank you John and thanks everyone.

It's Michael here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

And this is Happy English Podcast Episode 2014.

Phrasal verbs for social situations.

Let's start with the phrasal verb hang out.

Hang out means to spend time with someone in a relaxed casual way.

There's usually no big plan or special activity.

You're just spending time together.

For example, you might text a friend and say, hey, you want to hang out this weekend?

That just means you want to spend time together.

Or, like after work, some coworkers might say, hey, let's hang out for a bit and grab a beer.

Or maybe someone says, we just stayed home and hung out all evening watching movies.

So when you hang out, you're spending time together in a casual, relaxed way.

In a similar way, we use hang around.

But the feeling is a little different from hang out.

Hang around means to stay somewhere for a period of time, often without doing anything special.

Like when you're waiting for something, you know, killing time.

Like, imagine you finish work early, but your friend is still busy.

So you decide to stay nearby.

You might say, you know, I'll just hang around here until you're done.

In this case, you're not really socializing.

You're just staying in that place.

And sometimes hang around can have even a slightly negative feeling.

Like if someone says, oh, there were a bunch of kids hanging around outside the store.

It can suggest they're just standing there with nothing to do, and maybe even causing trouble.

So here's the key difference.

If you hang out, you're spending time with someone in a relaxed and social way.

But if you hang around, you're just staying in a place, often waiting, or with no clear purpose.

Next, let's look at show up.

Show up means to arrive at a place, especially when you're expected to be there.

Like imagine you invite some friends to your house for dinner at seven.

You might say, everyone showed up right on time.

Or sometimes people use show up when someone is late.

Like, oh, he said he'd be here at six, but he didn't show up until seven thirty.

And here's another example.

If you plan a party and only a few people come, you might say, yeah, not many people showed up.

So show up is all about arriving at a place, especially for a plan or an event.

Another common social phrasal verb is drop by.

Drop by means to visit someone casually.

Usually without a plan or without staying for a long time.

For example, you might say to a friend, hey, feel free to drop by anytime.

That means they can visit you casually.

And here's another example.

I drop by my friend's house on my way home just to say hello.

Or imagine you're at home and a friend suddenly rings your doorbell.

You might say, oh, I wasn't expecting you to drop by.

So drop by has the feeling of a short casual visit.

In a similar way, we also use stop by.

Stop by has the nuance of visiting someone with a purpose.

Like, I stop by Paul's house the other day to pick up his old bicycle.

So drop by is more casual and stop by often has a reason for the visit.

Now, let's look at come over and go over.

Come over is similar to drop by, but it usually suggests a planned visit.

Often to someone's home.

For example, you might say, do you want to come over for dinner tonight?

Or a few friends are coming over to watch the game.

Here's another example.

Hey, why don't you come over this weekend?

We can cook something together.

So when someone comes over, they visit your home, usually with a plan.

And when you go over, you visit another person's home.

Like tomorrow, I'm going over to Ed's house with my guitar to play some music.

So the difference is simple.

People come over to your place and you go over to theirs.

And finally, let's look at catch up.

Catch up means to talk with someone and share news after you haven't seen or spoken to each other for some time.

For example, imagine you meet an old friend after a long time.

You might say, ah, it was great catching up with her.

Or maybe you text a friend and say, hey, let's catch up soon.

That means you want to meet and talk about what's been happening in your lives recently.

Here's another example.

We met for coffee and spent two hours catching up.

So catch up is all about reconnecting and sharing updates.

So let's recap.

Today, we looked at several phrasal verbs that are common in social situations.

If you hang out, you spend time together in a relaxed way.

If you hang around, you stay somewhere, often waiting or without a clear purpose.

If you show up, you arrive somewhere, especially with a plan.

And when you drop by, you visit someone casually and briefly.

And stop by?

Well, that's usually a short visit with a purpose.

When someone comes over, they visit your home.

And when you go over, you visit someone else's home.

And finally, when you catch up, you talk about, well, you know, your recent news after some time apart.

So here's your challenge.

This week, try using one of these phrasal verbs in a real conversation.

Maybe you can invite a friend to hang out or tell someone to drop by or say, hey, let's catch up soon.

These are the kinds of expressions that native speakers use every day.

And the more you use them, the more natural your English will sound.

And keep in mind the best way to remember English like this.

And any other word or phrase in English is to take that word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true for you or true in your world.

Then memorize your sentences.

Hey, thanks for listening.

And remember, learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible.

And I'm here to help you on your journey.

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