Don’t Study Phrasal Verbs and Collocations

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CC subtitles available in English.
In English and other languages, certain words are often used with certain other words, sometimes to convey a special meaning. This juxtaposition of words is sometimes referred to as collocation. How do we learn to use collocations?
0:00 What are phrasal verbs and collocations?
1:42 Phrasal verbs and collocations appear in all languages.
3:28 Some common English collocations.
5:27 Exposure to the language is key, not memorization of phrases out of meaningful context.
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#phrasalverbs #languagelearning #languages

[@Thelinguist]

Do you do any deliberate study of collocations and phrasal verbs? The app I use to learn languages -> bit.ly/3QuQK57 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com

[@APlusRussian]

Well, I do _teach_ them, and I do so with students of all levels. To me, it’s _less_ about “memorizing” them to be able to “use” them, and _more_ about being able to *recognize* them - when native speakers use them. And, in Russian, we use stable idiomatic expressions A LOT 😅 So, actually, understanding that НА СКОЛЬКО Я ЗНАЮ doesn’t actually mean “as much as I know” and is closer to “to what rating do I know” is helpful in reduciing confusion among beginners _and_ advanced learners alike 🤓

[@FitProVR]

I appreciate this topic especially since colloquialisms may be useful in some regions and not others. Here’s a question that may be worth talking about in a future video: when is a good time to start a second foreign language? I started Mandarin last year and am doing fairly well, and eventually want to start Cantonese or fujianese but am worried i may mess up the mandarin already in my head that I’ve worked hard for. Thanks!

[@APlusRussian]

@@FitProVR Of course, I am biased, but I feel like now is as good time as any to add Russian to the mix 👍

[@FitProVR]

@@APlusRussian haha! If only i had a place to use it! I work as a teacher and a large majority of my students speak some form of Chinese, so i have a lot of opportunities to speak! Russian…not so much.

[@mcmerry2846]

I watched the execution of the actions to learn phrasal verbs more easily

[@Megan-yr1eu]

I have a very hard time with "don't study X" or "don't learn Y" -- collocations can be really helpful if you want to sound close to a native speaker. In English, phrasal verbs are essential for learners. I was an English as a new language teacher for years, and if students did not learn the many uses of "go" and "get" (etc. etc. etc.), they had a lot of difficulty navigating very simple conversations. Do you need to know expressions like the meaning of "I'm not a spring chicken anymore" or "The pot calls the kettle black" to get by? No. But "to get away with something" or "to get your point across" or "to go away" or "to come around" etc. are pretty important for conversational fluency. My advice to English learners is to learn all the most common phrasal verbs, and if you have time the less common ones. Knowing them will improve your English a lot and will make it easier for you in the long run because you won't have to figure out the meaning in the moment every single time.

[@SointexJambis]

There is evidence that teaching and learning functional "chunks" reduces cognitive load during both comprehension and when attempting to speak. I believe in this video Steve is advocating against the use of books that are lists of phrasal verbs, idioms, and collocations (if there is such a thing for the last one). The selective study of collocations is also extremely helpful for specific purposes, for example when you need to rapidly improve your use of jargon for your academic or professional field. Studying collocations in the right context can save you years of "input" as Steve is advocating. He also targets "a whole industry" of language learning books in this video, but remember that he is a competitor to those authors and publishers and wants us to pay a premium subscription price for his app (link conveniently in the description). I agree with most of the main and minor points Steve argues for in this video, but "just get more input" is not a valid argument to avoid learning functional phrases and common collocations, which can be very helpful even at lower levels of language skill, for example memorizing 'how do you..." in English as a chunk or collocation for asking for help is easier than remembering the words alone and attempting to combine them by translating from your first language or combine using grammar, which is the opposite of fluency.

[@zxcv4090]

absolutely

[@kenfuji8776]

Nice for your comments. I'm an English learner from Japan. I often make mistakes of collocations. For example, in English language you do not say "thick coffee" but "strong coffee". However, in Japanese context "thick coffee" sounds natural and this is the cause of unnatural English. In order to avoid errors interfered with a mother tongue, learning correct collocations would facilitate language skills efficiently.

