Separable and inseparable phrasal verbs: the rules that matter

Every phrasal verb with an object belongs to one of two camps: the ones that split and the ones that never do. Turn off the light or turn the light off - both fine. Look after the children - fine; look the children after - broken. Most guides mention this in passing. This page is the whole story, because one rule inside it - where the pronoun goes - is worth more than the next fifty phrasal verbs you learn. If you are new to the topic, read what phrasal verbs are first.

Separable phrasal verbs: two correct orders

With a separable phrasal verb, a noun object can sit in either of two places, and both are completely correct:

• After the particle: Turn off the light.
• In the middle: Turn the light off.

There is no difference in meaning. Spoken English uses both constantly, and you should be comfortable hearing and producing both. Other common separable verbs: put on, put off, pick up, take off, give back, throw away, turn down, fill in, sort out, write down.

One practical note on long objects: the middle position gets clumsy as the object grows. Turn the light off reads fine; turn the light in the upstairs bathroom off makes the reader hold their breath waiting for the particle. When the object is long, put it after the particle: turn off the light in the upstairs bathroom.

The pronoun rule: this is the money

Here is the one part of this topic with no flexibility at all. When the object of a separable phrasal verb is a pronoun (it, them, him, her, me, us, you), the pronoun must go in the middle:

Turn off it is not informal, not regional, not "also possible". It is simply wrong, every time. That makes this the most valuable rule in the whole phrasal verb topic: it never bends, so once you have it, it pays out in every conversation for the rest of your life.

Why does English do this? Pronouns carry old, already-known information, and English likes known information early in the sentence and new information at the end. A pronoun at the very end of turn off it puts the least interesting word in the most prominent place, and the language refuses. You do not need the explanation to use the rule, but it helps it feel less arbitrary.

Inseparable phrasal verbs: never split

With an inseparable phrasal verb, the verb and particle are glued together. The object always follows the particle - and, crucially, that includes pronouns:

• I look after the children. (Never look the children after.)
• I look after them. (Never look them after.)
• She got over the flu. / She got over it.
• I ran into an old friend. / I ran into him.

So the two camps treat pronouns in exactly opposite ways: separable verbs must split around a pronoun, inseparable verbs must not split at all. Common inseparable verbs worth learning early: look after, look for, look into, get on, get off, get over, run into, come across, take after, go through, call for, pick on.

Three-word phrasal verbs (put up with, look forward to, run out of, get on with, come up with) are always inseparable: I can't put up with it, never put it up with. They get their own guide: phrasal-prepositional verbs.

How do you tell which is which?

Honestly? There is no reliable rule. Anyone who sells you a trick for telling separable from inseparable at a glance is overselling it. There are tendencies - when the particle works as a real preposition of place or movement (get on the bus, look into the box) the verb leans inseparable - but tendencies have exceptions, and an exception here produces a broken sentence, not a slightly odd one.

What actually works:

1. Dictionaries mark it. Every good learner's dictionary flags each phrasal verb as separable or not (often by printing turn sth off with the object in the middle vs look after sb with it at the end). Read the mark, not just the meaning.
2. Our list marks it. Every entry in the 100 phrasal verbs with meanings list carries an S (separable), I (inseparable) or N (no object) mark, so the grammar arrives with the vocabulary.
3. Learn it with the verb. Treat separability like a noun's gender in other languages: not deducible, just part of the word. Turn off, separable. Look after, inseparable. Said aloud a few times, it sticks.

And when in doubt in real conversation: use a noun instead of a pronoun and put it after the particle. Turn off the light and look after the children are both correct whatever camp the verb is in, so that order is the safe default while you check.

Common mistakes

1. The pronoun after the particle. Turn off it, pick up her, throw away them. Pronouns go in the middle of separable verbs, full stop.
2. Splitting an inseparable verb. Look the children after, get the bus on, run him into. If the verb is inseparable, nothing goes in the middle, ever.
3. Splitting a three-word verb. Put it up with, look it forward to. Three-word verbs never split.
4. Jamming a long object in the middle. She turned the offer from the Berlin office down. Grammatical, but the reader loses the thread. Long objects go after the particle.

Keep going

• The overview of the whole topic: phrasal verbs in English.
• The vocabulary to attach these rules to: 100 phrasal verbs with meanings, every entry marked separable or inseparable.
• The three-word verbs, which are always inseparable: phrasal-prepositional verbs.
• Mixed drills across the whole topic: phrasal verbs exercises.
• Everything else: the English grammar hub.

Practice

Answers are below.

1. Rewrite with a pronoun: Please turn off the television.
2. Correct the mistake: My grandmother looked me after when I was small.
3. Correct the mistake: I'll pick up you outside the cinema.
4. Both orders or one? She put off the meeting. / She put the meeting off.
5. Why is I can't put it up with wrong?

Answers: 1. Please turn it off. 2. My grandmother looked after me - look after is inseparable. 3. I'll pick you up outside the cinema - pronouns split a separable verb. 4. Both are correct; put off is separable and the object is a noun. 5. Put up with is a three-word phrasal verb, and three-word verbs never split: I can't put up with it.