Phrasal verbs · Free lesson
Eat out: choose a restaurant meal
No one wants to cook tonight. A short phrasal verb lets you suggest a restaurant without naming the food yet.
Professor Scott MendozaMeaning in this lesson
eat out
Have a meal at a restaurant rather than at home.
Example
“We could eat out on Friday.”
We could go to a restaurant for a meal on Friday.
The short answer
Eat out means have a restaurant meal instead of eating at home. Say We could eat out or We ate out at a café. It does not mean that you must sit outdoors.
Think restaurant meal, not outside seating.
We eat out on Fridays describes a habit. We ate out yesterday describes a past meal. Eat changes to ate, while out stays the same. Add at to name a restaurant: We ate out at a café. To name the food directly, use ordinary eat: We ate noodles.
Compare the examples
We could eat out on Friday.
We ate out at a café.
We ate outside in our garden.
We ate outside in our garden describes the location. It does not describe eating out at a restaurant.
Build the meaning step by step
Make the suggestion
We could
Choose a restaurant meal
eat out
Add the day
We could eat out on Friday.
Try it now
Choose the right meal plan.
Read all answers and explanations
You suggest having dinner inside a restaurant. Which reply expresses that plan?
Let's eat out tonight.Eat out expresses the restaurant plan. Outside refers to outdoor seating, and delivery at home keeps you at home.
The restaurant meal happened yesterday. Which sentence fits?
We ate out yesterday.The past of eat is ate. Keep out after the verb.
Choose the sentence that uses eat out and names the café.
We ate out at a café.At a café adds the place. A café is not a food object of eat out.
Put it into practice
Make a restaurant plan
Sam wants a restaurant meal, with no cooking or delivery at home. Suggest it, then respond to the request for indoor seating.
- Sam
I don't want to cook or order delivery. Could we go to a restaurant?
See a model answer
- Sam
I don't want to cook or order delivery. Could we go to a restaurant?
- You
We could eat out tonight.
- Sam
Good idea. Could we sit indoors?
- You
Sure. We can eat out and sit inside the restaurant.
- Sam
Great. I'll look for a table inside.
The first reply proposes a restaurant meal. The second shows that out in this phrase does not specify an outdoor table.
A little more clarity
Common questions
A few useful details before you move on.
Do I need to say which food we ate?
No. We ate out is already a complete statement. If the food matters, you can also use an ordinary eat sentence and add the place.
We ate noodles at a restaurant.
Is eat out only for dinner?
No. It can describe another meal at a restaurant too. You can add for lunch to make the meal clear.
We sometimes eat out for lunch.
Take it into your day
Use eat out for the restaurant meal, then add a day or a place if needed.
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