Essential English Phrases & Prepositions for Fluency

Phrases with ‘With’

  • Impressed with
  • To cope with (to try to find a solution)
  • Delighted with
  • Bored of/with
  • Fed up with
  • To fiddle with (your hair/your jewellery)
  • To deal with (lidiar)

Phrases with ‘Of’

  • All of a sudden
  • A sigh of relief
  • To get rid of
  • Instead of
  • A stroke of (inspiration/luck)
  • A gust of wind
  • A bonus of
  • Afraid of
  • To remind somebody of something

Phrases with ‘In’

  • To blend in (pertenecer)
  • To have something in common
  • To be/to look in control
  • To take part in (participar)
  • In the middle
  • In the centre
  • In a side street
  • In a residential area
  • In the suburbs
  • In the corner (of a room)
  • Interested in
  • To get in the neck (estar castigado)
  • To be in trouble
  • There’s no point in
  • In the mood

Phrases with ‘To’

  • To be bound to (estar seguro)
  • Due to
  • To tend to (tener tendencia a)
  • To draw attention to (pedir atención)
  • To intend to (do something) (tener la intención)
  • Bored to death
  • To starve to death
  • To go to a place
  • To climb up to the top
  • To be / to get stuck (no poder moverse)
  • To have a claim to fame
  • To enable somebody to do something
  • Related to
  • To go from bad to worse
  • To call somebody to your office
  • To be chained to a desk

Phrases with ‘At’

  • To aim at/for
  • At the end of
  • A concert at the arena
  • Good/bad at
  • Terrible at
  • Brilliant at
  • Excellent at
  • At the age of (twelve)
  • At that moment
  • To be at work
  • At risk
  • At this stage

Phrases with ‘About’

  • To complain about (quejarse)
  • Crazy about
  • Mad about
  • To have doubts about (tener dudas sobre)

Phrases with ‘Out’

  • To shoot out
  • To be out of work
  • To chill out (relajarse)

Phrases with ‘On’

  • On the outskirts
  • On a main road
  • On the corner (of a street)
  • On the way out of the centre
  • On stage (to act in a scenario)
  • Keen on (ser fanático)
  • To get work on time
  • To get on TV
  • On holiday / on business
  • To be / to go on strike (de paro o huelga)
  • To focus on
  • On a leash
  • On purpose

Phrases with ‘By’

  • By far
  • By the time
  • (All) by myself
  • By accident
  • To be impressed by
  • To be replaced by

Phrases with ‘From’

  • To send a postcard from somewhere
  • To be chosen from
  • To look down from the top of a building
  • From (nine) to (five)
  • From now on (desde ahora)

Phrases with ‘For’

  • To blame somebody for doing something (culpar)
  • Famous for
  • To raise funds for (to collect money)
  • To have no stomach for
  • To not have a head for
  • To apply for (inscribirse)
  • For the (first) time
  • For a living (de qué vive)

Phrases with ‘Into’

  • To get involved (estar metido en algo)
  • To get into a building
  • To get into trouble
  • To fly into a rage
  • To take into account (considerar)

Other Common Phrases & Idioms

  • To loosen up (relajarse)
  • To wind somebody up (molestar)
  • Stuck up (creerse el mejor)
  • To walk across the road
  • To move towards the exit
  • To put one’s foot down (tomar una decisión)
  • To lie through one’s teeth (saber que está mintiendo)
  • To give a hand
  • To lose heart (perder el ánimo)
  • To face the music (aceptar la crítica)