Home safety · Home and routines

trip over

fall after contact

To fall or nearly fall because your foot hits something.

B1 common speech & writing

phrasal verb

trip over

This vs that

my foot hit the cable

I tripped over the cable.

the surface made it hard to keep balance

The tiles were slippery.

Hear it in real life

What happened to your knee?

I tripped over a box on the stairs.

Play the conversation

I nearly tripped over the dog when I got up in the dark.

Which sounds natural?

Psst — which one would you actually say?

The mistake everyone makes

Not: I tripped the cable and fell ~~down.~~

Say: I tripped over the cable and fell over.

Use 'trip over' when an object causes the fall.

Build it

How it fits in a sentence.

trip over something; trip over and fall

More for talking about home safety.

keep something out of reach

Keep cleaning products out of reach of children.

check for signs of

Check for signs of damage before using the ladder.

Home and routines · Home safety: the words around “trip over”.

More connectionsMore home safety words8

Your turn: say it out loud

I tripped over the cable.

Say it out loud two or three times, until it feels like yours.

trip over

fall after contact

“I nearly tripped over the dog when I got up in the dark.”

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