30 common "Get" phrases in Many Different Contexts in English

Hey everyone welcome to this lesson on 30 common get phrases in English. In this article I hope that I will make you feel more comfortable and more familiar with the verb get by placing it alongside some adjectives or some services that you can receive with the verb get some sicknesses that often use the verb get when talking about them so I put them in different categories and hopefully this will help you feel more at ease a little less scared of the verb get because it's used in so many different contexts and it replaces so many different verbs sometimes that it can be a challenge.

Get + Adjective

1. Get Angry

First, you can get plus an adjective. So you can get angry, you can get sad, you can get ready for something. Basically you obtain these emotions. If you get angry means you become angry. For example if you're watching one of your favorite soccer teams and they start losing terribly and you're watching the game and you are becoming angrier and angrier. Like you will say "uh this game has made me so angry". You get angry because of your soccer team doing terribly and making you upset.

2. Get Sad

You can also get sad or got really sad because somebody passed away or someone close to me died.

3. Get Ready

You can get ready to go out like you need to put your clothes on. If you tell someone to get ready this means you want them to get dressed you will leave somewhere and go to a party or a wedding.

4. Get Pissed

Get pissed this is a more informal way to say get angry. In some parts of the UK if you get pissed it also means that you get drunk. I got pissed because let's say Arsenal lost five nothing to Chelsea. If I'm watching English Premier League Soccer for example so I got angry. I got upset or we got pissed last weekend this means we got drunk. So context is everything.

5. Get Lucky

To get lucky this means you are fortunate. If you get lucky this is also an idiomatic way to say that you met someone and you had sex, It's true that Daft Punk song about we're up all night to get lucky this means we're gonna keep dancing at the dance club until we find someone that we can have sex with. So to to get lucky means to have sex. It also just means you are fortunate. If you go to the casino, say oh I got lucky and I won $50 or if the police stop you and they say you were speeding sir say oh I'm sorry officer and he says that's okay next time don't do it you got lucky because he did not give you a ticket.

6. Get drunk

Drink too much alcohol and this plays with your mind and you know the brain cells so you cannot function properly or normally then you get drunk by drinking too much alcohol. Too much beer, wine, whatever else you drink or liquor.

7. Get Married

It is the ceremony with your wife or your husband. If someone asks hey when did you guys get married? Oh we got married 10 years ago. Or where did you get married? We got married in Paris or we got married on a cruise ship.

8. Get Sunburnt

This means that I received I obtained a sunburn while I was on vacation. What is a sunburn? If you are in the Sun for too long and usually this happens to fair-skinned white skinned people and your skin turns red some people become lobsters when they are in the Sun for too long but if your skin burns you get a sunburn so you can say the adjective form I got sunburned or I got a sunburn.

9. Get Stuck

If you get stuck this means that you were unable to move unable to make progress in whatever you were doing. I can tell you a story where my wife and I were driving somewhere and it was very rainy I was following the GPS and it took us on a dirt road and literally the car started going strange because the road was really really terrible and muddy and there was lots of water everywhere and our car got stuck in the mud so the car couldn't move. You can also get stuck not just physically but figuratively like if you're writing an essay and you don't know what to write.

Get + Sickness

10. Get a Headache

So, those are adjectives right next you can use gets with sicknesses and diseases so I just put sick this should say sickness but I couldn't write all the way down so I just wrote sick it should say sicknesses and diseases. So, you can get a headache if your head hurts. I have a headache.

11. Get a Heart Attack.

You can have or get a heart attack. If you an older person or if you're someone who doesn't exercise a lot and maybe you have a bad diet or there's too much oil and salt and sugar in your diet you can have a heart attack where your heart basically starts beating too fast and essentially stops. So, you can have or get a heart attack you can get just like a headache an earache.

12. Get an Earache

Earache and for that matter you can get a backache as well so this means you have obtained this thing right something has given it to you and makes you got a headache. Like you can got an earache after went swimming. So get can also be used as the verb "have" a little bit but typically it should be I have got which means I "have" so you can say I've got a headache "oh I've got a headache" like "I have a headache" but some people just get rid of "have got" and just say "got" like to say "I got a headache". So you can also use it like a past verb present verb whatever you wish.

13. Get a pain in my wrist /shoulder/etc

This is a common question I get how do I talk about if something hurts on my body you can say "oh I got a pain in my wrist or in my shoulder". I got a pain in my elbow in my wrist and my shoulder. So I obtained maybe because we were playing soccer and I fell awkwardly so I got a pain in my wrist or in my shoulder.

14. Get cancer, HIV, or Malaria.

Here we have more serious diseases. You can get cancer you can get HIV which is before AIDS you can get malaria. so I had a friend who traveled to to Africa and they got malaria from a mosquito and that took them like a week or two to really get over it but yes you can get malaria.

15. Get a cold

You can get a cold or it is might less serious. A cold just means you are blowing your nose and coughing and sneezing a little bit so that's a cold and when you have a cold you can get or have a runny nose so your nose the liquid is coming from your nose so you can say I have a runny nose. I've got a runny nose or if you obtained this runny nose on the weekend from the beach because the water was too cold.

Get + Positive and Negative Emotions or Feelings.

16. Get joy.

Sometimes you can get like positive or negative emotions or feelings so for example "I get joy from playing with my kids". You can get something or a feeling from doing something.

17. Get Satisfaction, Pleasure, and Anxiety

I get satisfaction when I do well at my job. I receive this feeling I get pleasure from seeing other people do well like this makes me happy this makes me feel joyful. By the way they are nouns. So use the noun form not "I get joyful" well you could say I get joyful because you've got the adjective form here but "you get joy" you get or you receive satisfaction .You can also get anxiety from doing something like I get anxiety when I go on job interviews so you feel anxious.