[@Spartan20852]

thoroughly agree! 👍

[@oswaldocaminos8431]

In general terms, I agree with you.

[@bleakmidwinter9481]

my dude you nailed it. my vocabulary mining is centered around functional chunks 100%. That's also because I aim at producing as natural of a language as possible and as you pointed out, trying to string individual words together in a sentence can be tricky and often times sounds unnatural

[@alexisgallagher5109]

I appreciate the realism of your advice. One thing I'm gradually learning, from my own experience and from coming to understand the point of view expressed in a lot of your videos, is that in language learning it's a bad idea to try to rush things. There's no way to "skip a step," as it were. The words which I encounter frequently or which I need to use frequently are the words I am ready to learn. Anything more advanced is a distraction.

[@APlusRussian]

Not "skipping steps" makes sense... in theory. In reality, stable expressions _are_ an important step in understanding native speakers of languages like Russian!! Even in college, I've encountered students who "understood" every word in the sentence, but didn't understand even half of what's being said 🤷‍♀

[@marcksuarez]

Spot on! As a beginner I agree with you... that's right I don't like to get full my mind of a lot of grammar rules or phrasal verb, idioms ,slang, so on that I know I won't get them...my life is simply... I don't like to study grammar rules English's but if I notice that something is repetitive so I have to study for improving and getting such concept of English....that was all

[@spanishblueprints]

It’s a good point to dwell on. There is no learn fast button you can push for language learning. Yet, you have to develop good habits and learn the best methods that are effective for you to actually advance.

[@spanishblueprints]

@@marcksuarez how do you build your on your vocab if not studying slang and idioms?

[@marcksuarez]

@@spanishblueprints good question bro.... I will reply right now... obviously I must study grammar,vocabulary, slangs and idioms so on...but I only do that if I notice that something is repetitive and important for the daily communication... Do you follow me right? .....i learn concepts and the why, how you native English speakers see and use that concepts in your language....for example... subjunctive mood en español es muy fácil y siempre lo usamos but in English it is not like that.... besides nosotros en español tenemos un amplio uso del presente simple... You not....i mean this is very important... Los conceptos y el uso de los tiempos y como usais el modo subjuntivo.... I think that those slangs and idioms hay que tomarlos con suavena ...step by step.... Ok it is all... God bless you...and thank for asking me i am glad that...chao

[@breizlolo]

Hi Steve, I wanted to thank you for all your videos and the inspiration you have given to me. I'm 45 years old and I have a busy life in France. One year ago my english level was very low, I almost couldn't undersdant anything. Inspired by your video, I've started to listen and read on a daily basis and never done any flashcard. Today I can understand almost everything without subtitles and it's happened easily without having the feeling of working. I did not praticed my speaking or writting because I didn't feel the need and didn't have the time for that. Although I still have a low level on this skills, as you say, the fact that I have a good understanding give me a strong basis and lot of confidence. I sincerely thank you for everything

[@daylightmoon7285]

Phrasal verbs and collocations should be introduced from the beginning. "To make an appointment" is a collocation. When I pay my bills or deposit money which should I say: pay off, pay on, pay in? Sorry but phrasal verbs and collocations have to be learned and are standard English. One cannot be functionally fluent without them. They are easy to learn if they are introduced from the beginning just like any other vocabulary word.

[@BrendaYelting]

It's true. I bought many of those books when I was studying, it didn't work. Then I started watching youtube and taking notes of phrases I found interesting and I was able to remember them and even using them in the right context. EVEN when I couldn't translate them into my own language. It's like I understood the phrase in the context but I didn't know it's meaning in isolation. Weird...and interesting :) Love your channel

[@MichaelPhillipsatGreyOwlStudio]

I've been studying Italian, and when I was still at the A2 level, I came across "fare saltare in aria". I read it quite literally as "make jump in air." I was like, "make jump in air"? "Make jump in air?" "Oh, blow up!" Meaning to make something explode. Then, it suddenly occurred to me that "blow up" in English doesn't make much sense either. It's not like we're literally pumping air into something with a bicycle pump. Another one that gets me is the use of "pretty" as a mild intensifier. I imagine that's got to be confusing to English learners. For example, "That film was pretty violent." They might think we're saying that violence is pretty.

