People look after a child, an animal or a possession when they take care of them.
The idea
In neutral everyday English, put the person or thing after look after: look after the dog or look after it. The words do not separate.
Examples
- I look after my neighbour’s cat on Fridays.
- Can you look after the plants this week?
- We look after them together.
- Her brother looks after the dog at night.
- The nurse looked after my father yesterday.
- Please look after this key until Monday.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic English voice on your device. Quality and availability vary; it does not assess pronunciation.
No English device voice is available. You can still read the examples.
Watch out
Do not say look the dog after or look it after: the object follows after. Looking after someone means caring for them, not just looking at them.
Try it yourself
Choose the correct option. Please look ___ our baby tonight. (after / at)
Show answer or example answer
after
after completes the expression for caring for the baby.
Choose the correct option. Could you look after ___? (him / he)
Show answer or example answer
him
him is the object pronoun referring to the person receiving care.
Choose the correct option. She ___ after the birds yesterday. (looked / looks)
Show answer or example answer
looked
looked is the past form, fitting yesterday.
Practice round
Answer questions and rebuild English sentences to practise. Your score is shown.
Choose the correct option. Please look ___ our baby tonight. (after / at)
Choose the correct option. Could you look after ___? (him / he)
Choose the correct option. She ___ after the birds yesterday. (looked / looks)
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
Sign up for free to save your practice results.
Sign up to saveI already have an accountUse it today
Describe someone or something you look after and when you do it.