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Everyday English · Daily routines

Get up

Leave your bed after sleeping.

You move out of bed and start your day. You may already be awake before you get up.

Plain-English lessonVisual explanation3 practice steps

01 · Picture the situation

Understand it in three steps

Cartoon of a man standing beside his bed with both feet on the floor after getting up.
Picture the meaningHe gets up and starts his day.
01In bed
02Feet on the floor
03Ready for the day

Imagine this: Ravi opens his eyes at 6:30. He stays under the blanket for ten minutes. At 6:40 he leaves his bed. He gets up at 6:40.

02 · Hear it in everyday life

Examples you can use

Three natural sentences

  1. I get up at seven every morning.
  2. Mina got up late and missed breakfast.
  3. We need to get up early tomorrow.

A short conversation

PERSON AWhat time do you get up on weekdays?
PERSON BUsually at six, but I get up later on Sunday.

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

03 · Build your sentence

How to use get up

For this morning-routine meaning, use a person + get up. You can add a time, such as at seven, or a word such as early. You do not need an object after up.

BASE FORMget up
PAST SIMPLEgot up
AFTER HAVE / HASgot up (UK) / gotten up (US)

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 thisI got up at seven yesterday.
Avoid this in this meaningI getted up at seven yesterday.

Get has the irregular past form got. Do not add -ed.

Do not confuse it: Wake up means stop sleeping. Get up means leave your bed. You can wake up and stay in bed, so the two actions do not have to happen together.

Does it have another meaning?

Get up can also mean stand after sitting or lying down: “He got up from the chair.” The situation tells you which meaning is intended.

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. Ravi wakes at 6:30 and leaves bed at 6:40. When does he get up?
  1. At 6:40
  2. At 6:30
  3. When he goes to sleep
Check answer 1

A. At 6:40

He gets up when he leaves the bed, even though he was awake earlier.

2. Yesterday I ___ at eight.
  1. got up
  2. getted up
  3. getting up
Check answer 2

A. got up

Use got up for a finished action in the past.

3. Your turn

What time do you usually get up?

See a possible model and self-check

I get up at seven every morning.

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.