The Phrasal Verb 'Come Over' Explained
- Phrasal Verbs Explained
- Jun 23, 2023
- 9 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'come over' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them.
This week it is the turn of the phrasal verb 'come over', which is a fairly common phrasal verb that shares some of its meanings with the common phrasal verb 'come across' (link here). 'Come over' does also have some other meanings of its own that we will also cover in this post. and so, without further ado, let's take a look at them....
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
COME OVER: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table, click here
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 5 |
Past tense forms | Came over / Come over |
Separable? | No |
Before we go any further, let's first consider the words which make up the phrasal verb 'come over'. This should hopefully give you some much needed logic to some of its idiomatic meanings that we will cover in the post.
Our main verb is the extremely common verb 'to come', which is mainly used as a verb of movement to denote a movement towards the speaker or the place where the speaker is, was or will be. In this way, it functions as the opposite of the verb 'to go'. In addition to this, the verb 'to come' also has several other meanings, including to change into a different state and to happen.
We then have the prepositional particle 'over', which has several different meanings, but the meaning that is relevant for this phrasal verb is to move across an area, normally from one side of it to the other.
So now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of 'come over'....
MEANING 1: Literal
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Separable? | No |
Potential synonyms | To come across |
As per usual, let's start by looking at the literal meaning of our chosen phrasal verb. When used literally, 'come over' means to physically move across an area or space, towards where the speaker is, or depending on the context, where the listener is.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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In addition, it can also be used to say that someone is coming towards you, normally with the intention of speaking to you. This is very similar to the literal meaning of the phrasal verb 'come across' but I would say that 'come over' is perhaps used more commonly by native speakers to express this particular meaning.
A more advanced usage (C1) of this meaning of 'come over' is to travel over a long distance from one place to another, usually involving crossing a sea or an ocean. This is often used when talking about people visiting a far away country or emigrating from one country to another.
Oh no! He's noticed that we're talking about him and he is coming over.
Can you come over here for a second? I need your help.
The teacher came over to our table to say hello.
Paul saw me sitting alone and came over to talk to me.
My parents came over to the UK in the 1960s and I was born here not long afterwards.
When are you coming over to visit us in Australia? We miss you!
MEANING 2: To visit someone's house
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Separable? | No |
Potential synonyms | To drop by, to visit |
The second meaning of 'come over' is not so different from the literal version that we have just considered, as it is an informal way to mean 'to visit somebody's house', with the idea that the visitor travels across an area to get to the speaker's (or possibly the listener's) home.
This application is usually used when talking about somebody visiting you at your own home and is often expressed either as "come over to my house" or "come over to mine*". It is also absolutely fine to omit the 'to my house' or 'to mine' from the sentence as 'come over' on its own carries this implied meaning when used in the appropriate context.
What are you doing later? Do you want to come over to watch a movie?
I'll come over to yours next week and we can have catch-up!
Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?
Amanda usually comes over on Saturday nights to hang out.
Thanks for coming over; it's been great catching up!
I’m thinking of coming over later if that’s okay with you.
* When talking about a person's house, it is normal for native speakers to use the possessive pronouns mine, his, hers, ours etc
COME ON OVER WHEN YOU'RE READY!!
Another variation of 'come over' that you may have heard before, especially in song lyrics, is 'come on over'. This is a common way of verbally inviting someone to join you where you are or to come to your house. Generally speaking, 'come on over' has the same meaning as 'come over', but we tend to use it when we are inviting someone to do something in the present, rather than at a point in the future.
Moreover, I would say that it feels a little friendlier and softer than 'come over', which is also not hard or unfriendly. As such, 'come on over' is often used in an encouraging way, especially if the person being invited is reluctant to come for some reason.
MEANING 3: To be perceived
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Separable? | No |
Potential synonyms | To come across, to seem, to be perceived |
Meaning number three of 'come over' means 'to be perceived' and again is very similar to the phrasal verb 'come across'. For this meaning, we are primarily concerned with how people, or the things that they say and do, are perceived or understood by others.
