depend on someone

Meaning

This phrase means to rely on someone for support, help, or survival, or to trust them to do something. It highlights a relationship where one person relies on the reliability, decisions, or resources of another.

Examples

• Children depend on their parents for food, shelter, and love.

  Children depend on their parents for food, shelter, and love.

• As a team, we all depend on each other to meet our deadlines.

  As a team, we all depend on each other to meet our deadlines.

• You shouldn't depend on him to make all the decisions for you.

  You shouldn't depend on him to make all the decisions for you.

• She is very independent and hates to depend on anyone else.

  She is very independent and hates to depend on anyone else.

• I know I can depend on my sister to give me honest advice.

  I know I can depend on my sister to give me honest advice.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ It depends of you.

  ✓ It depends on you.

  A very common mistake is using 'of' instead of 'on'. In English, 'depend' always takes the preposition 'on'.

• ✗ I depend from my parents for money.

  ✓ I depend on my parents for money.

  This is often a literal translation from Romance languages (e.g., 'depender de'). Always use 'depend on' in English.

Related Expressions

Practice

• When things get tough, I always depend ___ my family.

  💡 This is the only correct preposition used after 'depend'.

  Show answer

  on

• A successful relationship means you can depend ___ each other.

  💡 Fill in the missing preposition.

  Show answer

  on