Probablemente ya conozcas algunos de los significados de pick up. Es un phrasal verb bastante común y relativamente sencillo porque, aunque tiene diferentes significados, algunos son muy parecidos entre sí. Vamos a repasar 10 de los significados más comunes de pick up con ejemplos para que puedas entenderlos mejor con un poco de contexto.
1 Pick something up – to lift – levantar, coger.
Can you help me pick this chair up?
Please pick up the bags from the floor.
2 Pick up – answer the phone – coger el teléfono, contestar el teléfono.
The phone rang and I picked it up.
I called your office but nobody picked up the phone.
3 Pick up – to buy or get something from a shop – comprar.
We’ll pick up a few things at the supermarket.
This is a souvenir I picked up when I went to China.
4 Pick up – to collect, to get – recoger.
I’ll pick up the tickets on my way home.
He picked up his suit from the dry cleaner’s.
Si no acabas de entender cómo funcionan los phrasal verbs y qué tipos hay, estos trucos para aprender phrasal verbs te pueden interesar.
5 Pick somebody up – recoger, pasar a buscar.
I take children to school and I’ll pick them up too.
She said she will pick me up at the airport.
Importante: dentro de los usos y significados de pick up, con este en concreto, observa que la persona (objeto directo) se coloca en el medio. Por ejemplo, you take the children to school, but you pick them up later. Otros phrasal verbs con take.
6 Pick up – tidy up, clean up – ordenar, colocar.
Help me pick these things up. We have guests coming.
I’ll pick up my room later.
7 Pick up – learn, understand – aprender, entender.
He picked up some Portuguese words on his trip.
She started a cooking course to pick up some basic skills.
8 Pick up – start again, resume – continuar algo por donde se dejó.
We can meet again tomorrow and pick up where we left it.
We’ll pick up this conversation later.
9 Pick up – improve, get better – mejorar.
Our campaign will make that sales pick up during next quarter.
She had a bad year, but her life is picking up slowly.
10 Pick up – pay for – pagar.
I’ll pick this up.
Luckily, my company has agreed to pick up the travel expenses.
Estos son 10 significados del phrasal verb pick up, pero aún nos queda un significado de pick up más, no te lo pierdas.
+1 Pick up – flirt, having a sexual interest in someone – ligar.
He said he’d picked the woman up in a bar.
She went home with some man she picked up in a bar.
No es el único caso de un mismo phrasal verb con varios significados. También el phrasal verb give up puede tener varios significados. Puedes verlo en este post de phrasal verbs con give.
Seguramente algunos de estos significados de pick up te resulten más fáciles que otros, la verdad es que es un phrasal verb bastante común y se puede usar en diferentes contextos, como has visto, así que vale la pena aprender al menos los más comunes y empezar a usarlos.

Hoy os traemos de nuevo un post de phrasal verbs. En este caso veremos phrasal verbs de uso muy común con look. Recuerda que aunque pueden resultarnos un poco complicadillos, lo mejor es ir aprendiendolos poco a poco y comenzar a utilizar algunos de ellos una vez tienes claro su significado. Para eso, hoy te proponemos estos 15 phrasal verbs con look con su significado y ejemplos.
To look for / to search – buscar.
E.g.
She’s looking for a new job.
I didn’t find what I was looking for.
To look after / to take care of – cuidar.
E.g.
I need a babysitter to look after my children.
Do you mind looking after my dog next weekend?
To look up / to try to find information – buscar información (en un diccionario, libro, en internet).
E.g.
I’ll look it up on Wikipedia.
They looked the words up in a dictionary.
To look forward to / to be waiting and excited about a future event – esperar ansioso, entusiasmado.
E.g.
I look forward to meeting you again.
He is looking forward to your visit.
To look over / to quickly examine something – echar un vistazo.
E.g.
Could you look over my notes and tell me what you think?
I like to look over the newspaper before going to work.
To look up to / to respect and admire someone – admirar a alguien.
E.g.
I look up to my father, I hope I will be like him some day.
He has always looked up to his boss.
To look down on / to feel better than other people – creerse mejor, menospreciar a alguien.
E.g.
Rich people look down on others.
Many companies look down on their employees.
To look into / to investigate, examine – investigar, examinar con detalle.
E.g.
You’ll have to look into the pros and cons of moving to another country.
The doctor looked into the injury and prescribed some antibiotics.
To look in on / to visit someone for a short time – visitar a alguien, pasarse a ver.
E.g.
Could you look in on your grandma and see if she’s all right?
Ok, I’ll look in on her on my way home.
To look back on / to think about something in the past – recordar, pensar sobre el pasado.
E.g.
I feel proud when I look back on the things I’ve done in my life.
If you look back on your childhood you will remember happy times.
To look out / to watch and be careful – tener cuidado.
E.g.
Look out! There is broken glass on the floor.
Look out with that dog, it seems dangerous.
To look at / to consider or examine something – considerar, examinar.
E.g.
We will look at all the proposal before making a decision.
Management are looking at ways of cutting costs.
To look around / to visit, to search – buscar, visitar, mirar alrededor.
E.g.
We started looking around for a house on the beach.
They looked around the city but they didn’t find the gallery.
To look through / to examine or read something briefly – hojear, revisar.
E.g.
Have you look through the report I sent you?
I was looking through some books on the subject.
To look to / to rely on someone for help – esperar que alguien haga algo por ti.
E.g.
We look to our manager to give us the instructions.
I look to Kim to help me with my exam.
Seguro que algunos ya te sonaban y los puedes tachar de la lista 😉
Y como sabemos que los phrasal verbs son un tema recurrente a la hora de aprender inglés y ampliar vocabulario aquí tenéis más phrasal verbs con take y con get, look through them!
