10 Phrasal Verbs Related to Family with Examples

Phrasal verbs related to family are useful when we talk about childhood, relationships, arguments and family responsibilities. They can help you describe who raised you, which relatives you admire and how well you get on with the people closest to you.

In this lesson, you will learn ten common family phrasal verbs with clear meanings, natural examples and useful grammar notes. These expressions are suitable for everyday conversation as well as the Cambridge B2 First and C1 Advanced exams.

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Ten Family Phrasal Verbs

Here are the ten phrasal verbs we will study:

• bring up
• get on with
• get together
• grow up
• look after
• look up to
• make up
• put up with
• take after
• tell off

Let’s look at these phrasal verbs related to family in more detail.

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Bring Up

Meaning: to care for and educate a child until they become an adult.

Common structure: bring someone up

• They brought up their children in a small village.
• When Sofia’s parents died, her grandmother brought her up.

We often use bring up in the passive:

She was brought up by her grandparents.

Bring Up or Grow Up?

Do not confuse bring up and grow up.

Parents and other adults bring up children:

• My aunt brought me up.

Children grow up:

• I grew up with my aunt.

Get On With

Meaning: to have a good or friendly relationship with someone.

Common structure: get on with someone

• How do you get on with your sister?
• Celia does not get on very well with her parents.

In American English, you may also hear get along with.

Do you get along with your cousins?

Get Together

Meaning: to meet and spend time together socially.

• The whole family got together for our cousin’s wedding.
• It is difficult for us to get together because we live in different countries.

The noun is get-together:

We are organising a small family get-together.

Grow Up

Meaning: to gradually develop from a child into an adult.

• Mary grew up in the countryside.
• When I was growing up, we spent every summer at my grandparents’ house.

We often use grow up when talking about childhood memories:

• What did you want to be when you grew up?

Look After

Meaning: to take care of someone or make sure they are safe and well.

Common structure: look after someone

• When his father died, he helped to look after his younger sister.
• We are looking after our grandmother while she recovers from her operation.

Look after is inseparable. We cannot put the person between look and after.

Correct:

• She looked after her younger brother.

Incorrect:

• She looked her younger brother after.

Look Up To

Meaning: to admire and respect someone.

Common structure: look up to someone

• David has always looked up to his elder brother.
• I looked up to my grandmother because she was patient, generous and wise.

The opposite expression is look down on someone, which means to consider someone inferior.

Make Up

Meaning: to become friendly again after an argument.

We can say:

• make up
• make up with someone
• make up after an argument

Examples:

• The children argue occasionally, but they usually make up quickly.
• Although the brothers often fell out, they always made up in the end.

Do not say make it up when you mean becoming friends again.

Incorrect:

• They made it up after the argument.

Correct:

• They made up after the argument.

The expression kiss and make up means to stop arguing and become friendly again.

• Come on, you two. It is time to kiss and make up.

Put Up With

Meaning: to tolerate an unpleasant situation or annoying behaviour.

Common structure: put up with someone or something

• I do not know how she puts up with her brother’s constant complaining.
• My parents had to put up with a lot of noise when we were teenagers.

Put up with is inseparable:

• I cannot put up with that behaviour.

Not:

• I cannot put that behaviour up with.

Take After

Meaning: to look or behave like an older member of your family.

Common structure: take after someone

• Lorna takes after her mother in appearance.
• Martin takes after his uncle, who was also a keen runner.
• Leo takes after his mother: they are both cheerful and sociable.

We normally use take after for similarities between relatives, not between friends or unrelated people.

Incorrect:

• I take after my best friend.

Better:

• I am similar to my best friend.

Tell Off

Meaning: to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong.

Common structures:

• tell someone off
• tell someone off for something
• tell someone off for doing something

Examples:

• Maria told her children off for not doing their homework.
• Tom was embarrassed when his mother told him off in front of his friends.

Tell off is separable. When we use a pronoun, it must go between tell and off.

Correct:

• She told him off.

Incorrect:

• She told off him.

 

Common Mistakes with Family Phrasal Verbs

Mistake 1: Confusing Bring Up and Grow Up

Incorrect:

• I was grown up by my grandparents.

Correct:

• I was brought up by my grandparents.

Correct:

• I grew up with my grandparents.

Mistake 2: Forgetting With After Get On

Incorrect:

• I get on my brother.

Correct:

• I get on with my brother.

Mistake 3: Using Make It Up

Incorrect:

• We argued, but we made it up later.

Correct:

• We argued, but we made up later.

Mistake 4: Adding To After Take After

Incorrect:

• She takes after to her mother.

Correct:

• She takes after her mother.

Mistake 5: Separating an Inseparable Phrasal Verb

Incorrect:

• I looked my younger sister after.

Correct:

• I looked after my younger sister.

Mistake 6: Putting a Pronoun After Tell Off

Incorrect:

• My mother told off me.

Correct:

• My mother told me off.

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Talking About Your Family

The best way to remember these phrasal verbs related to family is to connect them with your own experiences. Try answering the following questions in complete sentences:

1. Where did you grow up?
2. Who brought you up?
3. Which member of your family do you take after?
4. Who did you look up to when you were a child?
5. Do you get on with all your relatives?
6. How often does your family get together?
7. Did your parents often tell you off when you were younger?
8. What habits do you have to put up with in your family?
9. Who usually looks after the children or older relatives in your family?
10. Do you make up quickly after an argument?

Try to use at least five of the phrasal verbs in a short paragraph about your family.

Example

I grew up in a fairly small family and was brought up by my parents. I have always got on well with my older sister, although we sometimes argued when we were younger. Fortunately, we usually made up quickly. I have always looked up to her because she is hardworking and dependable. People often say that I take after our father, especially because we have the same sense of humour.

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Final Thoughts

Learning phrasal verbs related to family will help you speak more naturally about relationships, childhood experiences and family life. Pay attention to whether each phrasal verb is separable or inseparable, and practise using it in a personal sentence.

The more you connect new vocabulary with your own experiences, the easier it will be to remember.

Do the quiz below to test your knowledge of these family phrasal verbs.

Related posts:

Talking about Parenting in English 

Phrasal Verbs Related to Parenting 

How to Write about Your Family

Idioms about Family

13 Phrasal Verbs for Relationships 

B2 First Vocabulary

How to Learn 10 Phrasal Verbs a Week 

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