# 1097 – Everyday Phrasal Verbs with “Off”

An episode of [Happy English Podcast (Natural American English)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/884643408), 17 Sep 2026, 8:40.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75183388/utf_8_q_1097_e2_80_93_everyday_phrasa_utf_8_q_l_verbs_with_e2_80_9coff_e2_80_9d_mp3.mp3

You know, I keep putting off cleaning the garage. They called off the game because of the rain. I’ll drop you off at the station. What time does your flight take off? My alarm went off at five. Off is one of those little words that shows up in a lot of phrasal verbs, and the meaning can change quite a bit depending on the verb. Have you been confused by expressions like put off, call off, drop off, take off, and go off? If so, you’re in luck - because today, we’re going to look at five useful phrasal verbs with off that you can use in everyday English. The Happy English Podcast Helping people speak English better since 2014 Over 1,000 episodes • 8 million downloads 📘 Get free weekly English lessons plus instant access to my FREE Vocabulary Workshop.: https://learn.myhappyenglish.com/free-english-lessons 🎥 Watch video versions of the Happy English Podcast on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@HappyEnglishNY/podcasts 🌐 Learn more about my English lessons and courses https://www.myhappyenglish.com

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: You know, I keep putting off cleaning the garage. They
[0:04] Speaker 1: called off the game because of rain. If you want,
[0:08] Speaker 1: I can drop you off at the station. Hey, what
[0:11] Speaker 1: time does your flight take off? You know, my alarm
[0:14] Speaker 1: goes off every morning at five. Off is one of
[0:19] Speaker 1: those little words that shows up in a lot of
[0:22] Speaker 1: phrasal verbs, and the meaning can change quite a bit
[0:26] Speaker 1: depending on the verb. Have you ever wondered about different
[0:30] Speaker 1: expressions like put off, call off, drop off, take off,
[0:35] Speaker 1: and go off? If so, you're in luck, because today
[0:39] Speaker 1: we're going to look at five different phrasal verbs with
[0:44] Speaker 1: off that you can use in everyday English conversation.
[0:51] Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
[0:55] Speaker 2: New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
[1:00] Speaker 1: All right. Thank you, John, and thanks, everyone. It's Michael
[1:04] Speaker 1: here from Happy English, and I help people speak English better.
[1:09] Speaker 1: And this is Happy English Podcast Episode 1097, Everyday Phrasal
[1:14] Speaker 1: Verbs with Off. And by the way, if you're enjoying
[1:21] Speaker 1: learning English with me, be sure to follow or subscribe
[1:25] Speaker 1: so you don't miss new episodes. Let's start with put off.
[1:31] Speaker 1: We use put off when we postpone doing something or
[1:36] Speaker 1: delay doing it until a later time. For example, I've
[1:41] Speaker 1: been planning to clean out the garage for weeks, but
[1:44] Speaker 1: every weekend I kind of find something else to do. Yeah.
[1:49] Speaker 1: I've been putting off cleaning the garage. I know I
[1:54] Speaker 1: need to do it, but I keep moving it to
[1:57] Speaker 1: a later time. I put off cleaning. Here's another example.
[2:03] Speaker 1: Maybe you need to make a dentist appointment, but you
[2:06] Speaker 1: don't like going to the dentist. You could say, yeah,
[2:10] Speaker 1: I've been putting off calling the dentist. Or maybe the
[2:14] Speaker 1: company says we had to put off the meeting until
[2:17] Speaker 1: next week. In all of these cases, something was planned,
[2:23] Speaker 1: but it was delayed. In other words, it was put off. Next,
[2:28] Speaker 1: we have call off. We use call off when we
[2:33] Speaker 1: cancel something completely. For example, imagine there's a baseball game
[2:38] Speaker 1: scheduled for Saturday, but heavy rain is expected. You could
[2:43] Speaker 1: hear they called off the game because of the weather.
[2:47] Speaker 1: That means the game is canceled. Or maybe your company
[2:52] Speaker 1: planned an outdoor event, but the weather forecast looks terrible.
[2:56] Speaker 1: Your manager says, we decided to call it off. And
[3:00] Speaker 1: in the first episode of the TV series Friends, Rachel
[3:04] Speaker 1: called off her wedding. And notice the difference between put
[3:09] Speaker 1: off and call off. When you put something off, it
[3:14] Speaker 1: still may happen later. When you call something off, it's cancelled.
[3:21] Speaker 1: Next up, let's look at drop off. We often use
[3:26] Speaker 1: drop off when we take a person or something to
