I’ve heard both of these sentences ‘touch base’ and ‘check in with’ in daily conversations at my workplace. They basically means ‘to talk’ but sound more professional. And after some research I saw that people actually use these idioms quite often.
Check in with: meaning and usage
Let’s start from check in with. We all know what the verb “check in” means. You do this when you arrive at the airport or a hotel and show your tickets and documents to the airline or hotel representatives.
It’s also a noun. The procedure is called check-in. (and there’s a hyphen between “check” and “in”).
And nowadays you can also check in on Facebook or Instagram showing people your current location.
“Check in with” has a different meaning. It means “to talk with (someone)” in order to:
- to get some information (more formal)
- to find out if everything is okay with a person (informal)
In the first case, it’s more used in official situations, for instance, in a workplace environment.
That’s a person whose job is to check in with you and say, how are your projects going?
Oskar I just want to check in with you about your time, because I know you have to leave.
I’ll come in and check in with the team.
Check in with new owners to prevent surrenders
In the second case, it’s more informal and usually used when people want to make sure that their relatives or friends are okay.
Here’re some examples:
A son’s going on camping for a weekend.
– Mom, I’m gonna go, see you on Monday!
– Okay! Don’t forget to check in with me. Give me a call!
After two teen suicides, parents were urged to check in with kids.
In this context, you can also use the “check in on something or somebody” expression.
I need to check in on my grandmother to make sure she’s feeling okay.
Do we know if, Clinton ever made a phone call to any of them to check in on them?
Touch base: meaning and usage
“Touch base” is to talk to someone for a short time in order to find out how they are or what they think about something.
The synonyms of touch base are chat, have a friendly chat, renew communication, visit.
How to Use Touch Base in a Sentence:
I just wanted to quickly touch base with you: did you get an email about the meeting?
My mom likes touching base daily, but I think a weekly check-in would be fine.
The editor asked me to touch base with people that have been affected by the COVID-19.
We are trying to touch base with the students the best way we can.
Okay, that’s it for this week. Now let me know in the comments if you use “check in with” or “touch base” at work or with your friends and relatives. And if you don’t make a sentence and start using it instead of talk and chat.
If you want to know more cool sentences to use at work check out the 10 Brilliant Workplace Phrases’s post.
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Additional resources
See more sentences with “check in with” in the context
![21 Verbs With Prepositions For Intermediate Students [Learn Them With The Quiz]](https://about-english.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/verbs-with-prepositions-600x400.jpg "21 Verbs With Prepositions For Intermediate Students [Learn Them With The Quiz]")
Hey Vika, I find your idioms suuuuper interesting. I knew them before, but I was never sure how to use them. Really clear and useful. Thanks!
Thank you dear! I’m so happy to hear that these idioms are useful even for such an experienced teacher as you are!?
These phrasal verbs are new for me. Thank you, Vika, for your work. You must spend lots of time finding information. My sentences:
1. I have to check in with my colleague about making up a final test for our students.
2. It’s important to touch base with students in order to rimind them what topics to review for the final test.
Thank you, Natalia. I’m happy o hear that the information was new and useful for you. Yes, it’s true, it took some time but I love the process of discovering new words, meanings and share it with you)) You’re sentences are great, thank you for put in to work?.