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Learn more about feelings and emotions

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(images & clips: Getty)

Introduction

Georgie teaches you some phrasal verbs that can be used to talk about feelings. 

Phrasal verbs mentioned

bottle up (feelings/emotions)
keep feelings hidden and suppressed instead of talking about them

• He tends to bottle up his anger, which often leads to stress.
• Don’t bottle up your emotions; it’s important to talk about how you feel.

open up
share your feelings freely and openly 

• After years of keeping everything inside, she finally opened up to her therapist.
• He finds it hard to open up about his past, even to close friends.

hold back/hold (something) back
hesitate or restrain oneself from saying or doing something

• He wanted to tell her the truth, but he decided to hold back.
• She had to hold back her tears during the emotional movie.
• I tried to hold back my laughter during the meeting, but it was impossible.

break down
lose control of your emotions and start crying

• After weeks of stress, he finally broke down and cried.
• She broke down in tears when she heard the sad news.

blow up
lose emotional control in an angry way

• He blew up at his work colleague for making the same mistake again.
• The teacher blew up when the students wouldn’t stop talking.

freak out
lose emotional control (from shock, excitement, fear etc.)

• Don’t freak out, but there’s a spider on your shoulder!
• She freaked out when she saw her favourite popstar on the street. 

calm down
return to a state of calmness or relaxation after feeling intense emotions

• After taking a few deep breaths, I started to calm down. 
• He needed a few minutes to calm down after the argument.

chill out
relax

• They spent the weekend chilling out by the beach, forgetting about their worries.
• You need to chill out and stop worrying so much about the exam.

 

TOP TIPS!

• If you see the word ‘something’, it usually means the verb requires an object.
• If ‘something’ is in the middle of the phrasal verb, it means that it can be separated by the object (but doesn’t have to be).
• If ‘something’ is at the end of the phrasal verb, it means it cannot be separated.
• When a pronoun, e.g. him, her, them, is the object of a separable phrasal verb, it must go between the verb and the particle.

To do

Practise by using the worksheet on this page.

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Tenses with Georgie 

Prepositions with Georgie 

Conditionals with Georgie 

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