What is the difference between separable and inseparable phrasal verbs?

A separable phrasal verb lets the object sit between the verb and the particle: turn the radio down or turn down the radio. An inseparable one keeps the object after the whole verb: look after the plants, never look the plants after. The particle itself does not tell you which type you have; you store the word-order fact with the verb. Meaning lists belong on the phrasal-verbs page; this split is only about slots.

Where does the pronoun go with a separable phrasal verb?

In the middle, every time: turn it down, put them off, pick it up. Turn down it is the standard error. Nouns are more flexible and can sit in either slot. Once you replace the noun with it, them, him, her, or us, the end slot closes.

How do I know if a phrasal verb is separable?

You learn it with the verb, the way you learn an irregular past. A practical test with a noun: try both orders. If both are sentences you recognise (put the preview off, put off the preview), it is separable. If only the end slot works (look after the plants), it is inseparable. When you are unsure and the object is a noun, putting it at the end is the safer guess, because that slot is legal for both types.

Are three-word phrasal verbs separable?

Not around the object. Put up with, look forward to, and run out of take the object after the last word: put up with the noise, look forward to the crossing, run out of glaze. Put the noise up with is not English. The last word is a preposition, and prepositions keep their objects after them.

What about phrasal verbs with no object?

If there is no object, there is nothing to separate. The ferry pulled out and The kiln cooled down are intransitive, so the separable/inseparable question does not apply. The question starts the moment an object appears: Cool the kiln down is a different, transitive pattern, and down then behaves like other separable particles.

English grammar · Intermediate

Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs: Object Word Order

Written by Eleanor Whitfield, Lead English Curriculum Editor · Reviewed September 2026

Word order is the whole of this page. Some phrasal verbs let the object sit between the verb and the particle (turn the radio down, turn it down). Some never let the object split them (look after the plants, not look the plants after). With a separable verb, a pronoun object must go in the middle (turn it down, never turn down it). Meaning, types, and lists live on the phrasal-verbs and multi-word-verbs pages; here the only question is where the object goes.

Please turn the radio down, or at least turn it down; you can't look the plants after while the volume is up.

turn down splits around a noun or a pronoun; look after cannot split

What it is

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a particle (turn down, look after, put off, run into). Once you know it takes an object, a second question appears: can that object sit between the two parts. If yes, the verb is separable: Turn the radio down and Turn down the radio are both fine, and a pronoun must go in the middle (Turn it down). If no, the verb is inseparable: Look after the plants is the only order, and Look the plants after is impossible. You cannot hear the difference from the particle itself; up, down, off, and after appear in both groups. You learn the split with each verb, then apply two mechanical rules: pronouns go middle in the separable set, and nothing goes middle in the inseparable set.

She put the preview off until Friday. She put it off. She takes after her father. She takes after him. (Put off splits; take after does not, even with a pronoun.)

How to spot it

Find the object. If it is a noun, try it in both slots: after the particle and between verb and particle. If both sound like English you already know, the verb is separable. If only the after-the-particle slot works, it is inseparable. If the object is a pronoun, there is no try-both: separable verbs force the middle slot.

Turn the radio down a bit. (separable: noun between verb and particle)
Turn it down a bit. (pronoun must sit in the middle)
She looks after the greenhouse while I'm away. (inseparable: object after the whole verb)
We ran into an old colleague on the quay. (inseparable: run into someone, never run someone into)

Intransitive phrasal verbs (The ferry pulled out. The kiln cooled down.) have no object, so the separable/inseparable question does not arise. Three-word verbs (put up with, look forward to, run out of) keep their last preposition after the object: put up with the noise, not put the noise up with.

Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs Quick Reference

Where the object sits

Type	Noun object	Pronoun object
Separable (turn down, put off, pick up, take off)	Turn the radio down. / Turn down the radio.	Turn it down. (not turn down it)
Inseparable two-word (look after, take after, run into, get over)	Look after the plants.	Look after them. (not look them after)
Three-word (put up with, look forward to, run out of)	Put up with the noise.	Put up with it. (not put it up with)
Intransitive (no object)	The ferry pulled out.	no object, so no split

Common Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs Examples in English

Word order only: the same particles, different slots, so you can see the split as a mechanical fact rather than a meaning fact:

Separable: Noun in Either Slot

Please turn the radio down; the rehearsal has started.: noun between turn and down
Please turn down the radio; the rehearsal has started.: same verb, noun after the particle
They put the preview off until Friday.: put off = postpone, noun in the middle
They put off the preview until Friday.: the other legal slot for a noun

Both orders are correct with a noun. The middle slot is more common when the object is short; the end slot is more comfortable when the object is long (put off the preview that the trustees had already advertised).

Separable: Pronoun Must Go in the Middle

The radio is too loud; please turn it down.: it between turn and down
The preview clashes with the ferry; they put it off.: it between put and off
The parcel is at the desk; I'll pick it up after the encore.: pick up: pronoun in the middle
She took her coat off and took it off the stand as well.: first off is the particle of take off (remove); the second off is a preposition of place

Turn down it, put off it, and pick up it are the errors this rule exists to stop. Once the object is it, them, him, her, or us, the middle slot is required.

Inseparable Two-Word Verbs

She looks after the greenhouse on Tuesdays.: look after: object stays after after
She looks after it on Tuesdays.: pronoun also stays after the particle
We ran into an old colleague on the quay.: run into = meet by chance, never splits
He takes after his father in the way he holds the bow.: take after = resemble, inseparable

Look the greenhouse after and take his father after are not English. Get over a setback, look through a score, and go over the notes follow the same inseparable pattern.

Three-Word Verbs Keep the Last Word After the Object

I won't put up with that noise during the slow movement.: put up with: object last
I won't put up with it.: pronoun still last, never put it up with
We're looking forward to the later crossing.: look forward to plus a noun
We've run out of glaze, so the kiln will have to wait.: run out of plus the thing that is finished

The last word of a three-word verb is a preposition, and prepositions take their object after them. That is why the split that works for turn down never works here.

How the Word-Order Rules Work

Two tests and two hard slots. Meaning is someone else's page; placement is this one.

Separable Verbs Offer Two Slots for a Noun

With a noun object, both Turn the radio down and Turn down the radio are grammatical. The particle can sit after the object or after the verb. Common separable verbs: turn down/up/off/on, put off/on/away, pick up, take off, throw away, fill in, write down, hand in, sort out, give back.

Write the berth number down. Write down the berth number.

both orders legal with a noun

Noun object: middle or end.

A Pronoun Object Must Split a Separable Verb

As soon as the object is a personal pronoun, the end slot closes. Turn it down is the only order. The reason is rhythm and information: a weak pronoun does not wait until after the particle. This is the rule learners meet first and the one exams test most often.

The parcel is ready; pick it up. Don't pick up it.

it forced into the middle

Pronoun: middle only.

Inseparable Verbs Have No Middle Slot

Look after, take after, run into, get over, look through, go over, take care of (three-word in spirit), and most verb-plus-preposition pairs keep the object after the whole unit. Noun and pronoun behave the same: look after the plants, look after them. There is nothing to split.

We ran into her on the quay. Not we ran her into on the quay.

inseparable: pronoun still follows the particle

Inseparable: object always last.

Three-Word Verbs Behave Like Inseparable Ones

Put up with, look forward to, run out of, get on with, catch up with, and do away with take the object after the final preposition. You can sometimes split the first two words around nothing, but you cannot park the object between them: put up with the noise, never put the noise up with.

She's catching up with the notes from Tuesday's rehearsal.

object after with, the last word of the verb

Three words: object after the last one.

Common Mistakes with Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs

Incorrect: Please turn down it; the rehearsal has started.

Correct: Please turn it down; the rehearsal has started.

Turn down is separable, so a pronoun object must sit between the verb and the particle. Turn down the radio is fine because the radio is a noun. Turn down it is the pronoun in the forbidden slot.

Incorrect: She looks the greenhouse after on Tuesdays.

Correct: She looks after the greenhouse on Tuesdays.

Look after is inseparable. The object, noun or pronoun, stays after after. There is no middle slot to park the greenhouse in.

