Verbos compuestos en inglés

Los verbos compuestos en inglés son verbos acompañados por una o varias preposiciones. En general, no pueden traducirse separadamente, estos verbos compuestos en inglés tienen un significado como conjunto, no palabra por palabra.

Existen principalmente tres tipos de verbos compuestos en inglés:

Verbos compuestos en inglés: Separable and Non separable

Hay muchos verbos que se pueden separar de la preposición de los acompaña, sobre todo cuando son transitivos, es decir, los que tienen un objeto directo.

Verbos compuestos en inglés: Separable:

• Verbo: put on (ponerse)
• He put the trousers on  = He put on the trousers
• En el ejemplo anterior, el objeto directo es “The trousers”, por eso el verbo puede separarse.

Verbos compuestos en inglés: Non- Separable:

• Los verbos compuestos en inglés no pueden separarse cuando son intransitivos
• Verbo: Broke down (romperse)
• The bridge broke down
• Como no hay un objeto directo, el verbo no puede separarse.

Verbos compuestos en inglés: Three Word verb – Phrasal prepositional verbs

• Verbo: run out of (quedarse sin)
• They run out of money
• Los verbos compuestos en inglés que están conformados por el verbo, un adverbio y una preposición, siempre son inseparables.

Verbos compuestos en inglés

A continuación verás algunos de los verbos compuestos en inglés que se utilizan con mayor  frecuencia.

• AGREE WITH – estar de acuerdo – “All women are bad drivers.” “I don’t agree with you.”
• BE ABOUT TO – estar a punto de -I was about to leave the house when my friends arrived.
• BE BACK – regresar -I’m working late at the office tonight so I won’t be back until 10.
• BE OUT OF – quedarse sin – We’re out of eggs so we can’t make a tortilla.
• BE OVER – terminarse – When the football match was over, we went to the pub.
• BE UP – estar levantado – “Phil isn’t up yet: he’s still in bed. Phone again in ten minutes.”
• BLOW UP – estallar (una bomba) – The bomb blew up killing six people.
• BLOW UP – inflar – We blew up at least a hundred balloons for the Christmas party.
• BREAK DOWN – averiarse – My car broke down on the way to Motril.
• CALL BACK – volver a llamar – “I’m afraid the manager isn’t here at the moment. Could you call back later?”
• CARRY ON – seguir. continuar – I’m sorry if I interrupted you. Please carry on.
• CARRY OUT – cumplir (una promesa) – The President carried out his promise to reduce taxation.
• CARRY OUT – llevar a cabo – The execution was carried out at seven o’clock in the morning.
• CLEAR UP – poner en orden – It took four hours to clear up after the party.
• COME ACROSS – encontrar, dar con – I came across an old friend on the metro in Madrid.
• COME BACK – regresar – I’m going to England for two weeks. I’m coming back on the fifth.
• COME IN – entrar – “Good morning. Come in and sit down.”
• COME ON – ¡Vamos!, ¡Date prisa! – Come on. We’re going to be late.
• CUT DOWN ON – consumir menos – You must cut down on cholesterol or you’ll have a heart attack.
• CUT OFF – cortar, desconnectar – When we didn’t pay the bill, the electricity was cut off.
• CUT UP – cortar en pedazos – We cut up the birthday cake and gave everyone a slice.
• DO UP – abrochar, atar – I was five before I knew how to do up my shoelaces.
• DO WITH – tener algo que ver con, tener relación con – “What’s MS DOS?” “It’s got something to do with computers.”
• DO WITHOUT – pasarse sin, prescindir de – The shops are shut so we’ll have to do without sugar.
• DRAW UP – pararse – The car drew up at the zebra crossing.
• GET BACK – volver, regresar – Cinderella had to get back by twelve o’clock.
• GET IN(TO) – entrar – I lost my keys and so I couldn’t get into the house.
• GET OFF – bajar (de un autobus, tren) – You have to get off the bus at the next stop if you want the station.
• GET ON – subir (a un autobus, tren, moto) – Quick! Get on the train, it’s about to leave.
• GET UP – levantarse – When I got up this morning it was still dark.
• GIVE BACK – devolver – If you don’t like the dress, the shop will give you your money back.
• GIVE UP – perder la esperanza, rendirse – If you find phrasal verbs difficult, don’t give up.
• GIVE UP – dejar (de fumar, beber) – You’ll get cancer if you don’t give up smoking.
• GO AHEAD – ¡Siga! – “Can I use the telephone?” “Yes, go ahead.”
• GO AWAY – irse, marcharse – Are you going away for Christmas, or are you staying at home.
• GO BACK – volver, regresar – Although she’s forty, she’s going back to University to study French.
• GO DOWN – bajar – The price of fruit goes down in the summer.
• GO OUT – salir (por la calle) – I always go out and have a few drinks on Saturday night.
• GO UP – subir – The price of cigarettes went up in January 1992.
• HANG ON/HOLD ON – esperar – Hold on for a minute as Pablo will be back in five minute.
• HANG UP – colgar (el teléfono) – My ex-girlfriend hung up when I phoned her.
• KEEP UP WITH – mantenerse (a la altura de) – I can’t keep up with my father when we go cycling as he goes too fast.
• KNOCK DOWN – derribar, atropear, demoler – My grandfather’s old house was knocked down and a bank was built.
• LEAVE BEHIND – olvidar, dejar – When I got to the airport, I realised I had left my passport behind.
• LET IN – dejar entrar – She opened the door and let in the cat.
• LOOK AFTER – cuidar – My mother looks after the children when we go away.
• LOOK FOR – buscar – I spent two hours looking for my glasses before I found them.
• LOOK FORWARD TO – esperar con ilusión – I’m looking forward to the Easter holidays.
• LOOK OUT – tener cuidado, ¡Ojo! Look out! – There’s a car coming. JOHN & SARAH 1996 (c)
• LOOK UP – buscar algo (en un libro, diccionario) – If you don’t understand the word, look it up in a dictionary.
• Sarah and John 1996 (c)  http://www.lingolex.com/espan.htm
• PUT IN – meter, introducir – Put ten pence in the machine and you will get a cup of coffee.
• PUT ON – encender – Put on the light, it’s getting dark.
• PUT ON – ponerse (la ropa) – Put your coat on or you’ll get cold.
• RUN OUT OF – quedars sin algo We ran out of petrol so we had to get the bus.
• SET OFF – ponerse en camino – We set off to Madrid at five o’clock to avoid the traffic.
• TAKE AFTER – parecerse a – Pablo takes after his mother: they are both optimistic.
• TAKE OFF – despegar – The flight was delayed for two hours and the plane eventually took off at 6 p.m.
• TAKE OFF – quitarse la ropa – Take off your coat and make yourself comfortable.
• TAKE OUT – extraer, sacar – He took out a cigarette and lit it.
• THROW AWAY – tirar (en la basura) – Don’t throw these papers away: they’re important.
• TURN DOWN – bajar (el volumen) – Turn down the radio: it’s too loud.
• TURN UP – poner el volumen más fuerte – Turn up the radio. I can’t hear it.
• TURN ON – encender (televisión, luces etc.) – Turn on the television, please, I want to see the news.

Existen cientos de verbos compuestos en inglés, para consultar un diccionario de estos verbos, haz clic aquí.