Meaning
“Get on one's nerves” means to annoy, irritate, or bother someone repeatedly. It describes a situation where a person, sound, or action causes mental or emotional irritation.
Grammar and Usage
- Structure: get on + one’s nerves
- "One’s" changes depending on the subject: my nerves, your nerves, his nerves, her nerves, their nerves.
- Informal expression, commonly used in spoken English.
- Typically used with continuous actions or habits that annoy.
Pattern:
- Subject + get on + (possessive adjective) nerves e.g., The noise gets on my nerves.
Common Phrases
- Really get on my nerves (strong irritation)
- Starting to get on my nerves (gradually annoying)
- Constantly getting on my nerves
Collocations
- Adverbs: really, always, constantly, absolutely
- Subjects: noise, people, behavior, music, habits
- Pronouns: my nerves, your nerves, his nerves, her nerves
Examples
- His constant humming really gets on my nerves.
- The traffic jam this morning got on her nerves.
- It’s starting to get on my nerves when you interrupt me all the time.
- That buzzing sound from the fan is getting on my nerves.
- Don’t play that song again—it gets on my nerves.
- His arrogance really got on their nerves during the meeting.
- She said the squeaky chair was getting on her nerves.
- Waiting in long queues always gets on my nerves.
Synonyms or Related
- Annoy
- Irritate
- Bother
- Bug (informal)
- Drive someone crazy/mad
- Aggravate
Antonym
- Calm down
- Soothe
- Comfort
- Please