AAAmerican Accent US

take away

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: take AWAY. Saying “TAKE away” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.

Link across the gap. The final /k/ of “take” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “take away” is said “ta-kaway”. 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 take AWAY, the noun is TAKEAWAY. Same two words, different beat — “to take AWAY” is the action, “a takeaway” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.

What it means

  1. To remove something entirely.

    • “Nothing can take away what she achieved.”
    • “They took his licence away for a year.”

    Similar: remove, confiscate

The particle logic

away

Something moves off, vanishes, or keeps going steadily.

Listen + practice

Hear “take away” spoken naturally

Pick a sentence to record

Read the sentence aloud. Keep the stress on the particle and run the two words together — we’ll score every sound and flag what to work on.

Click to record

More TAKE phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

take off

(Of an aircraft) to leave the ground.

take up

To start a new hobby or activity.

take over

To assume control of something.

take in

To provide shelter for a person or animal.

take after

To resemble an older relative in looks or character.

take on

To accept a new responsibility or task.

take out

To remove something from inside a place or container.

take back

To retract something you said.

take down

To write information as you hear it.

take apart

To separate something into its parts.

take to

To begin to like someone or something.

take away — meaning, examples & how to say it