Phrasal Verbs with OUT

B2 — vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading

Kenji: I finally figured out why my Spanish sounds so formal.

Sofía: How did you find that out?

Kenji: Abuela Carmen pointed it out. I only learned textbook phrases.

Sofía: Well, you're working it out — that's what matters.

Common mistake: “I found out the answer, I've known it for years.” — Correct: “I found out the answer just now, after searching for hours.”

Phrasal verbs with 'out' often describe discovering, solving, running out of something, or standing apart from others.

• 🔍 find out — discover or learn new information
• 🧩 work out / figure out — solve or understand a problem
• 🪫 run out (of) — have no more left in supply
• 🤲 hand out — distribute to each person in a group
• 🌟 stand out — be clearly noticeable or distinguished

• Sofía found out about the meeting too late.
• Kenji worked out a way to fix the schedule.
• They ran out of coffee this morning.
• Ben's designs always stand out.
• We didn't figure out the problem in time.
• Sofía didn't hand out the flyers yet.
• I couldn't work out the answer alone.
• Did you find out what happened?
• How did you figure it out?
• Have they run out of milk again?
• Did Sofía find out in time? Yes, she did.
• Did you figure out the problem? Yes, I did.
• Have they run out of coffee? Yes, they have.

Practice

1. Sofía ___ about the meeting too late. (found out, worked out, handed out)
2. They ___ of coffee this morning. (ran out, found out, stood out)
3. Ben's designs always ___. (stand out, run out, hand out)
4. 'Find out' means to already know something for a long time.
5. 'Run out of' means to have none left.
6. 'Stand out' means to be noticeably different or better.
7. Kenji ___ (work, past) out a way to fix the schedule.
8. We didn't ___ out the problem in time.
9. Sofía didn't ___ out the flyers yet.
10. Unscramble: Sofía, found, out, about, the, meeting, too, late
11. Unscramble: they, ran, out, of, coffee, this, morning
12. Find the mistake: I found out the answer, I've known it for years.
13. Sofía discovered the truth too late. — Rewrite using 'find out'.
14. We solved the problem together. — Rewrite using 'work out' or 'figure out'.
15. Did you find out what happened? — Answer with a short answer (Yes).
16. We ran out of coffee. — Write a sentence meaning the opposite (we still have plenty).
17. Have you ever run out of time during a test? (short answer)

Listening

Kenji: I finally figured out why my Spanish sounds so formal.

Sofía: How did you find that out?

Kenji: Abuela Carmen pointed it out during lunch.

Sofía: What did she say?

Kenji: That I only learned textbook phrases. I need to hang out with more people, not just study grammar.

Sofía: Well, you're working it out. That's what matters.

Reading

It took Kenji almost a year to figure out why his Spanish sounded stiff, even though his grammar was nearly perfect. He found out the answer during a long lunch with Abuela Carmen, who pointed out that he'd learned every rule in the book but never learned how people actually talk. She handed him a list of expressions she used every day — nothing from any textbook. Kenji ran out of paper taking notes. Months later, his Spanish still isn't perfect, but it stands out for a different reason now: it sounds like someone who actually talks to people, not just someone who studied a language.

• Kenji's Spanish grammar was nearly perfect.
• Abuela Carmen gave Kenji a list of textbook phrases.
• Kenji ran out of paper taking notes.
• Kenji's Spanish now sounds like a textbook.