October 27, 2025 • 10 mins
Let me ask you something - have you ever noticed how often people say get in English? I mean seriously - we get tired, we get pizza, we get better, we get going, we get caught in the rain, and we get used to the cold. Well, some of us. Get is one of the most flexible and common verbs in English - and native speakers use it all the time in conversation. So today, let’s get into it… and take a look at five of the most useful ways we use get in natural, everyday English.
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Visit my website for over 3,000 free English lessons: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/
My AI English Tutor is HERE
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let me ask you something. Have you ever noticed how
often people say get in English? I mean, seriously, we
get tired, we get pizza, we get better, we get going,
we get caught in the rain, and we get used
to the cold well some of us. Get is one
(00:22):
of the most flexible and common verbs in English, and
native speakers use it all the time in conversation. So
today let's get into it and take a look at
five of the most useful ways we use get in
natural every day English.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Alright, thank you John In. Thanks everyone, It's Michael here
from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine fifteen, how
to use get in five different ways in English. Thanks
(01:15):
for tuning in and welcome back today. I've got something
really practical for you. The verb get might be small,
but it's got big energy. We're gonna look at five
everyday meanings of get and I'll show you how to
use them just like a native speaker. Let's jump in.
(01:37):
First of all, get means receive or obtain. This is
probably the most basic meaning when you get something, you
receive it it comes to you. Like last week, I
ordered a new phone online and I was so happy
when it finally arrived, and then I said, hey, I
(02:00):
got a new phone. Or if someone texts you and
says did you get my message, they're asking did you
receive it? Here's another one. The other day at work,
Tony said, I got an email from the boss this morning.
And you can even say things like let's get a
(02:21):
coffee after work, which means let's go buy or pick
up coffee. So yeah, anytime something is given to you
or you go and grab something, get works perfectly. Now
this next one is huge. Get means become. We use
(02:41):
get all the time when we're talking about a change
in state, when something becomes different. Like yesterday afternoon, I
was working on a project and around three o'clock I said, ugh,
I'm getting tired. Not I be care tired. No one
(03:01):
says that. We say get like it's getting cold out
or don't get upset. It's just a joke. I heard
one of my students say last week, I think I'm
getting better at listening, and I thought, exactly, that's a
great way to show progress. And remember the grammar. We
(03:24):
use get followed by an adjective when something is becoming
that way, like get sick, get hungry, get old, get excited,
get nervous. The list goes on. That's why we don't
use get followed by a noun to mean become, so
you can say I became a teacher, but not I
(03:47):
got a teacher. Get only means become when it's followed
by an adjective. Next up, we use get to mean
begin or leave. Let's say it's Sunday afternoon and someone says,
all right, time to get going. Get going means it's
(04:08):
time to leave. Or when you're at work and your
manager says, let's get started on the next task, it
means let's begin. I said this the other day to
my friend, Hey, we should get going if we want
to catch that movie. And last weekend, when I was
kind of being lazy at home, I looked at the
(04:31):
laundry and said, okay, time to get started on this pile.
So these expressions with get are super common and a
really friendly way to talk about starting or leaving. All right,
let's get going. To the next usage of get, we
(04:53):
often use get instead of be in passive sentences, especially
when something hap that happens to us. So instead of
saying I was invited to a party, you can say
I got invited to a party, same meaning, but get
adds a little bit of emotion. It feels closer, more personal,
(05:17):
like ugh, I got stuck in traffic for over an hour,
or he got promoted last week and my friend Jenny
said this the other day. Can you believe it? I
got chosen to lead the presentation, and I told her nice,
I hope I get chosen next time. This pattern is everywhere.
(05:41):
Get caught, get lost, get fired, get picked, get hit,
get accepted. All of these yes get followed by the
past participle, and they're super useful in conversation. All right, Finally,
we can't talk about get without looking at some phrasal verbs,
(06:02):
and there are a lot of them, literally too many
to talk about them all here, but we can look
at some common ones, like get over. You can use
get over when you recover from something like it took
me a few days to get over that cold, or
(06:26):
Jack said he's finally getting over that breakup with that
girl he was dating. Next is get used to? Get
used to? Is all about becoming comfortable or familiar with
something new. I had a student who just moved to
the US, and she said, it's hard to get used
(06:49):
to driving on the right side of the road. And
I told her, yeah, but you'll get used to it
in no time. It took me a few weeks to
get used to driving on the left here. And how
about get along? If you and someone else have a
good relationship, you can say we get along really well,
(07:13):
like my roommate and I didn't get along at first,
but now we're like best friends. Or it's not easy
to get along with everyone in the workplace, but you
do what you can, all right. And one more, get
by that means to survive or manage, especially when you
(07:37):
don't have much. Back in college, I didn't have much money,
but I worked part time and I got buy. These
are just a few of the most useful frasal verbs
with get and since get shows up in dozens of
frasal verbs, the more you learn them, the more fluent
(07:58):
you'll sound. Okay, let's recap. Get means receive or obtain,
like I got a package from Amazon. Get followed by
an adjective means become. I'm getting sleepy, get going means
leave and get started means begin, like let's get going.
(08:22):
The concert is gonna get started at eight. Get followed
by a past participle shows what happens to us, like
last week in the office, Nick got promoted, but then Kim,
well she got fired, and get shows up in tons
(08:43):
of phrasal verbs get over, get used to, get along,
get by. Trust me, once you get into these, you're
gonna sound more and more natural. So here's your challenge.
Try using two or three of these meanings of get
this week, talk about something that you got, something you're
(09:05):
getting used to, or how you got started with English.
