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Everyday English · Work & study

Hand in

Give completed work or a document to the person responsible.

You give completed work or an official document to the person or organisation that needs to receive it. It can also be submitted digitally.

Plain-English lessonVisual explanation3 practice steps

01 · Picture the situation

Understand it in three steps

Cartoon of a student giving a completed assignment to her teacher.
Picture the meaningShe hands her finished work in to the teacher.
01Finish your work
02Submit it
03Teacher receives it

Imagine this: You finish your assignment on Thursday. On Friday you give it to your teacher. You hand it in on Friday; finishing it and submitting it are different steps.

02 · Hear it in everyday life

Examples you can use

Three natural sentences

  1. Please hand in your homework by Friday.
  2. We handed our forms in at reception.
  3. I finished the report. I will hand it in today.

A short conversation

PERSON AWhen do we need to hand the project in?
PERSON BBy four o’clock on Monday.

Read the conversation aloud. Then swap roles and try it again without looking.

03 · Build your sentence

How to use hand in

Use hand in your work or hand your work in. With it or them, put the pronoun in the middle. Add to for the receiver and by for a deadline: hand it in to the teacher by Friday.

BASE FORMhand in
PAST SIMPLEhanded in
AFTER HAVE / HAShanded in

The base form is used after can, will and to. The past simple describes a finished past event. The third form follows have or has, for example when connecting an earlier action to now.

A common mistake to avoid

Use thisWe handed them in yesterday.
Avoid this in this meaningWe handed in them yesterday.

Them, a pronoun referring to documents, comes before in.

Do not confuse it: Fill in means complete the information on a form. Hand in means submit it. A form may be filled in but not yet handed in.

Does it have another meaning?

Hand in can also be used for returning something to the appropriate authority, such as a lost item at reception.

Learn the meaning and sentence pattern together. Small words such as up and off do not have one fixed meaning in every expression.

04 · Make it stick

Try it for yourself

Choose an answer before opening the explanation. Then make a sentence about your own life.

1. You finish a report, then send it to your teacher. Which action is handing it in?
  1. Writing the first sentence
  2. Submitting the report
  3. Reading the instructions
Check answer 1

B. Submitting the report

Handing in means submitting the completed work.

2. Please hand the form in ___ Friday.
  1. by
  2. with
  3. at
Check answer 2

A. by

By Friday gives the deadline: submit it no later than Friday.

3. Your turn

Make a sentence about a deadline.

See a possible model and self-check

Please hand in your homework by Friday.

This is one model, not the only correct answer. Check that your sentence uses the meaning taught here, the right verb form and the word order above. Change the person, place or time to make it your own.