5 conversation phrasal verbs you need to know

Okay, James. Product placement right about now. Apple Computers, take one.

Hi. James from EngVid. Yeah.

We're getting sponsored by Apple. "Sponsored" means someone is paying you to do something. No, it's not the case.

And just so you know, this is the cheap version that's old. One of you guys made a guess last time I held it up. You're like, "It's the Apple 5 with retinal scan!

" I don't even know what that is, so don't ask me. Okay? So -- but Mr E and I, we get to work on my computer, and we're going to tell a story.

Mr E, ready? Okay. So "Mr E helped to blank blank my new computer.

It's not new. It something something well, and we finished early. However, it something something Mr E had forgotten to pay his electric bill, so the power was something something -- wow, a lot of 'something somethings'.

We sat in the -- excuse me. We sat in the dark" -- stop. The end.

This is a stupid story. I'm going to try and do a better story. Mr E, help me, okay?

Now, Mr E -- first of all, I should tell you what this is about. I'm giving you five phrasal verbs that are commonly used in conversation that will help you have, you know, a more interesting conversation, but not just that. Because these are used commonly in conversation, you can understand what people are saying because I'm going to try and teach you not just one --no sirree Bob!

We're having a sale today. James's sale -- you're going to get two for the price of one meaning, so you can understand this story, but when you're done, you can go back and actually build your own stories or usages, okay? So let's go to the beginning.

"Mr E helped me to something at my new computer. " Well laptops are different. You just put it in a room.

In the old days and even now, some people buy big computers, and they have speakers and they have the box and, you know, the big screen. And you have to put it somewhere. Well, when you put it somewhere, you know, you want to arrange or build a system.

We call that a "set up". You set it up. It means to put it or arrange it in a way you can use it.

You "set up" a business, right? It's a system, you know. You know you buy; you sell -- it's a system.

So setting something up is to arrange it or organize it or build a thing that you can use. That's one definition, "set up". What's the second one?

" To place somebody in an awkward situation". Interesting. Sometimes you're watching the movies -- I'm sure you watch many of them -- someone will say, "He set me up that so-and-so.

" Well, what it means is they knew something about the person; they pretended they didn't know; then, they got other people to come around to expose or get the truth out. That's called a "setup". The police "set up" criminals all the time, right?

They pretend to buy drugs. They pretend, but they don't actually want to buy them. The criminal sells them, and then they catch them.

And they say, "It was a setup from the beginning", and the police go, "Yeah, and you fell for it. " When you "fall" for something, you believe it's true even though it's not, okay? So "set up" here means two things: to arrange a system; that's one thing, and that's what we did with my computer system.

It's not an awkward situation. We've arranged and built a system, right? So let's set up.

Let's go back. Mr E helped me to set up my new computer. That means we put it on a table, got the speakers, plugged it in, made it work.

Cool, right? Next, "It w___ o___ well and we finished early. " "W___ o___ well" -- what could that be?

W-o, w-o. Well, look. See this other arrow comes down here.

What does that mean? Well, it means fix a problem -- or couples fix a relationship -- and come to a successful end. Well, what we're talking about is work because when you have a problem you must work, right?

To come to a successful end means you must do some work first to come to the end. Running a race; making dinner; fixing a problem. Fixing a problem requires work.

Couples have to work on a relationship. And we also have this "this worked out". And if you're like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you have big muscles because you work out.

That's my best Arnold impersonation. Okay, so Arnold works out, but that's different. So we also say -- and I should've put it here -- "go to gym", right?

Because a lot of times I hear foreign students say, "Teacher, we go exercising now. " And I always go, "[laugh] You go exercise. Right.

" North Americans, English speakers, they "work out". That's what we do when we go to the gym. It is exercising, but that's our word.

Be here we say, "It worked out well". Now, setting up a computer could be a problem. We want to fix that problem, and we can also say, "Look, it came to a successful end.

" I said, "It worked out well. " Right? That means it was good, so it would be this one, "worked out".

Oops. It "walked" out. We're not making food here.

"Worked out well -- it worked out well, and we finished early. " So it came to a successful end early. Okay?

Cool? All right. So now, let's look at the next one.

"However" -- "however" means, like, "but". What's wrong? "However, it something out Mr E.

Had forgotten to pay his electric bill. " Forget -- you know "electricity"? From the thunderstorms?

Well, electricity for your lights. Didn't pay the electric bill. So what happened?

"It something. " Let's go up in the arrows. We have here: "unknown knowledge" or "quantity produced".

Unknown knowledge? We say this: If something "turns out", it means you didn't know this before, but you just learned about it. "It turns out Mr E is a soldier in the Israeli army.

Hmm. Didn't know that, did you? Hmm.

Hmm. Hmm. You thought he was just a worm.

