Learn 5 common phrasal verbs related to clothes and shopping.
- Listen to learn about clothing phrasal verbs.
- First, try listening without reading the transcript. After that, listen again to check for any words you might’ve missed.
- You’ll also find a quiz at the end!
Transcript:
In today’s episode, I’ll be teaching you 5 phrasal verbs related to clothing, including put on, zip up, throw on, try on, and take off.
Put On (transitive, separable)
So let’s start with – put on. Put on means to wear an article of clothing. For example, we could say, “I need to put on a suit for my job interview.” Or we could ask, “Did you remember to put on your jacket?” We can also use this when you wear makeup, like in the sentence, “She forgot to put on her makeup before leaving the house.”
She is putting her sweater on.
Zip Up (transitive, separable)
Next is, zip up. Zip up means to close a piece of clothing that has a zipper, like on a pair of jeans or a jacket. Keep in mind that the opposite of zip up is NOT zip down, but unzip. We could say, “I was so embarrassed when I realized I didn’t zip up my jeans.” Or one could ask, “Can you help me zip up my dress?”
He zipped up his jacket.
Take Off (transitive, separable)
Now for take off. Take off is the opposite of put on. It means to remove a piece of clothing. For example we could say, “I need to take off my coat because it’s so hot in this room.” Or we could ask, “Could you please take off your shoes before you come in?”
A man is taking off his wetsuit.
Try On (transitive, separable)
Now let’s talk about try on. Try on means to wear a piece of clothing to check that it fits and that you like the way it looks on you. I could say, “I really hate trying on clothes.” Or you could ask someone in a store, “Can I try these jeans on, please?” The room where you try on clothes is called a fitting room or a dressing room.
She is trying on a pair of earrings.
Throw On (transitive, separable)
Finally, we have throw on. Throw on means to wear something without thinking too much about it because you don’t have time. When you throw something on you don’t care about how it looks, because you don’t have time. For example, “He was late for his meeting so he threw on whatever clean clothes he had.” Another example is “Even if I’m just going to get groceries, I can’t just throw something on.”
The girls threw on their uniforms before school.
So, that’s it for today’s lesson. Your homework is to write down all of these phrasal verbs and to try to create a sentence using each one. Try using each phrasal verb in a past, present, and future tense. Good luck!
