give up
BothSense-dependent: some meanings take an object and split, others take none. Check the sense you mean.
How to say it
Stress the particle, not the verb: give UP. Saying “GIVE up” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
Link across the gap. The final /v/ of “give” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “give up” is said “gi-vup”. Pausing between the words is what makes phrasal verbs sound recited rather than spoken.
3 meanings
- 1
To stop trying to do something.
- “Don't give up — you're closer than you think.”
- “After three attempts he gave up and called a plumber.”
Similar: quit, surrender
- 2
To stop doing something habitual.
- “She gave up smoking two years ago.”
Similar: quit, stop
- 3
To surrender something to someone else.
- “He gave up his seat for an elderly woman on the bus.”
Similar: relinquish, yield