[@chicoti3]

the logic behind blow up has to do with the wind that results from the explosion, which goes up. It's similar to "blow away".

[@user-jb6gn4kf7x]

@@chicoti3 while "far saltare in aria" in Italian literally means "making someone jump till he is floating in the air from the force of the explosion" 😅

[@chicoti3]

@@user-jb6gn4kf7x There's a similar Portuguese expression, namely "ir pelos ares", literally "go through the airs"

[@graennleaf4769]

Nuances in words' meanings is a neglected subject in language teaching in my opinion.

[@chicoti3]

@@graennleaf4769 let's be honest here language teaching isn't teaching anyone anyway. I've been in the language business for years and I've never met a single person who mastered a language because they took classes. Quite the opposite actually. Everyone I know who managed to do it learned on their own.

[@joanvidal-bota6851]

Thanks a lot, Steve. I am glad to have my intuitions confirmed by a person who is certainly competent in language learning. Hopefully this will help me to decide to spend more time reading and listening to native speakers. Because I already know "all the theory" :-) and have passed the higher levels of English, but as regards collocations and phrasal verbs I often see myself as a babbling child. I am convinced that - as has just been said in these comments - one cannot omit exposure to the language one wishes to learn nor believe it possible to speed up the process by study and elbow grease.

[@MrDejo94]

I am in intensive course for German language and after I barely passed the exam in middle of course I got frustrated, asked my teacher what should I do the next time better, she actually didn't have a good answer and low key suggested i should go one lvl down. I came across your videos and we had final exam and I did it excellent. Your advice really helps and thank you so much. I am in B1 course and after a month of reading/listening for 4-5h and 4h of class almost every day I changed my grade from 4 to 1.

[@sabikyouness2224]

Very useful professor 👌. It's actually an eye opening video, it'll make reflect on my teaching to phrasal verbs and collocations in the future. Thanks a bunch professor.

[@kornelik]

The way you express your thoughts in words and generally your energy is just so appropriate in terms of being a teacher

[@jpknijff]

As always, very good point. Yes. presumably because in English there is relatively little to learn in terms of morphology (words don't really decline, plural tends to form easily, conjugation is dead easy), collocations/phrasal verbs tend to be made more important in teaching the language. In structurally more complex languages, it's easier to focus on morphology and downplay the idiomatic part (this tends to happen with Latin). But yes, the tendency of words to stick together in particular, unpredictable ways I'm sure exists in any language. And that it makes languages different is, to me anyway, a major part of the fun.

[@gyurimirk9534]

Very great and useful video. Thank you Steve!!!

[@valentinaegorova-vg7tb]

GREAT! MANY THANKS. VERY INSPIRING AND MOTIVATING

[@clyde3769]

I learned much from your video. Thanks a lot for the insight.

[@cesarchiarelli8039]

Please Steve, make a video talking about learners that are on an advanced stage, but they feels like can’t speak anything and blank out.

[@spanishblueprints]

I feel like that has been my biggest issue over the past two years even as I get more knowledgeable in my second language. There is always some conversation that leaves me feeling like I don’t know anything and I lack the words to express myself.

[@cesarchiarelli8039]

@@spanishblueprints I feel you. I think that the ultimate goal of which one of us is to be able to speak, right? But ultimately I am more focus on comprehension rather than speaking. I think that the more you get exposed on the language, the better will be on output.

[@Regzillaaa]

Thanks Steve for touching on this issue

[@laurencetonka1662]

Thank you for your explanation 😊

[@fumi4815]

New words and phrasal verbs should be learned in natural way.Trying to memorize new vocabulary using words book.I would memorize words but can’t use in conversation.

[@chrisdakilla3173]

Extremely useful, thanks

[@adriancarrillo5034]

I have tried to deliberately study collocations and phrasal verbs but, as the video says, after a while, I don't remember those meanings unless I get exposed to those words a lot. But it is good to start to know them and eventually by exposure people are going to recognize them. BTW, Steve uses many phrasal verbs which are useful to know. Thanks.

