English Vocabulary · Level B2 · CLIL: Peru

Why “put” is one of the hardest words in English

If you look up put in a dictionary, you’ll find a single, simple verb. Look a little deeper, and you’ll discover ten, twenty, thirty different meanings — all hiding inside phrasal verbs. Peru has a similar surprise: what looks from the outside like a country of Inca ruins turns out to be one of the world’s most creative culinary powerhouses. Tonight we use that creativity as our backdrop to master ten essential phrasal verbs with PUT.

What is a phrasal verb?

A phrasal verb is a verb combined with one or two particles (a preposition, an adverb, or both) that produces a new, distinct meaning. Put + off does not mean “to place something in an off position” — it means to postpone. The meaning is idiomatic, which is why these verbs need to be learned as units.

Separability: most PUT phrasal verbs are separable — you can place the object between the verb and the particle (put the meeting off = put off the meeting). When the object is a pronoun, it must go in the middle: put it off ✓ / put off it ✗. However, put up with is inseparable — the object always follows the full phrase: put up with the noise ✓ / put the noise up with ✗.

The ten phrasal verbs

Phrasal verb Meaning Example from Peru
put off postpone; also discourage The rain put off the trek to Machu Picchu by a day.
put up with tolerate, endure Street food vendors in Lima put up with long hours in the heat.
put across communicate an idea clearly Chef Martínez puts across Peru’s biodiversity through every dish.
put forward propose, suggest The guide put forward a dawn start to avoid the tourist crowds.
put down criticise; write/note something; pay a deposit She put down all the Quechua words she heard in the market.
put aside save money; set aside feelings or time We put aside our tiredness and climbed the final steps to the citadel.
put through make someone experience something hard; connect by phone; get passed/approved The altitude put several hikers through a tough first night in Cusco.
put back return something to its place; delay again The flights were put back another hour because of fog over the Andes.
put in install; invest time or effort; submit an application The chefs at Maido put in years of research before the restaurant opened.
put out extinguish (fire); publish/release; inconvenience someone The Peruvian tourist board put out a new campaign celebrating the country’s 3,000 potato varieties.

Peru through these verbs: the CLIL context

Peru is a country that rewards patience and effort — two qualities that these phrasal verbs describe perfectly. Here are five verified facts about Peru, each brought to life through a phrasal verb.

1. Machu Picchu — put off and put through

The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu was built around 1450 at an altitude of 2,430 metres. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1983, calling it “a masterpiece of art, urbanism, architecture and engineering.” Many visitors are put off by the physical challenge — steep paths, thin air, and early morning starts — but those who don’t let that discourage them find the experience extraordinary. The altitude puts most people through an adjustment period of at least a day, a phenomenon known locally as soroche.

The Spanish never found Machu Picchu, so it wasn’t known to the outside world until 1911. Even today, archaeologists are still putting forward new theories about its exact purpose.

2. Lima’s restaurants — put in and put across

Lima has become one of the world’s great dining cities. In June 2025, the Lima restaurant Maido — known for its Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian fusion) cuisine — was crowned the World’s Best Restaurant. In 2023, the same title went to Central, led by chef Virgilio Martínez, whose tasting menus use ingredients from every altitude of the Andes and the Amazon. The chefs at these restaurants put in years of research — travelling to remote communities, learning from Quechua farmers, studying altitude ecology — before they could put across their vision of Peruvian identity on a plate.

3. The potato’s homeland — put out and put aside

Peru is where the potato was first domesticated as a crop, and Quechua farmers still cultivate over 3,000 varieties of potato in the Andes today. That is not a misprint — three thousand. Every size, colour, texture, and flavour imaginable. Each year, agricultural organisations put out new research on preserving this biodiversity. To do so, traditional farming communities put aside land in seed banks, ensuring that rare varieties survive climate change and modernisation.

4. Ceviche — put back and put up with

Peru’s national dish, ceviche, dates back over 2,000 years to the Moche culture on the northern coast. The modern version — raw fish cured in lime juice, mixed with onion, chilli, and coriander — is deceptively simple, but getting it right is an art. New cooks are often put back to basics by experienced chefs: the fish must be fresh, the lime must be squeezed at the last moment, and there are no shortcuts. Apprentice chefs also have to put up with the intense heat of a Lima kitchen and the pressure of speed — a proper ceviche is made to order and served immediately.

Common mistakes for Spanish speakers

Watch out for these

“Put off” — Spanish speakers often confuse put off (postpone) with turn off (apagar) or use it incorrectly when they mean discourage.

✗ I was put off the lights before leaving.
✓ I turned off the lights before leaving.
✓ The price put me off visiting. / The visit was put off until Thursday.

“Put up with” — The direct translation of soportar / aguantar feels like it should be support or support with, but neither works. You must use the three-word inseparable phrase.

✗ She can’t support his behaviour anymore.
✓ She can’t put up with his behaviour anymore.

“Put off” + gerund — When put off is followed by a verb, Spanish speakers frequently use the infinitive. English requires the gerund (-ing form).

✗ We put off to visit Machu Picchu until next year.
✓ We put off visiting Machu Picchu until next year.

“Put across” — Learners at B2 often use explain where a more natural English speaker would say put across, especially in professional or creative contexts.

✗ It’s hard to explain the complexity of Peruvian cuisine.
✓ It’s hard to put across the complexity of Peruvian cuisine. (more idiomatic in this context)

Pronoun position — With separable phrasal verbs, a pronoun object must sit between the verb and the particle, never after the particle.

✗ Can you put forward it at the meeting?
✓ Can you put it forward at the meeting?

Example bank (16 sentences in context)

  1. The expedition leader put off the summit attempt because of the weather forecast.
  2. After years in Lima, she had learned to put up with the city’s notorious traffic.
  3. The documentary puts across the beauty of the Sacred Valley far better than any brochure.
  4. The young archaeologist put forward a new theory about the construction of Machu Picchu.
  5. He put down every phrase the market vendor said so he wouldn’t forget it.
  6. They put aside their differences and enjoyed a shared plate of ceviche.
  7. The thin Andean air put the whole group through a sleepless first night in Cusco.
  8. The departure was put back to the following morning when the fog refused to lift.
  9. The chefs at Kjolle put in six months sourcing ingredients from the jungle before the menu was ready.
  10. The tourism ministry put out a new guide to responsible trekking in the Inca Trail.
  11. Don’t let the distance put you off — the journey to Colca Canyon is worth every hour.
  12. It was difficult to put across how emotional she felt standing at the Sun Gate for the first time.
  13. The market fire was put out before it spread to the neighbouring stalls.
  14. She put aside two hours each morning to study Quechua vocabulary before breakfast.
  15. Could you put me through to the reservations desk at the hotel?
  16. He had put in an application to join the archaeological dig at Huánuco Pampa.

Quick practice quiz

Choose the correct phrasal verb with PUT to complete each sentence.

  1. The director was ill, so the team decided to _____ the planning meeting _____ until the following week. (postpone)
  2. I honestly don’t know how the guides _____ the humidity in the Amazon basin every single day. (tolerate)
  3. It is almost impossible to _____ the sheer scale of the Inca road network in a few sentences. (communicate clearly)
  4. At the conference, the researcher _____ an innovative approach to preserving Peru’s heritage potato varieties. (proposed)
  5. The fire near the market stalls was quickly _____ by the local brigade. (extinguished)
Show answer key
  1. put … off (put the meeting off / put off the meeting)
  2. puts up with
  3. put across
  4. put forward
  5. put out

Related lessons

B2
vocabulary
phrasal verbs
Peru

Sources