Have you ever tried using TV to improve your language skills? If not, you’re missing out! Check out our series on English phrasal verbs where we use clips from our favorite American TV shows to provide context and examples for new vocabulary. It’s both effective and entertaining (which is just as important)! In this short lesson, learn about phrasal verbs with “hang” and how to use them. Our English instructor Lizzie Jane has put together a video to help you remember the meaning of “hang up” and “hang out.” Grab some popcorn and let’s get started! 🍿
English Phrasal Verbs with “Hang”
In this lesson, we’ll teach you some of the phrasal verbs that use the root verb “to hang”:
- to hang around
- to hang back
- to hang out
- to hang up
- to hang in there
- to hang on
If you’ve been following along with our English phrasal verbs series, you should already know what a phrasal verb is.
What is a phrasal verb?
If this is your first time, welcome! (Or if you just need a little review, that’s okay!) We’ll start with a quick definition: a phrasal verb is an expression that’s made up of a verb paired with another word, usually a preposition, that changes its meaning. As a result, it becomes an idiomatic phrase.
Phrasal verbs are super useful, and you’ll hear them used all the time in English. Instead of needing to learn a long list of words that are completely different from one another, you can build new expressions by adding together words you already know. And just like magic, they take on a new meaning!
However, it can also be tricky to remember phrasal verbs, because they are similar to one another! But we can help with that—the MosaLingua app uses the spaced repetition system to help you commit new vocabulary to your long-term memory. And our instructors know the challenges that come with learning new vocabulary, so we have all kinds of tips and advice for memorizing new information quickly and effectively. But like most things, practice and exposure are the most important tools. The activity below should be helpful!
First, you can read about different English phrasal verbs using “hang” in the table below. We’ve included definitions and example sentences to help you get off on the right foot.
After that, watch Lizzie’s video. For this activity, she picked a clip from Friends, one of our favorite shows for illustrating everyday English conversations.
| VERB | DEFINITION | EXAMPLE |
|---|---|---|
| to hang | to attach from above without support from below | She will hang her paintings in her apartment. |
| to hang around | 1. to spend time idly; relaxing or socializing. 2. to stay in a place for a period of time. | 1. He likes to hang around with his old friends. 2. I'm tired; I think I'll just hang around the house today. |
| to hang back | to drag behind the rest of a group | Can you hang back for a minute? I want to talk to you in private. |
| to hang in there | to refuse to be discouraged; to keep trying | Learning a new language takes a long time. But hang in there, you'll be fluent soon! |
| to hang on | 1. to hold on to something. 2. to persist. | 1. When fishing, it's important to always hang on to the pole. 2. I know it's been a hard semester, but you just need to hang on for one more week! |
| to hang out | to spend time idly; relaxing or socializing | 1a. I'll see you later, I'm going to hang out by the pool for a while. 1b. Do you want to hang out with us on Saturday? |
| to hang up | 1. to end a telephone connection. 2. to place on a hook or hanger designed for that purpose. 3. to become stuck or snagged. | 1. I hung up the phone when I realized it was a telemarketer. 2. Let's go inside and hang up our coats. 3. He was late because he was hung up in a meeting for two hours. |
Watch: Pick the Correct Phrasal Verb with “Hang” – Hang Up VS Hang out
Lizzie has created a short video exercise to show you these phrasal verbs in context. She’ll teach you the phrasal verbs “hang up” and “hang out” and their meaning. Afterward, she’ll quiz you on what you remember! You can watch it right here or on our YouTube channel. The video is in English. However, you can watch with English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, or Portuguese subtitles. Click the “Settings” gear at the bottom right to active subtitles or change the playback speed.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to learn more phrasal verbs with clips from TV shows
Phrasal Verbs Activity: Video Transcript
If you can’t watch the video right now, you can still do Lizzie’s exercise!
First, read the transcript from the scene below. After that, fill in the blank with the correct phrasal verb. Take your best guess, then highlight the black lines below with your cursor to reveal the answer! Good luck! (And don’t forget to bookmark this article or share it on your social media so you can come back and watch the video later!)
Context: In this clip, Ross is on the phone with his girlfriend, and neither one of them wants to be the first person to end the call.
Transcript:
Ross: “No… no… okay… No, you hang _____!”
“Okay… okay… no, you… okay, okay!”
“One, two, three…”
“Well, you didn’t hang _____ either!”
“She didn’t hang _____ either…”
Hint: Not sure what the answer is? We’ll give you a hint! The word in the blank is either (TO) HANG UP or (TO) HANG OUT. If you need to refresh your memory of the meaning of “hang up” and “hang out,” you can always scroll up to the table and review the definitions you learned earlier.
Answer
HANG UP; Ross didn’t want to hang up the phone before his girlfriend did. Remember, the expression “to hang out” means to spend time with someone.
*If you are reading this on a mobile phone, or if highlighting the text doesn’t show the answer, scroll down to the bottom of the article and flip your device upside down to see if you guessed correctly!
Next Steps…
And finally, if you enjoyed the article and activity, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on your notifications. That way, you’ll know when the next video in our phrasal verbs series comes out! In the meantime, here are some other articles you might enjoy:
- English Phrasal Verbs with Ask | Ask Out VS Ask Around [VIDEO]
- English Phrasal Verbs with Go | Go Out VS Over [VIDEO]
- How To Make Learning English Easy and Fun
- Make or Do | English Grammar Hacks
* ˙ǝuoǝɯos ɥʇᴉʍ ǝɯᴉʇ puǝds oʇ suɐǝɯ ,,ʇno ƃuɐɥ oʇ,, uoᴉssǝɹdxǝ ǝɥʇ ‘ɹǝqɯǝɯǝɹ ˙pᴉp puǝᴉɹɟlɹᴉƃ sᴉɥ ǝɹoɟǝq ǝuoɥd ǝɥʇ dn ƃuɐɥ oʇ ʇuɐʍ ʇ,upᴉp ssoɹ ;Ԁ∩ פN∀H
Comments