Meaning & use
took care
Last updated
“took care” is a form of “take care”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
Past tense of "take care": dealt with something, or looked after someone or something.
Grammar: Often followed by "of" plus a noun: she took care of the bills.
Patterns
- took care of someone
- took care of something
- took care of yourself
My sister took care of the dog while we were away.
He took care of the paperwork before the deadline.
Who took care of the children last night?
verbintransitive
Past tense of "take care": made sure to do something, often to avoid a problem.
Grammar: Followed by a "to" infinitive: they took care to lock up.
Patterns
- took care to do something
- took care not to do something
She took care to spell every name correctly.
We took care not to wake the baby.
He took care to check the figures twice.
Word forms
| base form | take care |
|---|---|
| third person singular | takes care |
| present participle | taking care |
| past participle | taken care |
Common combinations
- took care of
- She took care of everything while I was ill.
- took good care of
- They took good care of the garden all summer.
- took care to
- He took care to arrive early.
- took care of business
- The team took care of business in the first half.
- took care of yourself
- You took care of yourself during a hard year.
Synonyms and how they differ
- looked after
- Focuses on watching over someone's needs, and does not fit the "made sure to" sense.
- handled
- Suggests dealing with a task or problem, but not usually used for caring for people.
- made sure
- Matches the "took care to" sense, but cannot replace "took care of" a person.
Opposites
Word family
- care noun
- Attention or protection given to someone or something.
- careful adjective
- Giving close attention so as to avoid mistakes or harm.
- careless adjective
- Not giving enough attention, so mistakes or harm happen.
- caretaker noun
- A person who looks after a building or another person.
- caring adjective
- Kind and concerned about other people's needs.
Commonly confused: took care or took care of? took care or caretook?
took care vs took care of
This phrase needs "of" before a person or thing; "took care to" needs a verb after it, as in "took care to check."
took care vs caretook
Not a word. The past tense is "took care," with the two words in that order.
Practice
Which sentence uses "took care" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"Took care of" is the fixed pattern for looking after someone. "Took care to" needs a verb after it, and "for" or no preposition does not fit this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “took care”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.