[@tullochgorum6323]

Sure - learning collocations at random is probably an inefficient strategy - but I doubt that many independent learners actually do that, so it's a bit of a straw man. On the other hand, right from the start of a project, I will list out the basic collocations I need and will be using regularly: - My name is... - Catch a bus/train/plane - Take a shower/bath - Get up/Get dressed/Go to bed - Do the shopping/cleaning/washing - It's hot/cold/cloudy/raining ... Plus specific applications of interest to me: - Pitch/strike a tent - Pack a rucksack - Light a stove ... And so on. This is hardly advanced stuff. A recent study of English showed that almost 60% of the spoken language is made up of canned phrases and I suspect that most languages are similar. So it's surely something that learners should be consciously developing? Yes - there are thousands of collocations. But a very small percentage of these will cover a high percentage of your needs - so studying these high-frequency phrases will be a high-payoff activity that should accelerate your journey to fluency vs relying on passive input.

[@mentalidadedeprosperidade]

Excellent Steve, Thanks the vídeo

[@ruiseartalcorn]

Good tip, many thanks :)

[@rodrigocambronero6816]

Gracias Steve

[@Neo-Reloaded]

It makes sense. It's the same with our native language. We receive input, then there's something we don't understand, and next, we look it up in a dictionary. To learn lists of phrasal verbs and collocations would be like grabbing a dictionary and learning words alphabetically. Imagine a guy who is learning in this way, after a year he will maybe know 2000 words that start with a, b, and c. But he won't be able to communicate with someone else.

[@APlusRussian]

Except - phrasal verbs and collocations, when learned as stable expressions are (in a way) also like... words!! "Looking up words" without learning how they fit together, is a recipe for confusion 😅

[@tamarimosh]

@@APlusRussian yeah, collocations are just like words so like words it's better to study them in the right context thru a lot of interesting input. No one forbids to look for meaning of an expression when encountering any.

[@adriancarrillo5034]

Depending on the source. For example, you can find useful books with stories that are developed by using phrasal verbs and collocations.

[@ochoax2628]

collocations are super important. Why not studying them?. I disagree on this one absolutely. they help you to remember more vocabulary. Put more effort in collocations rather than phrasal verbs

[@gilmar-ac3247]

Great video, thank you for sharing - Brasil

[@jedlica]

Thank you for your video, yes, I agree these in the English language can only really be learnt through use and not through learning from lists. As for 'As far as I know'... The knowledge of something can be seen as a 'road' or a particular book, and your knowledge of that topic can be seen as the steps you have taken down that road, or the amount of pages you have read in that particular book...I guess

[@natalyam411]

I have always loved learning English. When I just started learning it, I was just memorizing words and collocations that were in many regular dictionaries. I was good at it, so I changed a dictionary after dictionary. After I was done with a 140,000-word dictionary, I got a dictionary of Phrasal verbs. But at the time I was already fluent in English, so yeah it was fun, I read that dictionary 4 times, and it was a thick one, from cover to cover, paying attention to the context where these verbs sounded natural. I agree that it wouldn't have helped me unless I was reading and watching things in English all the time, so these two processes together worked like a charm. I just have one minor point to add to Steve: a Russian would never say As many as I know in place of As far as I know, because for the Russian word Сколько there are two words in English: much and many. So if a Russian was to make a mistake with this chunk he or she would probably go for As much as I know and never As many as I know, because the latter sounds so silly. I am an English teacher and I have heard many mistakes Russian learners make but I have never heard that one from any of my students, just saying.

[@yagmurcamd]

Discipline and consistency and immersion.

[@yokkie1163]

Thank you,Steve,from Japan.🤗

[@tedcrowley6080]

Very useful ideas. Thank you. I've heard a few 成语 but I never remember them. Something about pigeons? Something about dog food?

[@lizeth987]

Great advice

[@eeeee323]

Es verdad, yo siento que me ayuda más, por ejemplo, la lectura 🌸

[@johnnoon9999]

Hey Steve! The soundcloud podcast link in this videos description box doesnt work. Wanted to let you know. Thanks for the great video!

