fall for — fall in love with
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
To start feeling strong romantic love for someone.
Say it like a native
Textbook I developed strong romantic feelings for her almost immediately.
Native I fell for her almost straight away.
'Fall for' is the natural way to say you fell in love; the formal version reads like a dating-app bio.
Pattern: fall for + noun/pronoun
In use
- He fell for his best friend after spending so much time together.relationships
- Many people fall for someone they meet at university because they share similar interests.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ He fell for with his coworker.
✓ He fell for his coworker.
'Fall for' takes the person directly — no 'with' (that's 'fall in love with').
Common collocations
fall for + person— her, him, hard, completely
Don't confuse it
Not about being tricked; it's about romantic feelings.
Related
- fall for (be tricked) — Another meaning of 'fall for' is 'be tricked'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.