wake up
SeparableThe 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: wake UP. Saying “WAKE up” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
Link across the gap. The final /k/ of “wake” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “wake up” is said “wa-kup”. 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 wake UP, the noun is WAKE-UP. Same two words, different beat — “to wake UP” is the action, “a wake-up” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.
What it means
To stop sleeping, or to rouse someone from sleep.
- “I woke up before the alarm went off.”
- “Can you wake me up at seven?”
Similar: rouse, get up