get is one of the most important verbs in English but many Learners get confused because native speakers use this verb all the time in so many different ways in this lesson you're going to learn 15 common ways to use get at all levels from basic to Advanced I've separated them into six groups based on their meanings this will make it easier to remember how to use get naturally in many different contexts I've also created a free pdf worksheet with all of the notes and information from today's lesson you can find the link in the description
below let's get started let's review all the verb forms of get and their pronunciations get is the base form the third person singular form is gets this changes to got in the simple simple past form the present participle form is getting spelled with two T's now there are two possibilities for the past participle form generally got is used in the UK and gotten is used in the US but there are some exceptions notice my pronunciation gotten gotten the t is pronounced with a glottal stop this pause is the same thing that happens when a child
knows that he's in trouble uh-oh most Americans including myself pronounce gotten this way the first group of meanings is about ways to obtain results we already know that the basic meaning of get is to receive I got a present for my birthday this means that someone gave me something or sent me something did you get my email yesterday I got some really good advice from my teacher sometimes getting something requires more effort than just receiving something in this case get means to obtain something by asking for something finding something or maybe paying for something can
I get a glass of water please this is a common way to ask for something at a restaurant I need to write this down one second let me get a pen here get means to go to a different place find something and bring it back here you can also get someone something or get something for someone meaning to buy I have to go to the store after work do you want me to get you anything yes can you get some eggs and milk for me we also use get to talk about services that we pay
for for example you can get a haircut get a manicure get a taxi Etc next get plus a noun can mean achieve earn gain or win something did you get a good score on your exam the actor got an award for his performance I hope my favorite team will get first place in the competition sometimes we use get for punishments look at the title of this news article Florida teen gets a year in jail for impersonating a health worker to impersonate someone means to pretend to be another person next it's very common for the word
get to indicate a change of state we can use get plus a noun to talk about something that develops as the result of something we do or experience I get a headache every time I drink coffee drinking coffee results in a headache for me I got food poisoning from the food at that restaurant I'm never going there again I should get some sleep because it's getting late this is a more informal way to say go to bed or go to sleep here sleep is a non-count noun so we don't say a sleep it's getting late
what does that mean well in my opinion this is the most important sense of the word get so pay close attention in this context get plus an adjective means to become so you could say it's becoming cold outside or he becomes angry very easily but it's much more common to hear native speakers say it's getting cold outside and he gets angry very easily get in everyday English and become in more formal situations both describe a change of state it focuses on the process of the change uhoh I think I'm getting sick so I'm not 100%
healthy and I'm not 100% sick yet right now I'm just starting to have that feeling do you think famous singers still get nervous on stage I'm not ready yet what needs to happen if I want to be ready I have to get ready there's an important connection between be and get be describes a state and get describes an action you can also create a similar meaning of become with passive sentences that use get plus a past participle verb let's look at an example with the verb to marry in 1987 my parents were not married they
were single this was their status at the top time then my parents got married in 1988 and today in 2024 my parents are still married they have been married for 36 years in everyday English we don't say my parents married with no object in this example get married makes it clear that my parents received the action now if you're an intermediate or Advanced English learner you might be thinking I've already learned the passive voice with the verb be what's the difference between the get passive and the be passive well there are some important differences but
that is a really Advanced topic if you're interested in learning more about this I created a free audio lesson about this on my blog so you can read it and listen to it at the same time sometimes the get passive is just the most Natural Choice in spoken and written English here are some of the most common Expressions that use the get passive get married get divorced get paid get dressed get caught get hurt oh yeah and I said this one at the beginning of the video let's get started this is not a complete list
so you will get more expressions and examples in the free pdf the word get can also indicate Movement we can use get plus a preposition to mean move come or go in a specific Direction this is usually very casual you can get up or get down which means to raise or lower your body Mr Jones such a pleasure to meet you please don't get up don't worry I can't oh just joking I can get up but it's difficult get over here is a very casual way to say come here people often use this when they're
angry Anthony KOB get over here there was a very popular movie from a few years ago called get out get out means to leave or escape from a place however this is also a slang expression to show disbelief if someone shares some amazing news or maybe if someone says something really silly that you don't believe you might say get out or get out of here hey I learned a swim no way get out of here you can also get something somewhere this means to make something move or go to a specific ific place can you
