Speak Up with English Phrasal Verbs: Bump into

In this quick English lesson you will learn how to use the English phrasal verb 'bump into' perfectly.

First you will learn the 2 different meanings, and then you will learn how to use this phrasal verb correctly in sentences.

Try to make your own sentence with this expression. Write your sentence in the comments below and I will check!

The full script is below :)

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Full Script

1 Intro & Meaning

Hi everyone! How’s it going? I’m Luke and in this quick English lesson we’re going to look at the phrasal verb bump into.

So, let’s start with the meaning . This phrasal verb like many others has more than one meaning. It has a literal meaning and an idiomatic meaning. So, let’s look at them both.

2. First Meaning

So, let’s have a look at the literal meaning first. So, I’ll tell you a quick sample sentence and I want you to listen and try to guess the meaning.

“Yesterday, I was walking in my kitchen and I bumped into my coffee machine. It fell off the table and smashed everywhere.”

So, what do you think this means?

Well in the literal sense, this phrasal verb means to accidently hit something. It can be with your body, it can be with a car, with a bike, or anything like that.


3. Second Meaning

The second meaning is a bit more complicated because it has an idiomatic meaning.

But again, let me tell you a quick sample sentence and I want you to listen and try to guess the meaning.


“Earlier today, I bumped into my old friend from college. I was so surprised because I hadn’t seen him for 5 years!”

So, in this sentence, to bump into means to meet someone unexpectedly or to meet someone without planning to do so. So, in my example, I met my friend but I didn’t plan to, so it was very unexpected for me.

There is another phrasal verb you can use which has the same meaning and it is to ‘run into’.

So, I could easily say, “I ran into my friend yesterday.” and it has the same meaning as to bump into.

Ok, so those were the two meanings the literal meaning and the idiomatic meaning. Now, let’s take a look the form so you can know how to use this phrasal verb correctly.

4. Form

The first thing you need to know is that this is a transitive phrasal verb. That means you always need an object with it. So, you always bump into something or bump into someone. That something or someone is the object and you need to mention it.

The next thing you need to know is that this isn’t a separable phrasal verb. So, the object always comes after the phrasal verb.

And the third thing you need to know about this phrasal verb is to do with pronouns. If you want to use a pronoun as an object, like it, him, or her, then it must come after the phrasal verb. Like this “I bumped into it.”or “I bumped into her.”

Some More Examples

Here are three more sample sentences with the phrasal verb bump into.

Number 1. I can’t believe I bumped into my primary school teacher yesterday!
Number 2. Be careful not to bump into the wall when you’re reversing your car out of here.
Number 3. I hope I don’t bump into my professor today… I didn’t do my homework.

Ok, that’s it. I hope this helped you understand the meaning and the form of the phrasal verb bump into.

Now, it’s your turn.

I want you to use this phrasal verb in your own sentence. So, write a sentence below in the comments and I’ll check. See you!

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