It can be used to describe both how a person's behaviour and messages or information are interpreted and viewed by other people.
When talking about how a person is perceived, we tend to use adjectives to describe a person's character or behaviour e.g. nervous, confident, shy and for this we require the extra word 'as'.
Lisa came over as very self-assured in the interview but in reality she was very nervous.
The politician comes over as weak and that is why people will not vote for him.
She comes over a bit rude sometimes, but she's actually really kind.
I don't want to come over as too eager, so I'll wait a bit before texting back.
Conversely, when using 'come over' to describe how a message or information is perceived by people, we tend to use adverbs such as well, brilliantly and strongly.
Did my speech come over well?
Despite the social distancing during filming, the romantic scenes in the film came over brilliantly.
The message didn’t come over clearly on the phone.
As I mentioned, this application is a synonym of the phrasal 'come across' and whilst both of these are used fairly commonly in everyday English, I would say that 'come across' is used more frequently from my experience.
MEANING 4: To suddenly feel different
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Separable? | No |
Potential synonyms | To suddenly feel, to be overcome with |
The fourth meaning of 'come over' means to suddenly start to feel different to how you normally feel.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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This can be in a physical way, for example when an English native speaker suddenly starts to feel sick, dizzy or faint, it is likely that they will use 'come over' to describe the sudden change. Furthermore, it can also be used for behavioural or emotional changes, for example when we begin to feel very angry or sad all of a sudden.
Normally, with this application we talk about something that comes over us and therefore this is preceded by a noun.
A strange feeling came over me as I walked into the old house.
Suddenly, a wave of sadness came over her, and she started to cry.
A chill came over Jerry when he heard the door creak open.
As the singer stood on stage, a sense of calm came over him and his nervousness disappeared.
An intense anger came over me when I saw what they had done.
A feeling of guilt came over her when she saw the broken vase.
A deep tiredness came over me after the long hike.
A sense of joy came over the crowd as the band took the stage.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME!!
You may have heard a native speaker say "I don't know what came over me!", which is an expression that normally used in an apologetic way when we do not know why we started acting in a strange way. Alternatively, people often use "I don't know what came over him / her" to try and excuse the bad behaviour of another person and infer that they are not normally like that.
I'm so sorry about my behaviour last night, I don't know what came over me!
Jake was fine one minute and then suddenly he started shouting and screaming. I don't know what came over him!
Alternatively, it is also possible for an adjective to follow 'come over'. When doing this, it is normal to include the word 'all' between the word 'over' and the adjective, perhaps to express that the feeling or emotion has taken over us entirely.
I was fine one minute and then I came over all dizzy the next and had to sit down.
She came over all sad in the middle of our conversation, so I hope I didn't upset her!
Olive came over all faint when she saw the blood.
I came over all emotional during the speech and had to stop myself from crying!
Robert came over all shy when it was his turn to speak.
I came over all nostalgic looking through those old photos.
Katy came over all flustered when her crush complimented her.
MEANING 5: To change sides
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Separable? | No |
Potential synonyms | To change sides |
The fifth and final meaning of 'come over' is an uncommon one that means to change allegiance to change sides from one side to an opposing or rival one.
Additionally, it is used when people change their views on a particular subject, often in quite a radical way.
This is not such a commonly used form of 'come over' but nevertheless you may come across it in the realms of politics, sport (teams) and debates (ideologies and beliefs). This meaning is certainly the rarest out of the ones that we have looked at but I wanted to make you aware of it nonetheless.
One expression that you may hear with this application is 'to come over to someone's way of thinking', which is used to describe when someone changes their opinion to agree with someone else's with whom they did not agree with previously.
What has made you come over to our way of thinking?
Several members of the opposition party came over to support the new bill.
Alan used to play for our rivals, but he came over to our team last season.
The general came over to our side after realising the truth about the regime.
Some of the rebels eventually came over and joined the government forces.
During the debate, a few audience members came over to our point of view.
Padma finally came over to our way of thinking after hearing all the evidence.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'come over'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'come over'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END
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