Phrasal verb
Phrasal verbs with go
By EasySay. Published . Updated .
Go changes its meaning with the small word after it.
Go on means to continue, go off means to ring, and go out means to leave home for fun. This page explains eight meanings of go, with a pattern and an example for each, and a five-question check.
Written for EasySay, in our own words.
In short
- Patterngo on
- Patterngo off
go: what it is, and what it is not
- IS
- go on: continue without stopping.
- IS
- go off: ring or sound, like an alarm or siren.
- IS
- go out: leave home to eat, drink or meet friends.
- IS NOT
- go on: the object cannot go in the middle; it stays after the small words.
- IS NOT
- The plain verb: go with a small word takes a new meaning, such as continue without stopping.
Meaning: Go is a common verb for movement. With small words it can mean to continue, to ring, to leave home, to check carefully, to rise and more.
How do people say it?
- Continue without stopping:
The meeting went on for three hours.
- Ring or sound, like an alarm or siren:
My alarm goes off at six every morning.
Check yourself
What should I know?
What does it mean, and how is it used?
| Meaning | Object in the middle? | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continue without stopping | No | go on |
|
| Ring or sound, like an alarm or siren | No | go off |
|
| Leave home to eat, drink or meet friends | No | go out |
|
| Read, check or explain carefully | No | go over sth |
|
| Experience a hard, sad or difficult time | No | go through sth |
|
| Rise to a higher price, level or place | No | go up |
|
| Return to a place, a job or a habit | No | go back |
|
| Match, suit or look good beside something | No | go with sth |
|
Map of the small words
- goon
- Continue without stoppinggo onObject goes after
- gooff
- Ring or sound, like an alarm or sirengo offObject goes after
- goout
- Leave home to eat, drink or meet friendsgo outObject goes after
- goover
- Read, check or explain carefullygo over sthObject goes after
- gothrough
- Experience a hard, sad or difficult timego through sthObject goes after
- goup
- Rise to a higher price, level or placego upObject goes after
- goback
- Return to a place, a job or a habitgo backObject goes after
- gowith
- Match, suit or look good beside somethinggo with sthObject goes after
Small words used with it
- on
- off
- out
- over
- through
- up
- back
- with
What should I not mix it up with?
- come Come is a common verb for movement and arrival. With small words it can mean to return, to think of an idea, to be released, to catch an illness and more.
Go is one of the first verbs every learner meets. Its eight meanings on this page show how much work one short word can do. Go on continues, go off rings, go out leaves home and go up rises.
When you meet a new phrase with go, look at the small word first. On, off, out and up each change the verb completely, and the pattern in the table shows what each one asks for.
The eight meanings on this page keep the object after the pair. The small word stays next to the verb.
You say go over the report and go through a hard year. You do not split the pair.
Learners who know put and take sometimes try to split go as well. Resist it: go keeps its small words close in each row of the table, and the check below does not ask you to move one.
The forms of go need care because go is irregular in every tense. The past is went, as in went back to Perth, and the past participle is gone, as in have gone up. Two meanings need extra care with the words around them.
Go off means to ring only for alarms, sirens and guns. Food that goes off has gone bad, which is a different phrase for another day. Go with has the thing that matches.
Go back and go on look small but carry long stories. Back returns you to a place, a job or a habit, as in went back to Perth. On keeps you going without stopping, as in went on for three hours.
Go over and go through both read carefully, but over checks a thing and through lives through a time. Write your own sentence for each row, then try the check below.
Other base verbs
Questions people ask
What are the forms of go?
Go, goes, went, gone, going. The past is went and the past participle is gone: went back to Perth, have gone up twice this year.
Does go off mean food is bad?
It can, but not on this page. Here go off means to ring, like an alarm. Food that has gone bad is a separate phrase to learn later.
Can the object go in the middle with go?
Not in any of the eight meanings on this page. Say go over the report and go through a hard year, with the small words next to the verb.
What is the difference between go back and come back?
Go back moves away from the speaker toward a place, and come back moves toward the speaker. Went back to Perth leaves here; came back from Sydney arrives here.
Sources and dates
- EasySay's own writing for the phrasal verbs, EasySay. Licence: original writing for EasySay. Checked .
Cite this page
EasySay. "Phrasal verbs with go". https://easysay.org/phrasal-verbs/go. Last updated 23 October 2026.
https://easysay.org/phrasal-verbs/go