To look after someone or something means to take care of them, and to make sure they are safe, healthy and happy.
What Does Look After Mean?
You look after the people, animals and things that depend on you: a little brother, a class goldfish, a garden, a library book.
You can also look after yourself, and you can look after your own interests, which means making sure things work out well for you.
In everyday talk, look after is especially common in British English. In American English, people often say take care of instead, and both are fine.
🗣️ Natural Examples
Can you look after the goldfish while we're on holiday?
My big sister looks after me when Mum is at work, and she always wins at board games.
Our robot vacuum doesn't need much, but we still look after it. We give it a name and a snack. (The snack is dust.)
Please look after this book. It's older than my grandpa.
Look after yourself, and don't forget your scarf!
✂️ Can You Separate It?
No. Look after is inseparable. The two words stay together, and the thing you look after comes right behind them.
With a noun, the noun comes after "after".
✅ Look after the puppy.
❌ Look the puppy after.
With it, him, her or them, the same rule applies.
✅ Look after it.
❌ Look it after.
That's the opposite of Look Up, which you can split: look it up. For look after, the small word stays glued to the verb: look after it.
🛠️ How to Use It
- Look after + a person, animal or thing: look after the baby, look after the dog, look after the plants.
- Look after yourself: Look after yourself while you're away.
- It changes like any normal verb: I look after, she looked after, they're looking after.
- You can also say that someone is looked after: The children were well looked after.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Splitting it. The words stay together.
❌ Please look the cat after.
✅ Please look after the cat.
Look after or look for? A lost thing needs look for.
❌ I'm looking after my keys. Have you seen them?
✅ I'm looking for my keys. Have you seen them?
Look after or take after? One is about care, the other is about family looks.
❌ Mia looks after her grandmother. (She has her laugh.)
✅ Mia takes after her grandmother. (She has her laugh.)
💬 In a Conversation
Leo: Can you look after my hamster this weekend?
Nina: Sure. What does he eat?
Leo: Seeds, carrots and the occasional sock.
Nina: The sock is a problem.
Leo: He says it's a snack, not a problem.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Think of look after as a person standing guard, and the thing they guard walks after them like a duckling.
look after → the little one comes after
So the little duckling can never jump in front. Look after the duckling, never look the duckling after.
And a quick check: look up is for information, look for is for lost things, and look after is for the ones you care about.
👯 Similar Expressions
- take care of: very close in meaning, and a natural choice in American English. Can you take care of the dog?
- Take After: looks similar, but means to resemble a family member. She takes after her mum.
- Look Up: to search for information, and separable. Look it up.
- Look Into: to investigate something. The school is looking into the problem.