Practise with our Cloze Dropdown and Speaking Cards. See also English Phrasal Verbs and Phrasal Verbs Guide.
- Get on with someone means to have a good relationship with them.
- Fall out means to have an argument and stop being friendly.
- Break up / split up means to end a romantic relationship.
- Make up means to become friendly again after an argument.
- Settle down means to start a stable, often long-term life.
Want to practise straight away? Try a Grammar Quiz →
When you talk about people and relationships in everyday English, phrasal verbs are everywhere. We don’t usually say begin a romantic relationship; we say get together. This guide covers the most common phrasal verbs for friendships and romantic relationships — from getting on with people to falling out and making up — with clear meanings and example sentences.
Getting Along
These phrasal verbs describe positive relationships.
Getting Along
| Phrasal verb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| get on with | have a good relationship with |
| look up to | admire and respect |
| count on | rely on someone |
| open up to | share feelings with |
Arguments and Problems
These describe conflict and difficulties.
They fell out over money. (argued and stopped being friendly)
She let me down. (disappointed me)
He fell out with his brother.
Romantic Relationships
Romantic relationships have their own set of phrasal verbs.
Romance
| Phrasal verb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ask out | invite on a date |
| go out with | be in a relationship with |
| break up / split up | end a relationship |
| get back together | resume a relationship |
Staying Together
After an argument, people can make up (become friendly again). In the long term, a couple may settle down (begin a stable life) and even tie the knot (an idiom meaning to get married).
Example Sentences
Seeing the verbs in context helps fix the meaning.
I really get on with my colleagues.
They broke up last year but got back together recently.
After the argument, they soon made up.
Common Mistakes
A common mistake is confusing similar verbs, such as fall out (argue) and fall for (fall in love). Another is using the wrong particle, for example get on without with when a person is mentioned. Learners also mix up the many meanings of make up. The safest approach is to learn each phrasal verb in a full example sentence so the meaning and grammar stay together.
A Short Story to Tie Them Together
Phrasal verbs stick best when you meet them in a connected story rather than a list. Read the short narrative below and notice how naturally the verbs describe the ups and downs of a relationship.
"Tom and Mia met at university and immediately got on well. After a few months he finally asked her out, and soon they were going out together. Last year they fell out over money and even broke up for a while — but they made up, got back together, and now they're planning to settle down."
In just a few sentences, the story moves through almost every key phrasal verb in this guide, showing exactly when each one is used. Try writing a similar short paragraph about people you know — real or invented — using as many of the verbs as you can. Because the verbs are linked by a narrative, your memory stores them together as a sequence, which makes them much easier to recall in conversation.
Relationships are not only romantic, of course, and many of these verbs work just as well for friends, family and colleagues. You can get on with a coworker, look up to a mentor, fall out with a friend over a misunderstanding, and later make up. You might grow apart from an old school friend or drift apart after moving away, and then get in touch again years later. Learning the verbs as a flexible set, rather than tying each one to a single situation, means you can describe the full range of human relationships — warm, difficult, distant or renewed — with the natural, idiomatic English that native speakers actually use.
Practise everyday English today
Use LexFizz cloze and speaking exercises to master relationship phrasal verbs — free, no sign-up needed.
Try Cloze Dropdown →