Up is the busiest particle in English phrasal verbs. It rarely means the direction of the sky. Instead it adds ideas: finishing something completely, making something bigger, or arriving and appearing.
Eat up means finish eating. Prices go up. A friend turns up at your door. The verb carries the action and up carries the flavour, and the pair works as one unit.
This page groups the most useful phrasal verbs with up by meaning, shows where the object goes, and lists the mistakes learners make most. Then a 20-question drill checks each verb in context.
The rule
Up means complete or finished
- Eat up, drink up and finish up mean finish the food, the drink or the task.
- Use up means use all of something until none is left: "We used up the milk."
- Clear up has two jobs: tidy a place, or describe the weather improving.
- Wrap up means finish a meeting, a project or a job.
Up means increase or louder
- Go up means increase: "Prices went up again."
- Put up can mean raise a price or build a wall.
- Speak up means talk louder or give your opinion bravely.
- Turn up the volume makes the sound louder.
Up means appear or arrive
- Turn up and show up both mean arrive, often unexpectedly.
- Come up means a topic appears in conversation: "Your name came up at the meeting."
- Bring up can mean start a topic or raise a child.
- End up means finally be in a place or situation: "We ended up walking home."
Up means stop, tidy or separate
- Give up means stop trying: "She gave up learning the guitar."
- Hang up means end a phone call.
- Break up means end a relationship, and also means separate into pieces.
- Clean up means make a place tidy, and pack up means put things into bags.
Where does the object go?
- Many up-verbs are separable: pick up the children, or pick the children up.
- A pronoun must go between the verb and the particle: pick them up, never pick up them.
- Some up-verbs are inseparable, so the object follows the particle: look after, not look the children after.
- When you learn a separable verb, memorise the pronoun pattern with it: pick it up, use it up, wake her up.
Examples
- Please eat up your vegetables.Up means finish the food completely.
- We used up all the paper.Use up means the supply is empty now.
- The rain cleared up in the afternoon.Clear up with weather means it improved.
- House prices went up by ten percent.Go up means increase.
- Could you speak up? I cannot hear you.Speak up means talk louder.
- He turned up an hour late.Turn up means arrive, often unexpectedly.
- She brought up an interesting point.Bring up means introduce a topic.
- Do not give up; keep trying.Give up means stop trying.
- I will pick you up at the station.A pronoun goes between the verb and the particle.
- We ended up staying for dinner.End up means finally be in a situation.
Common mistakes
- Wrong: I will pick up you at eight. Right: I will pick you up at eight.
- With a separable verb, a pronoun goes between the verb and the particle: pick you up.
- Wrong: She gave up to smoke. Right: She gave up smoking.
- Give up takes a noun or a gerund, not to plus a verb.
- Wrong: Please wake up me before seven. Right: Please wake me up before seven.
- Wake up is separable, so the pronoun goes in the middle.
- Wrong: The topic came up it at the meeting. Right: The topic came up at the meeting.
- Come up is inseparable and needs no object. The topic itself is the subject.
- Wrong: He used up to work late. Right: He used to work late.
- Used to describes a past habit; use up means consume a supply. They are different structures.
Practice drill
Answer all 20 questions. Each answer is marked at once, and the rule is explained under the question.
Please ___ your dinner before it gets cold.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. eat up Eat up means finish the food completely, which matches the warning about cold food.
We have ___ all the coffee in the office.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. used up Use up means consume the whole supply, so the office has none left.
The weather should ___ later this morning.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. clear up Clear up with weather means improve, so the morning should brighten.
House prices ___ again last month.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. went up Go up means increase, and prices rising fit the sentence.
Could you ___ ? I cannot hear you at the back.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. speak up Speak up means talk louder, which answers the hearing problem.
He ___ an hour late for the interview.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. turned up Turn up means arrive, and arriving late fits the sentence.
She ___ a good point about the budget.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. brought up Bring up means introduce a topic, here a point about the budget.
Do not ___ ; you are almost finished.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. give up Give up means stop trying, and the encouragement pushes against stopping.
I will ___ at the station at six.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. pick you up With the separable verb pick up, the pronoun goes between the verb and the particle up.
We ___ staying for dinner because of the rain.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. ended up End up means finally be in a situation, here staying for dinner.
Please ___ me ___ at seven tomorrow.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. wake ... up Wake up is separable, so the pronoun me goes between wake and up.
The meeting will ___ at four o'clock.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. wrap up Wrap up means finish, so the meeting ends at four.
Please ___ your room before you go out.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. clean up Clean up means tidy a place, which fits the request about the room.
She ___ learning the guitar after a year.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. gave up Give up means stop trying, followed by the gerund learning.
He ___ the phone without saying goodbye.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. hung up Hang up means end a phone call, which explains the missing goodbye.
They ___ after three years together.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. broke up Break up means end a relationship, and three years together shows a couple.
I cannot hear the radio. Could you ___ it ___ ?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. turn ... up Turn up means increase the volume, which answers the hearing problem.
Your name ___ at the meeting yesterday.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. came up Come up means appear in conversation, and a name becoming a topic fits.
The company will ___ a new office block next year.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. put up Put up can mean build, so a new factory rises on the site.
We should ___ soon or we will miss the bus.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. pack up Pack up means put things into bags, which is what you do before leaving.
Drill complete
You answered every question.
Next topic: Separable or inseparable phrasal verbsTake the level test
Questions learners ask
How can I learn phrasal verbs with up without memorising a huge list?
Group them by the idea that up adds: complete, increase, appear, stop. Five groups of five verbs are easier than one list of fifty. Then practise each verb in a full sentence, because the context fixes the meaning.
Why can I say "pick it up" but not "pick up it"?
With separable phrasal verbs, pronouns must sit between the verb and the particle. That rule is stronger than the freedom of longer noun objects: pick the bag up and pick up the bag are both fine, but only pick it up works.
Is "turn up" the same as "show up"?
They both mean arrive, and in most sentences you can swap them. Show up often suggests the person was expected or invited. Turn up can suggest the arrival was a surprise or a coincidence. Both are informal.
More grammar topics
Separable or inseparable phrasal verbs
A noun object can often move, but a pronoun cannot. It must sit between the verb and the particle in a separable phrasal verb.
Reported questions: word order and tense
A reported question stops being a question. It takes statement word order, drops the auxiliary, and often moves one tense back.
Reported commands and requests: tell and ask
A reported command takes told plus a person plus to. A reported request takes asked plus a person plus to. The infinitive never backshifts.
Take the free A1 to C2 level test to find your starting point.