[@irishcoffee11]

Best part is when Steve flashes a graphic of the hit NBC show "Friends" just incase we didn't know what a friend was.

[@austinlang6946]

For me I won’t learn verbs from an dictionary app but I will learn adjectives nouns adverbs etc. I’m always nervous about dictionary verb learning bc you don’t really know how common that verb is even though it means what it says if that makes sense.

[@luizmiguel1916]

Gostei . Valeu !

[@DoYouSpeakGreek]

I try to learn them in context , only to understand them when i listen. It's a bit difficult to me to use them

[@aga202]

Very useful 🙂

[@luisaamandahernandez9708]

Greeting from Nicaragua

[@RenatoRamonda]

"This whole idea that you can zero in on..." the funny bit is that this sentence alone has TWO examples: collocation "whole idea" and phrasal verb or idiom "zero in" Another language would not use "whole idea" (for example "l'idea stessa" in Italian, which sounds nonsensical if you translate it back literally, of course), and "to zero in" is an idiomatic phrasal verb that comes from military slang. Which, btw, is not invalidating your point. Just showing how commonplace these things are, and how you really learn them naturally from exposure (I don't remember ever looking up what "to zero in" meant in English).

[@valdirbergamobergamo5396]

Yes, I have studied collocations and the ( never-ending ) phrasal verbs, that are a real terror to non-native ones. But I have seen that those phrasal verbs vary too much, they do not repeat themselves in a series, cartoons, films; it is as if they were created for a kind of specific end, for instance, to obey a fast script or when there is not an adequate verb/expression. Two cartoons or episodes, and the recently created phrasal verb is inside the consumer´s mind, and tomorrow he will get the impression that those new recently acquired words have been existed for hundred of years. But you got a good point - American people are totally used to this phenomenon, phrasal verbs, and have an enormous ability to understand a new imposed expression, phrasal verb or collocation. Much obliged, the video was very important and we feel a little aliviated now. Phrasal verbs are not the final objective, destination in English. Thanks again !

[@josephqu579]

谢谢

[@TheRealGnolti]

I usually advise my students that "learning phrasal verbs" is a fool's errand since English (and as Steve points out, not only English) abounds in them, but a lot also depends on your focus. Here, the idea is to become confident in speaking an L2 and in that case, yes, don't bother trying to season your speech with phrases, many of which only work in specific contexts. On the other hand, if you are focused on improving your listening, it is very helpful to become familiar with phrases so that you save some of the mental energy beginners often spend on bottom-up (i.e., word by word) translating. All that said, although all phrasal verbs are collocative ("work out," not "up," a problem; "come across," not "at," evidence, etc.), not all collocations involve PVs, and many definitely do not translate and can cause confusion if the learner is attempting a literal translation, e.g., "I congratulate you with your birthday" (as expressed in Russian). The most important collocations are those attached to certain sets of verbs, which earlier learners should become familiar with to avoid confusion, starting with "do" and "make" (do the dishes, not make, etc.), and it could even be argued that collocative understanding is also required when it comes to verbs followed by infinitives vs. gerunds, though that may be more important for advanced learners.

[@pazamor9164]

You ended the video with: "that's my take on." That was a good one for the word OPINION.

[@vanessacunha6233]

Percebo extamente isso ao praticar inglês com meu filho de 3 anos !!! As palavras vêm ao nosso encontro, vão embora e ressurgem da noite pro dia .....até soar tão natural !! Esse processo é muito divertido

[@JasperSynth]

Same for me but with Portuguese. I’m really surprised by how much fun I have been having.

[@vanessacunha6233]

@@JasperSynth 👍🥳😀

[@user-ep4go8dz7b]

Very useful video for me, because I've been learning English for 3 month and always get frustrated when i can't remember some phrasal verbs. But from this video i understood what's the deal. Thank you, Steve, especially for 6 months premium for Ukrainians, i really appreciate your supporting!

[@kbs6025]

Your english is very good. Congratulations.

[@chencarol3291]

Wow! How can you learn English so well in only 3 months?

