Consejos para hablar en inglés: Phrasal verbs "parte 1"

¿Qué es un “phrasal verb”? Es un verbo más una preposición o un adverbio. La combinación genera un significado diferente al del verbo original, lo cual lo convierte en un tipo de giro lingüístico cuyo significado no se puede derivar de las palabras sino de toda la frase.

Hay miles de phrasal verbs en inglés; los usamos todo el tiempo. Aquí sugerimos unas oraciones con phrasal verbs que resultarán prácticas en un contexto de negocios.

 

 

A

• Account for: explicar, dar un motivo.”Can you account for the difference in sales figures for the last two months?”

• Aim at: apuntar en una dirección. “We’re aiming at a 30% improvement.”

• Allow for: tener en cuenta. “They should allow for a fall in demand owing to the summer break.”

B

• Beef up: reforzar. “Could you beef up your report with a few statistics?”

• Boil down to: se puede resumir en. “The problems boil down to our lack of investment last year.”

• Brush up on: refrezcar conocimientos propios. “I need to brush up on my English.”

• Bump into: encontrarse por accidente. “Guess who I bumped into today!”

C

• Call off: cancelar. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to call the meeting off/call off the meeting.”

• Carry out: hacer algo como se indicó o planeó. “They need to carry out the survey and then we’ll look at the results.”

• Clam up: negarse a hablar. “When their manager arrived, they clammed up!”

• Come across: encontrar por casualidad. “I came across these files – are they what you were looking for?”

• Come up against: encontrar. “He’s come up against a lot of criticism in his new job.”

• Cut down on: reducir en cantidad o tamaño. “We need to cut down on the number of business trips we make abroad.”

D

• Die down: disminuir. “We will wait for all the fuss to die down before starting to contact our customers.”

• Do without: arreglárselas sin algo. “Can you do without coffee today? I’m afraid our machine is broken.”

• Draw up: escribir (documento oficial). “We can start production as soon as the contract has been drawn up.”

F

• Fall through: no concretarse. “My trip to Europe fell through because of the air traffic controllers’ strike.”

G

• Get at: insinuar. “What are you getting at? What are you really saying?”

• Get on: progresar. “How are you getting on with your new sales manager?”

• Get out of: no hacer algo. “Is there any way I can get out of attending the meeting?”

• Get over: recuperarse. “We need to get over this disappointing piece of news and plan for the future.”

• Get rid of: deshacerse de. “Have you got rid of that faulty machinery yet?”

• Give up: dejar de hacer algo. “If we seriously want to reduce costs, we should give up expensive business lunches.”

H

• Hit upon: encontrar (por lo general una idea). “While I was driving to work, I hit upon a fantastic idea!”

I

• Iron out: resolver. “We can sign the contract as soon as we have ironed out the few remaining questions.”

J

• Jot down: anotar. “I will just quickly jot your address down so we can stay in touch.”

K

• Keep up with: seguir el ritmo. “She talks so fast it’s difficult to keep up.”

• Kick off: comenzar. “Let’s kick off with a quick word from our French colleagues.”

L

• Leave out: omitir. “I’m afraid you’ll have to write it again – you left out the most important part!”

• Let down: defraudar. “Our American sales figures let us down last month.”

• Look after: encargarse. “Who is looking after the American account?”

Lea la segunda parte de este artículo el próximo mes.