AAAmerican Accent US

make over

Separable

The object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.

How to say it

Stress the particle, not the verb: make OVER. Saying “MAKE over” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.

Link across the gap. The final /k/ of “make” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “make over” is said “ma-kover”. Pausing between the words is what makes phrasal verbs sound recited rather than spoken.

Verb vs noun

As a noun the stress flips to the front: the verb is make OVER, the noun is MAKEOVER. Same two words, different beat — “to make OVER” is the action, “a makeover” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.

What it means

  1. To transform someone's appearance or a space.

    • “They made the whole kitchen over in a weekend.”

    Similar: transform, redo

The particle logic

over

Something is examined from above, done again, or moved across.

Listen + practice

Hear “make over” spoken naturally

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More MAKE phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

make up

To invent a story or an excuse.

make up for

To compensate for something you did wrong or failed to do.

make out

To manage to see, hear or understand something with difficulty.

make it

To succeed, arrive, or survive.

make off with

To steal something and escape with it.

make do

To manage with whatever is available, even if it is not ideal.

make over — meaning, examples & how to say it