What Does Check Out Mean?
Check out has four main jobs.
- Borrow: you take a book from a library.
- Leave a hotel: you pay and leave.
- Look at something interesting: this one is informal.
- Find out if it is true: you test an idea or a fact.
I want to check out this book.
We check out of the hotel at noon.
Check out my new bike!
Let's check out if the shop is open.
🗣️ Natural Examples
Borrowing:
I checked out three books from the school library.
You can check a book out for two weeks.
Leaving a hotel:
We have to check out by ten o'clock.
They checked out of the hotel this morning.
Looking at something interesting:
Check out this video of a dancing dog!
Have you checked the new playground out yet?
Finding out if it is true:
Let's check out whether the park is open today.
His story checked out, so the teacher believed him.
✂️ Can You Separate It?
It depends on the meaning.
Borrowing, looking and testing take an object, and they are separable.
✅ Check out the new library book.
✅ Check the new library book out.
✅ Check it out.
❌ Check out it.
Leaving a hotel uses out of, so the words stay together.
✅ We check out of the hotel.
✅ We check out at noon.
When something turns out to be true, it has no object and stays together too: His story checked out.
🛠️ How to Use It
- Borrow: check out + a book, a DVD. It is common at a library.
- Hotel: check out alone, or check out of + the hotel.
- Look: check out + a thing or a person. It is informal and friendly. Check this out!
- True: check out with no object. Her story checked out.
- Noun: the checkout is where you pay in a shop. It is one word.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Leaving a hotel? Add of.
❌ We checked out the hotel at noon. (this sounds like you looked at the hotel)
✅ We checked out of the hotel at noon.
Put the pronoun in the middle.
❌ Check out it!
✅ Check it out!
Verb or noun?
✅ We check out at noon. (verb: two words)
✅ The checkout is next to the door. (noun: one word)
💬 In a Conversation
Sam: Check out this book!
Mia: Wow. Can I check it out?
Sam: Do you mean look at it, or borrow it?
Mia: Both. I will check it out, then check it out.
Sam: English is doing it again.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Think of something going out.
A book goes out of the library. You go out of the hotel. The truth comes out when you look carefully.
👯 Similar Expressions
- borrow: the plain word. See Lend vs Borrow.
- Look Up: to search for something in a book or online.
- find out: to learn a fact. See Find Out vs Figure Out.