And if you want to practice this kind of everyday
English together, come join my podcast Learner's Study Group. We
meet once a week and go over these podcast lessons
in a fun, friendly group. Just check the link where
(09:27):
you're listening to this podcast right now, or visit Myhappy
English dot com and choose podcast episode nine fifteen for
more info. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember, learning another
language is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm
here to help you on your journey.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy
English by leading us a review English, Get Happy, Happy English,
Let me ask you something. Have you ever noticed how
often people say get in English? I mean, seriously, we
get tired, we get pizza, we get better, we get going,
we get caught in the rain, and we get used
to the cold well some of us. Get is one
(00:22):
of the most flexible and common verbs in English, and
native speakers use it all the time in conversation. So
today let's get into it and take a look at
five of the most useful ways we use get in
natural every day English.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Alright, thank you John In. Thanks everyone, It's Michael here
from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine fifteen, how
to use get in five different ways in English. Thanks
(01:15):
for tuning in and welcome back today. I've got something
really practical for you. The verb get might be small,
but it's got big energy. We're gonna look at five
everyday meanings of get and I'll show you how to
use them just like a native speaker. Let's jump in.
(01:37):
First of all, get means receive or obtain. This is
probably the most basic meaning when you get something, you
receive it it comes to you. Like last week, I
ordered a new phone online and I was so happy
when it finally arrived, and then I said, hey, I
(02:00):
got a new phone. Or if someone texts you and
says did you get my message, they're asking did you
receive it? Here's another one. The other day at work,
Tony said, I got an email from the boss this morning.
And you can even say things like let's get a
(02:21):
coffee after work, which means let's go buy or pick
up coffee. So yeah, anytime something is given to you
or you go and grab something, get works perfectly. Now
this next one is huge. Get means become. We use
(02:41):
get all the time when we're talking about a change
in state, when something becomes different. Like yesterday afternoon, I
was working on a project and around three o'clock I said, ugh,
I'm getting tired. Not I be care tired. No one
(03:01):
says that. We say get like it's getting cold out
or don't get upset. It's just a joke. I heard
one of my students say last week, I think I'm
getting better at listening, and I thought, exactly, that's a
great way to show progress. And remember the grammar. We
(03:24):
use get followed by an adjective when something is becoming
that way, like get sick, get hungry, get old, get excited,
get nervous. The list goes on. That's why we don't
use get followed by a noun to mean become, so
you can say I became a teacher, but not I
(03:47):
got a teacher. Get only means become when it's followed
by an adjective. Next up, we use get to mean
begin or leave. Let's say it's Sunday afternoon and someone says,
all right, time to get going. Get going means it's
(04:08):
time to leave. Or when you're at work and your
manager says, let's get started on the next task, it
means let's begin. I said this the other day to
my friend, Hey, we should get going if we want
to catch that movie. And last weekend, when I was
kind of being lazy at home, I looked at the
(04:31):
laundry and said, okay, time to get started on this pile.
So these expressions with get are super common and a
really friendly way to talk about starting or leaving. All right,
let's get going. To the next usage of get, we
(04:53):
often use get instead of be in passive sentences, especially
when something hap that happens to us. So instead of
saying I was invited to a party, you can say
I got invited to a party, same meaning, but get
adds a little bit of emotion. It feels closer, more personal,
(05:17):
like ugh, I got stuck in traffic for over an hour,
or he got promoted last week and my friend Jenny
said this the other day. Can you believe it? I
got chosen to lead the presentation, and I told her nice,
I hope I get chosen next time. This pattern is everywhere.
(05:41):
Get caught, get lost, get fired, get picked, get hit,
get accepted. All of these yes get followed by the
past participle, and they're super useful in conversation. All right, Finally,
we can't talk about get without looking at some phrasal verbs,
(06:02):
and there are a lot of them, literally too many
to talk about them all here, but we can look
at some common ones, like get over. You can use
get over when you recover from something like it took
me a few days to get over that cold, or
(06:26):
Jack said he's finally getting over that breakup with that
girl he was dating. Next is get used to? Get
used to? Is all about becoming comfortable or familiar with
something new. I had a student who just moved to
the US, and she said, it's hard to get used
(06:49):
to driving on the right side of the road. And
I told her, yeah, but you'll get used to it
in no time. It took me a few weeks to
get used to driving on the left here. And how
about get along? If you and someone else have a
good relationship, you can say we get along really well,
(07:13):
like my roommate and I didn't get along at first,
but now we're like best friends. Or it's not easy
to get along with everyone in the workplace, but you
do what you can, all right. And one more, get
by that means to survive or manage, especially when you
(07:37):
don't have much. Back in college, I didn't have much money,
but I worked part time and I got buy. These
are just a few of the most useful frasal verbs
with get and since get shows up in dozens of
frasal verbs, the more you learn them, the more fluent
(07:58):
you'll sound. Okay, let's recap. Get means receive or obtain,
like I got a package from Amazon. Get followed by
an adjective means become. I'm getting sleepy, get going means
leave and get started means begin, like let's get going.
(08:22):
The concert is gonna get started at eight. Get followed
by a past participle shows what happens to us, like
last week in the office, Nick got promoted, but then Kim,
well she got fired, and get shows up in tons
(08:43):
of phrasal verbs get over, get used to, get along,
get by. Trust me, once you get into these, you're
gonna sound more and more natural. So here's your challenge.
Try using two or three of these meanings of get
this week, talk about something that you got, something you're
(09:05):
getting used to, or how you got started with English.
And if you want to practice this kind of everyday
English together, come join my podcast Learner's Study Group. We
meet once a week and go over these podcast lessons
in a fun, friendly group. Just check the link where
(09:27):
you're listening to this podcast right now, or visit Myhappy
English dot com and choose podcast episode nine fifteen for
more info. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember, learning another
language is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm
here to help you on your journey.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy
English by leading us a review English, Get Happy, Happy English,
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