Collocations

Collocations

What is a collocation? Why it’s important to learn them?

Collocation refers to a group of two or more words that usually go together in English conversation.

(take notes, get married, have a meeting, make breakfast, do the shopping, etc.)

Some expression in Bulgarian translated directly into English do not make sense, just because in English they are said in different words.

(правя снимка – make a photo, do a photo, take a photoü)

Collocations are very commonly used in English and learning them is important if you want to be understood correctly or you want to understand what the native speaker is trying to tell you.

Examples:

get the message – разбирам съобщението

take a message – вземам/ записвам съобщение

leave a message (for sb) – оставям съобщение (за някого)

give sb a message – давам/ предавам съобщение на някого

Words that are commonly used in Bulgarian are not used in English in the same way, and the opposite – combinations of words in English have sense only in English but not in Bulgarian. Memorizing the collocations chunked together trains your brain to think in English instead of Bulgarian. If you learn the words together, thinking of the right expression is more effortless. That is why it is crucial to learn them and to train your brain to think in English. 

Practice:
❖ Collocations with HAVE
❖ Collocations with MAKE and DO
❖ Collocations with SAY, TELL and ASK
❖ Collocations with TAKE
❖ Collocations with GET
❖ Collocations with CATCH
❖ Collocations with KEEP
❖ Collocations with SAVE
❖ Collocations with BREAK
❖ Collocation with PAY
❖ Collocation with GIVE
❖ Collocation with COME
❖ Collocations with REACH, ACHIEVE and GAIN
❖ Collocation with GO