[@vrmartin202]

Huge fan of LingQ, and I think your advice in this video as always is spot on

[@LimeGreenTeknii]

I would say that phrasal verbs are definitely a thing in Dutch as well, whereas they're not quite as much in Italian, Spanish, or Japanese. I'd say a "true phrasal verb" is a verb + another word that create a meaning that you couldn't predict from the individual parts alone. In English: throw + up = throw up/to vomit. In Dutch uit (out) + leggen (lay) = uitleggen (explain.) I'd say these "true" phrasal verbs are worth studying as their own individual words. There are some that you can predict from their words alone, like "go away" that I wouldn't study as their own thing. Then there are some that lie in the middle, like "throw away" meaning specifically to trash something, where you might say, "OK, I can see the connection. I wouldn't have guessed that's how you say it, but I see it." For those I'd tell LingQ that it's a 2 or a 3 instead of a 1, for example.

[@unpiccolocuore]

What's more interesting is that there are calques you can easily identify as in your example, lay out, is the word-for-word translation (calque) of explain which consists of ex (out) and plain (flat), so lay things out of the starting point which is making it flat, thus, clear. Mostly, these are because of the will to get rid of Latin words or sometimes of common sense.

[@lochoang4350]

you're right, i bought a book of phrasal verb and collocations last year. i studied everyday but the result is that I could not use them correctly and even remember them.

[@za7a77]

1:02 🤣🤣🤣 my eyes when I see a list of it to learning it.

[@danielbelmir0]

During my English learning I didn't study phrasal verbs, besides watching some youtube videos. But for German, separable verbs have very different meanings, it feels too hard to learn them from just listening and reading, maybe that's because I have a full time job now and my whole life has become harder.

[@constancechan7748]

Admittedly , the number of the idioms I can recall immediately in chinese is absolutely no more than Ten !

[@Luis-lw8fr]

tienes razón

[@yummy8074]

That "as near as I know" reminded me of Ricky from Trailer Park Boys. My favourite collocation from his was "getting 2 birds stoned at once" and "survival of the fitness". But I agree, studying stuff like the adjective order is not that important. I remember my teacher at high school used to tell us that it's very important to remember the order of 9 types of adjectives and then also giving us test with it... Also I cannot imagine a native speaker who wouldn't understand why a non-native cannot get everything perfectly tip-top right.

[@chrolka6255]

Why does it always have to be one or the other? Why JUST input or JUST memorising vocabulary? It's kind of like a debate about what is best for weightloss: training or diet? Of course the best results are obtained when we combine the two. Same with language learning. Just my two cents on the matter.

[@adrianamirandabr]

Steve Kaufmann is the best teacher ever!

[@val.teacup]

Of course phrasal verbs and expressions are a thing to be studied at a high level, but they are imo a thing to be studied nonetheless. And you can obviously never learn all even in your native language but learning the popular ones is mandatory in my eyes for a C1 C2 level of fluency which is usually my goal.

[@chrolka6255]

I have an English student at level B1 who has the misfortune to work with American clients who don't understand that she's still learning English. They keep using phrasal verbs when communicating with her and she just doesn't understand what the hell they are saying and keeps asking me what these weird phrases mean. Like it or not, students ABSOLUTELY SHOULD learn phrasal verbs.

[@chrolka6255]

@@AJ-fo2pl Why can't we do both? I read and listen. And when I come across a phrase I find useful, I put it in my Anki and I learn it along with other words and phrases. Then I make sure to use it in a conversation.

[@Swedenandall]

"H'm! A contra-platitude." "What is that?" "This-that, should you say that education is useful, you will be uttering a platitude; but, should you say that education is harmful, you will be uttering a contra-platitude. The one is identical with the other, except that they differ a little in elegance of expression." "And which has right on its side?" "'Which has right on its side?' I can only re-echo: 'Which?'" (Turgenev, "Fathers and sons")

[@hedayathaddadi7075]

Dear Steve, I found an English-speaking club that is mainly used by non-native English speakers such as me. We are not proficient at speaking English but we try our best to speak together. What do you think about speaking with non-natives for my speaking skill?

