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Difference between 'wake up' & 'get up'

Difference between 'wake up' & 'get up'

Date: Sep 10 2007

Topic: Vocabulary

Author: guchhi

Lesson

The difference between wake up and get up is very small. But I thought it would be beneficial to know the exact difference. Wake up is when you wake up from sleep. Get up is when you get out of bed. Usually, when people wake up, they get up. However, sometimes people just stay in bed. In that situation, they couldn't use these two words interchangeably. Here is an example dialog showing the difference.

Person A: 'When did you get up this morning?'
Person B: 'I got up at 11.'
Person A: 'You slept at 11 last night. So you slept for 12 hours?'
Person B: 'No. I actually woke up at 9, but I just stayed in bed.'

When you talk to people, go ahead and use either of these two words. Just keep in mind that there is a small difference.

On a side note. When you ask someone when they woke up, you don't use the past tense of 'woke' although it is referring to the past. 'What time did you woke up this morning' is incorrect. The correct way to ask this question is, 'What time did you wake up this morning?'

Likewise, you wouldn't say, 'What time did you got up?' The correct way to say this is, 'What time did you get up?'

Comments

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Staisy

Staisy

Russian Federation

It is a   good explanation, thank you .

09:17 PM Sep 29 2014 |

zurvani

zurvani

United Arab Emirates

I see .. I wake up then I get up
Very useful , thanx

08:28 AM Jan 15 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

 A wake-up call .  I was almost ran  over by a car  while crossing the street  .It   was a wake-up call  not to get distracted  and watch both directions  while doing so. 

06:07 PM Jan 13 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

I usually wake up at  6 o´clock but  stay in bed  watching the news on  TV and get up  an hour later.   

05:56 PM Jan 13 2012 |

Raibite

Raibite

China

Excellent! And a idiom for you guys.


Wake up and smell the coffee, which means try to pay attention to what’s going on or to pay attention and do something about a situation.

02:38 PM Jan 13 2012 |

tila17

tila17

Indonesia

I thought they were similar. Now I get it. Thanks a million Smile

02:50 AM Jan 13 2012 |

micky_0784

Viet Nam

thanks a lot

05:07 PM Jan 12 2012 |

1 person likes this

amthant007

Myanmar

thanks a lot.

05:23 AM Aug 18 2010 |

青春的祭司

青春的祭司

China

how  uitstekend。。。。。

10:22 AM Feb 14 2010 |

o.s

o.s

Saudi Arabia

thanks a lot ..

10:30 PM Feb 09 2010 |

dinhquyen87@yahoo.com

Viet Nam

thank a lot, i did not care about it ,

but its greatlessons

10:20 AM Nov 16 2009 |

Biologist

Biologist

Brazil

Great lesson!!!

08:24 PM Aug 20 2008 |

fionanawz

fionanawz

Taiwan

it's interesting Smile thanx a lot

I hadn't notice this little difference between these two word.

 

thanx a lot!

12:41 PM May 16 2008 |

rusminah

rusminah

Malaysia

cool lessons. thanks a lotsSealed

12:20 AM May 16 2008 |

Hyun Jung Kim

South Korea

well i woke up at 8am but i got up at 2am lol
oh mann XD


11:55 AM Feb 11 2008 |

Superior Lord

China

Hey,man,it's too easy!All of us know that.However,your explanation is quite good.Are you a teacher for beginners?

03:58 AM Feb 11 2008 |

smiler_2008

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

Thanks alot

06:11 PM Feb 10 2008 |

xinfang1111

China

what a reallistic topic and the author describes it so clearly ,we can get the idear easily

10:14 AM Jan 27 2008 |

tiffintime

tiffintime

Sri Lanka

Nicely written.

05:26 AM Jan 23 2008 |

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