Incorrect: I won't put the noise up with during the slow movement.

Correct: I won't put up with the noise during the slow movement.

Put up with is a three-word verb. The object follows with, the last word. Splitting it as if it were turn down produces a sequence English does not use.

Incorrect: We ran an old colleague into on the quay.

Correct: We ran into an old colleague on the quay.

Run into meaning meet by chance is inseparable. Run someone into would be understood, if at all, as causing them to collide with something, which is a different verb.

Pronoun Objects, and Three-Word Verbs

The two places exams go hunting, and a note on particles that look like prepositions of place.

The pronoun rule in one line

Separable verb + pronoun object = verb + pronoun + particle. Never particle + pronoun.

Hand them in before the foyer closes.: them between hand and in
I'll sort it out after the kiln cools.: it between sort and out
Give us back the spare mute, or give the mute back to us.: pronoun us in the middle; a noun mute can sit in either slot

Give back can take two objects. The pronoun of the thing returned still prefers the middle: give it back, not give back it.

Three-word verbs never take a middle object

The last word is a preposition, so its object follows it. Put up with it. Look forward to them. Run out of glaze.

I won't put up with that scraping during the slow movement.: object after with
She's looking forward to it.: pronoun after to
We've run out of it, so the bowls will stay unglazed.: it after of

Do not confuse these with separable two-word verbs that happen to be followed by a prepositional phrase: She turned the radio down in the annex still splits turn down; in the annex is extra.

Particle or preposition of place

Take off the coat (remove, separable phrasal). Take the coat off the stand (remove from a place: off is a preposition, the stand is its object). Only the first is the separable-verb question.

She took her coat off.: take off = remove, no place named, particle
She took her coat off the stand.: off the stand is a place phrase
She took it off.: pronoun plus particle, separable

If a noun of place follows the small word (off the stand, on the hook, down the stairs), you likely have a preposition, not a split test.

Quick Check: Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs

Put the object in the only legal slot, or in either slot if both are legal. Use the words in brackets.

1. The radio is too loud. Please ___ (turn / it / down).

Answer: turn it down

pronoun must split a separable verb

2. She ___ (look / the greenhouse / after) on Tuesdays.

Answer: looks after the greenhouse

look after is inseparable

3. They ___ (put / the preview / off) until Friday. (either legal order)

Answer: put the preview off / put off the preview

separable, noun object, both slots open

4. We've ___ (run / glaze / out of).

Answer: run out of glaze

three-word verb: object after of

5. We ___ (run / her / into) on the quay.

Answer: ran into her

run into is inseparable, pronoun still last

Separable and Inseparable Phrasal Verbs FAQs

What is the difference between separable and inseparable phrasal verbs?: A separable phrasal verb lets the object sit between the verb and the particle: turn the radio down or turn down the radio. An inseparable one keeps the object after the whole verb: look after the plants, never look the plants after. The particle itself does not tell you which type you have; you store the word-order fact with the verb. Meaning lists belong on the phrasal-verbs page; this split is only about slots.
Where does the pronoun go with a separable phrasal verb?: In the middle, every time: turn it down, put them off, pick it up. Turn down it is the standard error. Nouns are more flexible and can sit in either slot. Once you replace the noun with it, them, him, her, or us, the end slot closes.
How do I know if a phrasal verb is separable?: You learn it with the verb, the way you learn an irregular past. A practical test with a noun: try both orders. If both are sentences you recognise (put the preview off, put off the preview), it is separable. If only the end slot works (look after the plants), it is inseparable. When you are unsure and the object is a noun, putting it at the end is the safer guess, because that slot is legal for both types.
Are three-word phrasal verbs separable?: Not around the object. Put up with, look forward to, and run out of take the object after the last word: put up with the noise, look forward to the crossing, run out of glaze. Put the noise up with is not English. The last word is a preposition, and prepositions keep their objects after them.
What about phrasal verbs with no object?: If there is no object, there is nothing to separate. The ferry pulled out and The kiln cooled down are intransitive, so the separable/inseparable question does not apply. The question starts the moment an object appears: Cool the kiln down is a different, transitive pattern, and down then behaves like other separable particles.