catch your breath

Meaning

To stop and rest for a moment after physical exercise or busy activity so you can breathe normally again. It can also be used figuratively to mean taking a mental break to recover your composure or thoughts.

Examples

• After running up three flights of stairs, I needed a minute to catch my breath.

  After running up three flights of stairs, I needed a minute to catch my breath.

• Slow down, let me catch my breath before we keep walking.

  Slow down, let me catch my breath before we keep walking.

• It's been such a busy week; I haven't even had time to catch my breath.

  It's been such a busy week; I haven't even had time to catch my breath.

• He sat down on the bench to catch his breath after the long race.

  He sat down on the bench to catch his breath after the long race.

• Let's pause the meeting for five minutes so everyone can catch their breath.

  Let's pause the meeting for five minutes so everyone can catch their breath.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I need to hold my breath after running.

  ✓ I need to catch my breath after running.

  'Hold your breath' means to stop breathing intentionally (like underwater). 'Catch your breath' means to recover normal breathing after exertion.

• ✗ He stopped to catch the breath.

  ✓ He stopped to catch his breath.

  This idiom always uses a possessive adjective (my, your, his, her, our, their) matching the subject, rather than the definite article 'the'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Give me a second to ___; I just ran all the way from the subway.

  💡 Recover my normal breathing.

  Show answer

  catch my breath

• With back-to-back meetings all day, she barely had time to ___.

  💡 Take a quick mental break.

  Show answer

  catch her breath