[3:30] Speaker 1: a place and leave them there. For example, imagine you're
[3:35] Speaker 1: driving your friend to the train station. Another way to
[3:39] Speaker 1: say that is, I'm going to drop her off at
[3:43] Speaker 1: the station. You take her to the station, she gets
[3:48] Speaker 1: out of your car, and then you go on your way.
[3:52] Speaker 1: You dropped her off. We can also use drop off
[3:56] Speaker 1: to talk about things. In fact, the other day I
[4:00] Speaker 1: dropped off a bunch of shirts at the dry cleaners,
[4:04] Speaker 1: which reminds me I need to pick them up tomorrow.
[4:08] Speaker 1: Oh right, pick up. That's the opposite of drop off.
[4:12] Speaker 1: Remember that friend that you dropped off at the train
[4:16] Speaker 1: station in the morning? Later that day, you're going to
[4:19] Speaker 1: pick her up there. You drive to the station, she
[4:24] Speaker 1: gets in your car, and you continue on your way.
[4:28] Speaker 1: When learning vocabulary like this, learning sets of opposite words
[4:33] Speaker 1: can help you remember both. Pick something up and then
[4:39] Speaker 1: drop it off. Next is take off. And take off
[4:43] Speaker 1: is an interesting phrasal verb because it has several very
[4:47] Speaker 1: common conversational meanings. The first one is when an airplane
[4:53] Speaker 1: leaves the ground, it takes off. Yeah. For example, what
[4:58] Speaker 1: time does your flight take off? Or the plane took
[5:03] Speaker 1: off about 20 minutes late. We also use take off
[5:08] Speaker 1: when we remove clothing or something we're wearing. Where I live,
[5:13] Speaker 1: it's a given that you need to take off your
[5:16] Speaker 1: shoes when you enter someone's house. And it was hot
[5:20] Speaker 1: in the office, so I took off my jacket as
[5:23] Speaker 1: soon as I got in. We also use take off
[5:27] Speaker 1: as a casual way to mean leave or go from
[5:31] Speaker 1: a place. Yesterday at the office, Jack took off early
[5:36] Speaker 1: because he had a dentist appointment. And you know what?
[5:39] Speaker 1: Tomorrow is Friday. I think I'm going to take off
[5:43] Speaker 1: early myself. And there's another conversational usage of take off,
[5:48] Speaker 1: which means something suddenly becomes successful or popular. For example...
[5:55] Speaker 1: Our new business really took off last year. Or, that
[5:59] Speaker 1: video took off online and got millions of views. Hmm,
[6:04] Speaker 1: my video? Anyway, with phrasal verbs like take off that
[6:10] Speaker 1: have several different meanings, the context always makes the meaning clear.
[6:16] Speaker 1: And finally, let's take a look at go off. We
[6:20] Speaker 1: use go off when an alarm goes off, a bell
[6:25] Speaker 1: or a device suddenly makes a sound or activates. For example,
[6:31] Speaker 1: my alarm went off at five o'clock this morning. Or
[6:37] Speaker 1: the fire alarm went off in the middle of a meaning.
[6:41] Speaker 1: So even though the word off itself generally has a
[6:46] Speaker 1: meaning of stopping, like the light is off, the TV
[6:51] Speaker 1: is off, When an alarm goes off, it begins ringing.
[6:57] Speaker 1: It begins making sound. It goes off. Interesting, right? In
[7:03] Speaker 1: my house, whenever I grill fish, the smoke alarm goes off.
[7:08] Speaker 1: So here's the key idea from today's lesson. We put
[7:12] Speaker 1: off something when we postpone it. And we call off
[7:16] Speaker 1: something when we cancel it. We drop off a person
[7:21] Speaker 1: or a thing. when we take them somewhere and leave
[7:24] Speaker 1: them there. A plane takes off when it leaves the ground,
[7:29] Speaker 1: and we can also take off clothing. When a person
[7:33] Speaker 1: takes off, they leave. And you can say that a
[7:37] Speaker 1: business or an idea takes off when it becomes successful.
[7:42] Speaker 1: And oh yeah, your alarm clock, that goes off every morning.
[7:47] Speaker 1: And keep in mind, The best way to remember English
[7:50] Speaker 1: like this and any other word or phrase in English
[7:53] Speaker 1: is to take that word or phrase Write it in
[7:57] Speaker 1: a sentence that's true for you or true in your
[8:00] Speaker 1: world and then memorize your sentences. Thanks for listening. And remember,
[8:06] Speaker 1: learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible.
[8:10] Speaker 1: And I'm here to help you on your journey.
[8:14] Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
[8:18] Speaker 2: visit MyHappyEnglish.com. Show your support for Happy English by leaving
[8:23] Speaker 2: us a review. Get English. Get happy. Happy English.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.