[@esmaesrahamurcu9140]

love you steve

[@ernestocastillo2418]

I see languages another way, now, thanks.

[@zxcv4090]

I normally agree with Steve, but I think he's wrong on this one. Learning a phrase like 'As far as I know' would be very useful. These phrases can be used if you learn when to use them. It's better than all of your language consisting of individual words stitched together

[@chrolka6255]

Agreed. Before the holiday season I attended online French lessons that were recorded and made available for the students. Normally the phrases used by my teacher just go over my head because when I'm in class, I'm focused on understanding the meaning rather than the form of the phrases. But listening to those lessons afterwards and fishing for useful phrases helped me immensely! This is how I noticed and learnt the phrase "en ce qui concerne..." which means "when it comes to..." and since then I've been using it regularly :)

[@izaiasneto8318]

As far as I know in portuguese is (até onde eu sei) something like by the point I know

[@hedayathaddadi7075]

Agree. But my question is while I am not in an English language country what is the best technique to be in the context? Does the listening enough or anything else?

[@Thelinguist]

When you have little chance to speak your speaking will not improve that much. But through input you can power up your potential. Then the more you speak the better you get. If you get a lot of opportunity to speak your speaking will take off.

[@janmuller6546]

Well lucky German then - we mostly say 'soweit ich weiß' (as far as I know) but can also say 'soviel ich weiß' (as much as I know - like in the romance and slavic languages) - and it both seems intuitive to me. It's just as far as my knowledge goes. Yes, you could construct something similar with near or close, but that seems a bit clunky because the alternative subordinate sentences need more words.

[@SaysAnX]

Hey brother como se dice hermano en ingles? :U

[@jakobschulz2109]

I not only agree with some critical comments, I would go even so far to say that he is making up a straw man argument against learning collocations. I literally know no one who's learning phrases out of context from a textbook like a vocabulary list. However, I was just about to look up the word "temperance". And suddenly I remembered the collocation "temperance movement". And by that I had some meaningful context of the word and could also reconstruct the meaning of temperance. Well, thank goodness that I DID learn in chunks / collocations. Mainly by reading example sentences when I'm looking up a word in an online dictionary. I can also recommend Collins dictionary's COBUILD collocations. Other example from another language: sun glasses. I learnt this before sun and glasses. When it was time to learn sun and glasses individually, guess what, I didn't need to learn these two words anymore. I already knew them. TL;DR: Keep learning in chunks!

[@hoahha9408]

Thank you, Steve. I'm looking for a partner to speak with, and I will be happy to teach him Arabic in exchange, I think my level is intermediate.

[@coconutpineapple2489]

In my opinion, if you learned just one foreign language, learning collocation is useful. However it's endless, so not so good for polyglots.

[@Patrizio99]

hi

[@ariohandoyo5973]

Hello mr. Steve i found Phrasal verbs are confusing as english learner, what do you think? Should we just learn less phrasal verbs?🤔

[@tamarimosh]

as far as I know he values an input-based learning. (7:05)

[@ariohandoyo5973]

@@tamarimosh Okay, i think i undertoon thanks for the reply.😊

[@slowlearner4341]

You presented interesting consideration, Mr. Kaufmann. I do believe, however, that at least part of different word combinations needs to be taught. This is a way to enrich vocabulary and understand better every foreign language. If you deny it (and you do!), you are contradicting YOUR postulate that the number of known and used words is a main indicator of familiarity with foreign language. And also fluency of it. So let me disagree with you and continue to learn different English word connections. It's hard, but it's unavoidable.

[@annarboriter]

I agree that it offers little benefit to learn phrasal verbs systematically from a dictionary of phrasal verbs, but it's hard to avoid them in English since there are so ubiquitous and necessary. I am a native speaker, I only recently learned just how Australian have their own phrasal verbs which aren't at all intuitive when they come up in a novel

[@user-oo2bs3md2k]

Subjective.;As far as I know ; come across the collocation, swear words

[@catspetportugueclasseferna1430]

👍👏🏻👏🏻

[@meamade]

Насколько я знаю ❤ thank you for examples in Russian

[@jjindie]

He seems to be confusing idioms with phrasal verbs. It is important to study a phrasal verb word for word because changing the preposition or particle completely changes the meaning. Pace yourself obviously, don't try to learn 100 in a day. But Phrasal Verbs are extremely important and common in English Speaking and are heavily present and tested in the Cambridge ESOL and IELTS exams. Do. Study. Phrasal. Verbs.