Get + Service

18. Get a Tan

So you can get certain services or certain exams or whatever else done things that you pay for or things you receive from another person the first one is "get a tan" is usually to lighter skinned people once you have a tan they want their skin to be a little darker brownish. okay so they go to the beach they lay in the Sun you can also go to a professional tanning salon to get a tan because you want to receive a tan.

19 Get a Haircut

Okay get a haircut this just means you go to the salon or the hair stylist or a barber and you get a haircut. Example "what did you do this weekend Bob?" "oh I got a haircut".

20. Get a pedicure

A pedicure is for your feet and so for your toes. Typically men and women can get pedicures but typically we think of women going to get pedicures it's when you go to a salon and they really do a good job of clipping your nails and cleaning your feet and making them nice and soft and smooth I've never had a pedicure I should get one it probably feels nice.

21. Get a Manicure

Manicure is when you get your nails done so I got a manicure so they what do they do at manicures I don't even I don't know but they make your nails nice okay so these are your nails and if you want them to you know look nice and shiny and have them be done professionally you can go to a salon and get a manicure clearly you can tell I have never had a manicure or a pedicure because I don't know what happens behind those doors or this one is more of an informal way of saying you got a manicure and a pedicure maybe you went with your friends a group of your girlfriends and you say that oh I got a mani-pedi a manicure and a pedicure I got my nails and my hands and my toe is done.

22. Get a Massage

You go to a massage parlor and you receive a massage.

23. Get an oil change

You can get an oil change but not for yourself. It is for your car unless you're a robot. You need to change the oil in your car you can get an oil change " I got an oil change on the weekend" I need to get an oil change.

24. Get a filling

This is when you go to the dentist and if you have a hole in your teeth that's called a cavity. You can get a filling so they fill it with silver or gold or whatever it is that they put on top but basically this fills the hole on your tooth.

25. Get a root canal

I have never had a root canal from the dentist. I hope I never have one. I have heard it's terrible it's when they like drill holes between your teeth to build a bridge and stuff I never want to have one so you can get a root canal from the dentist so that parts done.

26. Get a checkup

A checkup is just a basic appointment that you make with your doctor to make sure you're okay so maybe they check your throat they check your heart they check your blood. You can get various examinations at a doctor you can get a prostate exam for example. so the prostate is a part of the male anatomy this is one of the exams where a doctor takes their finger and goes behind you. This is an exam that men usually get think around forty to fifty years old you should do your first prostate exam or get your first prostate exam.

27. Get a blood test

If you want to make sure that you know your blood is okay you have no diseases no illnesses you can also get a blood test.

Get + Comparison

28. Get Better, worse, faster, stronger, louder, bigger

We can also use get with comparatives so I put comparison like get better, get worse, get faster, get stronger, get louder, get bigger, they are all mean to become better, to become worse, to become faster, stronger by training at the gym for example. You can get stronger you can get worse. Like if you're sick and someone could asks "oh is he getting better?" or "is he getting worse?" He's getting worse if he's in the hospital for a long time and his condition is becoming worse. If you have a child you notice that they get bigger very quickly they grow very fast.

Get + Preposition

29. Get In, On

You can get in or get on this means enter different forms of transportation for example so you can get in a car or get in a taxi. It means enter a car enter a taxi. You can get on forms of public transportation so you can get on a subway, get on a bus, or if something like a bike or a motorcycle you can get on a bike or get on a motorcycle, get on a horse. So you can get on top of them. or public transportation get on a plane get on a bus get on a train get on a subway or a metro or the underground. So, again this means enter.

30. Get around

Like to get around the city or the neighborhood. To get around means to travel. how do you get around your city? oh I get around by bus, I get around by using the subway, I get around by walking. So how do you travel around get around your city or your neighborhood.

31. Get by

This is actually a phrasal verb. To get by means to survive. "hey how are you getting by living in your new city?" or "how are you getting by living in Brasilia? if you're in Brazil for example. It means how are you surviving, how are you doing. And the answer sometimes "I'm getting by okay" or "I'm not getting by there"

32. Get To (place)

You can "get to" just vary the preposition to get to a place. For example we got to the library six o'clock. we got to the gas station at 5:00. What time did you get to whatever place you went to for example if you are talking in the past you can also ask a person what time they will arrive at a place say "what time are you gonna get to Jen's house?" or what time are you gonna get to Jen's house for example.

33. Get Up

This can have two meanings. One, to stand up or get up on your feet. Second get up can be if someone is sleeping also stand on your feet but also wake up and rise.

34. Get along (with someone)

To get along with someone means to have a good relationship, a positive relationship with them. I get along with my mom I don't get along with my math teacher I get along with my cousin but I don't get along with my aunt for example.

Get + Places

35. Get Here/There

Hey what time did you get here? if you are you know at a party with a lot of people and you see your friend and they look like you know they have a drink and maybe the drink is half finished and you would be like "oh you're here what time did you get here?" it means what time did you arrive. So you can get or arrive at a place at a location an adverb. "I got here at six o'clock".When did you get there? means when did you arrive there.

36. Get Back.

"what time did you get back?" did you like return to your house for example or to work. "Sorry guys I need to get back to work I can't stay longer for lunch". I need to get back to work.

37. Get Home

Get home so not too home. Home is actually an adverb. so it's slightly different than get to a place like the grocery store you just say " get home" I need to get home soon. I got home late last night. I'm going to get home in five minutes if you are talking to your friend your roommate or your wife or your husband I'm gonna get home in ten minutes.

38. Get Downtown

Get downtown is same idea as home. I'm gonna get downtown in 15 minutes. Means I will arrive in 15 minutes. Now we have gotten to the end of this article.