 In this video, let's talk about the difference between tidy up and clean up and when you can use these two phrasal verbs. Of course, I'm Jennifer from J4isEnglish.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you sound like a fluent, confident, natural English speaker. Now before we go any further, make sure you subscribe and hit that bell icon so you're notified every time I post a new lesson. Now let's dive into this video. So let's look at this as a phrasal verb, to tidy up. I put up in brackets because actually you can use this as just the verb tidy. It's optional as a phrasal verb. So to tidy up, this is to put everything in the correct place. So you can think of it simply as to arrange things or to organize things. Now you might be wondering, how is that different than to clean or to clean up? We can also use clean as a phrasal verb by adding up after it. So how is this different? Well to clean, you can think of this as to make sure something is free of dirt. So let's take a look at these two workspaces. Now I could say that both of these workplaces are free of dirt. So when I look at this surface, I don't see a lot of dirt. There's no dust or anything like that. So I can say this work desk is clean. There's no dirt, right? And same with this one. There's no dirt. There's no coffee stains or mud or dust. They're both clean. And I could look at the floor and make the same statement. There's no dirt. There's no dust. It's clean. But this is not organized. The things are not arranged, right? So there's a difference between tidy in these two pictures. So in this picture, the one on the left, I could say is clean, but untidy. That would be the opposite of tidy, untidy. But I could also say messy or cluttered. These are just simply synonyms. Clean but messy. Clean but cluttered. Same thing. Now the one on the right, I can say it's clean and tidy. So generally we'll use both of these adjectives to describe a space. Always really clean and tidy. Now we can also use these adjectives for people. So again, let's look at these people on the left. Well, his shirt is clean. There's no dirt on it. There's no stains or anything like that. But is it tidy? No, not at all. Look, his tie is messy. It looks wrinkled. One cuff looks nice, but then this cuff doesn't look nice. And her hair looks messy. And, you know, her sweater doesn't look that tidy either. But then look at these guys. They look very neat and tidy, right? So on the left, I could say clean but untidy. Now I can also use messy as an adjective, but I can't use cluttered. Okay, cluttered is only with a desk or a room and office. But with people, I could say messy, sloppy or disheveled. This is probably new to you, but I would say it's probably the most common choice to describe how these two people look right now. Disheveled, disheveled. Okay, disheveled. Now on the right, clean and tidy. So we can use these adjectives for things and people. Now, thinking about that description, let's look at this group of guys. I'll be honest with you. I think this guy's appearance is a little bit messy, a little bit sloppy, and I'm even going to say disheveled. Like his hair doesn't look like he combed it. His tie is hanging down. His cuff isn't nicely in and his shirt is really long and it's not tucked in. I don't know if that's just his look all the time. Like that's his style, perhaps. But then look at these guys. His hair is very nice. His jacket is very nice. Same with him. His sweater looks very nice. They all look very tidy except for this guy who looks disheveled. All right, so here's a very clean and tidy workstation. This is definitely how my workstation looks. So now let's see some example sentences. My office is so messy. It's hard to find things when I need them. Or for example, I always tidy up before leaving the office. Okay, so maybe during the day, your office could get quite messy. Like lots of papers and things aren't in their place. But then before you go, you tidy up, right? So here's using it as a phrasal verb. Now let's compare this sentence to this one. I always tidy the office before leaving. Now here, notice it's not a phrasal verb. It's just being used as the verb tidy. I think it sounds awkward to use tidy without specifying the thing next to it. But notice here, I didn't specify what right after it. So if you're not going to specify the what, you can use the phrasal verb tidy up. If you want to just use the verb tidy and not the phrasal verb, then I suggest specifying the thing. I always tidy the office before leaving. Another example, she cleans the house once a week, but she tidies up every day. So here I'm doing two things. I'm comparing clean and tidy, tidy up I should say. So clean once a week. So that's when she removes all the dirt, right? But she tidies up, she organizes it, she puts things in their proper place every day. Now notice clean is an optional phrasal verb. I don't have to use up and it's very common not to. She cleans the house once a week. If I want to use it as a phrasal verb, it's separable. So it can come right after the verb or it can come after the now. Both options are correct. Now remember I said if you're not going to specify the thing, then I suggest using the phrasal verb tidy up. Another example, my son's room is such a mess. After I tidy up, it's messy again in less than 10 minutes. So here I'm using tidy up mess and messy and I'm sure a lot of parents can relate to this. I love this quote by Marie Kondo that I found. She says, a messy room equals a messy mind. So now maybe it's time for you to tidy up your workstation. All right, so now you know the difference between tidy up and clean up. Now it's your turn to practice. I want you to leave two sentences in the comments below, one with tidy up and one with clean up. And just for fun, why don't you share your thoughts on that quote that I shared, that Marie Kondo quote, where she said a messy room equals a messy mind. So what are your thoughts? Do you agree with that? Do you disagree? Let us know in the comments as well. Just for fun to have some lively discussion in the comments. If you found this video helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends and of course subscribe. Now before you go, make sure you head on over to my website j4isenglish.com and download your free speaking guide. In this guide, I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently. And until next time, happy studying. All right, so do you tidy up your office every day? How often do you clean up your house? You can answer those questions in the comments as well and I'll see you in my next video. Bye.