help me get this couch upstairs my truck is stuck in the mud I can't get it out another important meaning of get is to arrive at on in a place you can get to a place or you can use get plus an adverb of place like here there somewhere Etc if you want to take the bus you you have to get to the bus station before 9:00 the movie starts at 8:00 p.m. we should try to get to the theater around 7:45 to get some snacks and to get good seats I ordered something online I
hope it gets here soon there was a lot of traffic this afternoon so I got home an hour later than usual remember it's incorrect to say get to home and go to home I talk more about that in this lesson also get to can mean to reach a point I got to the final level of the video game and then I lost I started reading a book last night I only got to chapter two before I got tired and fell asleep we often use get to talk about different tasks and responsibilities in English we use
a lot of modal verbs to express things like necessity possibility permission Etc we also have semi modal verbs like have got to have got to is much more common in British English I have got to finish my homework or more commonly with the contraction I've got to finish my homework have to is more neutral and more standard across different English dialects so I would usually say I have to finish my homework sometimes in very casual American English have got to is reduced to got to and in fast speaking got to is pronounced like gotta I
got to finish my homework you got to relax and I got to go see you later if you get to do something that means you have the opportunity or the chance to do something I love teaching English because I get to talk to so many people around the world I've worked at a travel agency for 5 years but I haven't gotten to take a trip not even once if you got to ask your favorite celebrity one question what would you ask him or her sometimes if you get something that means means you deal with something
or handle something for example if you're at home with your family and the phone rings you can say I'll get the phone or just I'll get it you're saying that you will answer the phone similarly if someone rings the doorbell and there are a few people available to open the door you can volunteer by saying I'll get it or or maybe you're busy and you want another person to get it Frank can you get that what the door if you notice that someone is struggling to carry something heavy you might offer some help let me
get that can I get that for you imagine there's a situation at work that requires attention you could get it but what if you don't want to get it maybe maybe the task is really difficult or you just don't feel like doing it today maybe you can get someone else to do it h another important sense of get is cause in English there are many causitive verbs which show the cause of a particular action or event some of these verbs include let have make get Etc all of these verbs have a different feeling they each
show different levels of responsibility and intensity to let someone do something means to allow or give someone permission but to make someone do something you force someone to do it what if you just want to persuade or convince someone to do something then you get someone to do something notice the grammar with get we need an infinitive with two so how do you get someone to do something maybe you give someone really good reasons why they should or you ask many many times or you offer some money or a favor imagine you're at work and
you really don't want to call a specific Customer because you know he'll be very angry maybe you should try to get your coworker to do it we know that he committed the crime now we just need to get him to confess to confess means to say that you have done something wrong how can I get my children to eat more vegetables now we've just talked about get as a positive verb and earlier we talked about the get passive but what happens if we try to put these ideas together well you get an advanced grammar topic
the passive causitive let's compare two sentences I wash my car once per month uh wait that's too formal once a month I get my car washed once once a month in both cases you are responsible for causing the action to happen but in the second sentence you are not the person who performs the action you don't wash the car yourself this is what the passive causitive is all about you cause something to happen but you don't actually do the action yourself this is extremely common when we talk about services or work done for you by
another person the grammatical structure is get plus noun Plus past participle verb after the storm we decided to get our roof replaced I really need to get my nails done have you gotten your wisdom teeth removed wisdom teeth are the teeth that grow in the very back of your mouth when you're an adult in Most states you have to get your car inspected every year there are tons of informal Expressions that use the verb get today we only have time to look at a few of them if you watch a lot of English movies and
TV shows you've probably heard people say something like I get it or I don't get it in this context get means to understand hey I have a joke for you which room in your house do ghosts avoid the living [Music] room wait I don't get it well ghosts are not living they're dead get it oh now I get it you can also get what how who Etc I don't get get why he wants to quit his job he always talks about how much he loves his company so what's the difference between get it and got
it if someone asks got it they're asking is that clear do you understand me but this can be very rude if you don't have a close relationship with someone so I don't recommend asking someone this however if you want to show that you understood someone's instructions or you understood someone's clarification you can say got it you might hear I've got it in another context like if you've suddenly thought of a good idea or a solution to a problem wait a minute I've got it I hope this lesson helped you understand more about this crazy little
word maybe you'll get ins inspired to write some sentences using get in the comments if you enjoyed this lesson and you want more please like this video And subscribe to my channel remember to click the link in the description to download the free pdf worksheet thank you so much for watching I'm Gina this is your world in English and I'll see you in the next lesson bye [Music]
