Telephone Phrasal Verbs in English
Hi English learners! Welcome to a very useful lesson about telephone phrasal verbs in English. Let’s look at the list:
- Call back
- Cut off
- Get back
- Get through
- Hang up
- Hold on
- Pass on
- Phone in
- Pick up
- Put through
- Speak up
Call back
This is a separable phrasal verb. We usually put a person in between – call someone back. A typical situation is when someone calls you and you can’t answer your phone or can’t talk to them at that very moment but you call them back later.
- Mr Wilson is in a meeting so he can’t answer your call. If you leave a message he’ll call you back.
- Can I call you back later, I’m driving.
Cut off
Phone connections can be bad sometimes so they end or get cut off.
- The phone connection wasn’t very stable so we were cut off.
- I forgot to top up my telephone so I was cut off in the middle of a phone conversation.
Get back
We usually get back to someone when we want to talk to them after they’ve called us and asked for some information.
- Sorry, I can’t talk to you right now. Can I get back to you later?
- I’m not at the computer now but I’ll get back to you later as soon as I get to my office.
Get through
To get through means to manage to contact someone by phone.
- Sandra called the information but she couldn’t get through. The line was busy.
- It took me ages to get through to you. How are you?
Hang up
When we hang up, we practically end a telephone call.
- Before you hang up, let me speak to Jill. I’ve got something to tell her.
- Don’t hang up on me, I’ve got something really important to say.
Hold on
We tell people to hold on when we want them to wait until we call someone they want to talk to or check out something for them.
- If you hold on a second, I’ll tell Jeremy that you want to talk to him.
- Hold on a minute until I check out the price of your flight.
Pass on
To pass on a message means to convey a message you received from someone to someone else.
- Peter is not at home at the moment but I’ll pass on your message as soon as he gets back.
- Let me pass your message on to the manager; I’m sure he’ll call you back.
Phone in
To phone in means to call a place you work in.
- Sandra phoned in sick this morning. I’m afraid we’ll have to manage without her.
It also means to make a call to a radio or television programme.
- We are expecting the viewers to phone in and ask our guests a question.
Pick up
Imagine the old phones; if you wanted to make a call or answer it you had to pick up a handset first.
- Pauline must be very busy. I called her a few times this morning but she didn’t pick up.
- When I wanted to pick up the phone it stopped ringing.
Put through
To put someone through means to connect them to someone else they want to talk to.
- If you hold on a moment, I’ll put you through to Mary.
- An angry customer asked the operator to put her through to the manager.
Speak up
Telephone lines are not always very clear so we can ask people to speak louder, or to speak up.
- Sorry, I can’t hear you. Could you speak up, please?
- I didn’t hear what you said, can you speak up?
Those were 11 telephone phrasal verbs you’re going to need any time so let’s look at the list one more time:
- Call back
- Cut off
- Get back
- Get through
- Hang up
- Hold on
- Pass on
- Phone in
- Pick up
- Put through
- Speak up
If you liked this lesson, take a look at our other lessons about phrasal verbs:
9 Phrasal Verbs that Express Emotions
Three-part Phrasal Verbs in English
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