Turns out you didn't know anything, did you? " No. But that's what I mean.

It was knowledge you didn't have. So when you say, "it turns out he was 15 minutes late", people didn't know this; they found out afterwards. Unknown knowledge.

The next is "quantity produced". EngVid -- I feel like I'm on TV now. Ready?

EngVid turns out one video per week, and we've been doing so for four years -- three years, sorry. I'm joking. Sorry, I've been corrected by Mr E.

"EngVid turns out three videos per week. They are an established business. " So it means they "produce" -- you "make" or "create" something over a period of time.

If you "turn out" four books, it means you "write" four books maybe in a month or a week; they will tell you. A business "turns out" a million cars a year, then you know they make a million, cool? So, turns out -- you like this, right?

So we go here: "It turns out -- unknown knowledge, right? Not quantity -- turns out Mr E had forgotten to pay his electric bill, so the power was" -- was what? Well, what's the arrow for this?

Where are you? So we go over here. I feel like Batman -- "Where are you?

" Sorry. Okay. So it means "to be stopped" or "when driving, somebody goes in front of you".

You know when you're driving -- some of you drive, and then somebody suddenly goes like this. You put on the brakes. You say, "I was something".

Well, it's like "cut". When you cut something -- I cut with my pen. See it's cut off.

Stopped. So in this way, this one is "cut off", okay? "Cut off" is "to be stopped".

Someone can cut you off from speaking, like now. See? I was cut off.

Or when driving, somebody goes in front of you, all right? So you got "cut off". There's another one.

This is a bad one, so people who aren't 18, please leave the room. If your woman "cuts you off", it means no more [makes clicking sound] -- okay? Guys never cut women off from this reason, so if you can't figure it out, you must be 16 and you're still in the room.

I told you to leave. Okay. People under 18, come back.

All right. So "cut off" is one and two and number three. All right?

Cool. All right, so what happened to the power? The power was cut off.

Remember that means "to be stopped", so the power was "cut off". If someone "cuts you off" -- remember they can cut you off from speaking -- you go: "And I was about to" -- "Blah, blah, blah. " "Don't cut me off!

I need to speak. " And finally, "C___ u___": learn about what has happened in the past. Okay.

What does that mean? Well, look. We're sitting here.

The lights are off. There's nothing going on. We both got beer -- or cerveza, my only Spanish word.

We're drinking, and I go, "Hey, what happened last year? I didn't see you for a long time. " He says, "Hey, I meant to catch up with you.

" "Catch up". What was that? I'm hiding it.

You can't see it just yet. And through the magic of television, "We sat in the dark to -- we sat in the dark catching up. " There; -ing.

So what does that mean? That means we were talking about what happened before. What happened last year?

I didn't see you. Give me all the information so we can be at the same place now, and I can say, "And that's what I did for the whole year. " Well, that's the lesson I've taught you, so let's go over this quickly, okay?

Because we've learned five phrasal verbs that, if you pay attention now, you're going to start seeing a lot when people speak. I mean, the "working out" for the gym you hear all the time -- North America especially because we like looking good, so we work out all the time. But "set up" -- you might say, "I need to set up a business or set up a bank account.

" Right? To start something, right? Arrange or build a system.

Or "this was a set up from the first place. " It wasn't a good situation. I feel bad because "awkward" means "not comfortable".

Someone put me in an uncomfortable situation. "Work out": "We need to work out the problem if we're going to set up this business effectively. " Right?

So we need to fix the problem. "I hope the couple works it out. " We hope they fix their relationship.

And you can say, "It worked out in the end. The party was great, so everything came to a successful end. " What's the next one?

"Turn out": "Turns out that if you work out things and you set it up in the first place, you'll be successful. " I used three of them all in the same, right? "But it turns out I actually know Brad Pitt.

" No, I don't know Brad Pitt, but it turns out you don't know him either, but you didn't know that. Or how much you produce -- quantity produced. Next one, we took up "cut off".

When you're driving, if someone goes in front of you suddenly, you can say, "He cut me off. That's why the accident happened. " Right?

Or you can say, "cut off": "Someone stopped me from speaking. I tried to tell him that it was a problem, but he cut me off. " See?

There you go. And finally -- this is my favorite part. I like catching up with you guys for these visits, you know, fireside chats.

"Fireside" means sit by the fire and talk. Catching up is my favorite part of the day with you. We can do it again if you come to www.

engvid. com, where "eng" stands for "English", and "vid" stands for "video", where myself, Mr E -- I'm sweating. We've got to do some catching up.

It's been a while. He's been on that board for at least an hour now. Bye everybody.

See you later. Let's set something up. Maybe we come back next week, yeah?

You like that? I don't know. We'll work it out.

Turns out, I've got next Friday off. Come see me. Chao.