[@user-re1su6el4l]

😂👍

[@alexpianoplayer15]

Phrasal verbs are idioms centered around verbs. They are actually verbs plus prepositions. And this is quite unique to the english language (maybe germanic languages in general). I don't see these in french, for example, or in russian

[@alexandrerighi]

Funny how us students of other languages access this videos on "don't use phrasal verbs" and youtube automatically recommends "phrasal verbs in that target language you are learning" right next to it...

[@marcuschen786]

In the beginning, I love this channel. Now it sounds like Athlete x. Everything is killing your gains.

[@flaviogama2179]

i think that i fanily found my new intelegent cool teacher. I am this fase, when you think that phrase verbs is something important for you speak, i just realize, rigth now, that is not and how can u see, i write very well akakka or not? Whos know, thank you, i will whatch all your videos, xoxo

[@daylightmoon7285]

I disagree. One doesn't need to learn thousands of phrasal verbs. However, learning the 25 or 50 or100 most frequently used phrasal verbs will go a long way in understanding a native speaker. Students should be exposed to collocations from the beginning if for no other reason than they want to be able to understand native speakers. As far as sayings and idioms go...it's not necessary to learn "it's raining cats and dogs" but they are fun and help students understand the culture. Students light up when they hear a collocation or phrasal verb they understand. They are great motivators and students feel like they're making progress.

[@spanishblueprints]

I agree with your disagreement, they help you say sentences a lot easier without having to come up with each individual word on your own. Plus, are simple to remember and become automatic to say.

[@adamluo8209]

Your title is in an opposite way, it's eye-catching!

[@TheDynamite333]

leverage up, ladder up, zero in on, focus in on... Ok ok, we got it😁

[@wavygravy1945]

Take a hike - like Grouse Grind.

[@user-rw8ut2vm9n]

🤗🇰🇿

[@uydudanbak]

ya gerek yok dememek lazım

[@chrispbacon3042]

“Blind as a welders dog.”

[@estrafalario5612]

I don't agree with the title...but fortunately the content isn't that absolute, in fact I agree with it! At high-school, the efforts from the teachers to make me learn phrasal verbs weren't very successful, as I just didn't have enough sense of how the verbs "normally behave" to notice that the phrasal verbs were behaving in a funny way. Years after, with a nominal C1 level and living in UK, a review of the few hundreds of really frequent ones was really useful.

[@cadu8037]

👏👏👏 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@jayceewedmak9524]

I've always wanted to find a book or course that taught the language without using proper English when explaining. If, for instance, in korean , the sentence translates as "in America steak a lot often eat have, in Korea steak often eat don't." Then teach it that way - don't say "people often have steaks in America, people don't have steaks often in Korea " or "rice eat" ""coffee drink". This would be so much clearer to understanding a foreign sentence structure. Don't use (insert mother tongue) to explain another language.

[@romilsahay7584]

Whatever, do they ever tell us something? (I mean that they neither chide us nor mention anything to us.) So, how to say it in other ways? *Totally, I want to tell you how to say common sentences which we use with our friends.* *like that - 1.It is what it is ? 2.It is not like that* So, these types of sentences can be used like structures from or Simply, we can make these sentences based upon tense.

[@sonyaverhoturova]

I just saw this for the first time. You speak Russian?! I'm Russian and I was surprised to hear my native language

[@Thelinguist]

I try

[@orlonarsino6729]

'Hace calor' is the weirdest phrase I have heard in Spanish... It makes hot? Jajaja

[@jeffersonaraujoelcristiano]

Phrasal verbs are around 800...

[@romarinho9302]

I think that the PHRASAL VERBS are the hardest part of learning English.