What does “hang out” mean in American English?
Awkward greetings and crushes at a party
A2 English listening practice · American English · Picked for people who know a little
Hang out is one of the most common American English phrasal verbs. It means “to spend casual, unstructured time with friends”: no plan, no agenda, just being together. Americans say let’s hang out, we hung out yesterday, you never hang out anymore. The phrase is different from go out (which suggests a planned activity) and meet up (which suggests a specific place). It’s also different from British English, where hang out exists but is less common; Britons might say meet up or spend time together.
In this clip, a teen at a party greets another with the slightly accusing line: “I’m surprised you’re here. You never hang out.”
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In American teen and college campus conversations
- ▸In American sitcoms about friend groups (Friends, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
- ▸In American group-chat texts and DMs
- ▸In American invitation language (wanna hang out this weekend?)
- ▸In American workplace small-talk among younger coworkers