hand off

Q: Is it correct to say "I handed off it to him."?

No — say "I handed it off to him.". When the object is a pronoun like 'it' or 'them', it must be placed between the verb and the particle.

Infinitive

hand off

Past

handed off

Past participle

handed off

Definition

phrasal verb. to give a task, responsibility, or an object to another person so they can take control of it. You use this when you finish your part of a job and let someone else do the next part.

phrasal verb. To transfer responsibility, a task, or a physical object to another person. Transitive; frequently employed in professional workflows or sports to denote a transition of control.

simple

“I need to hand off this report to my manager before I leave.”

contextual

“After completing the initial design phase, the architect handed off the blueprints to the construction team to begin the build.”

complex

“The outgoing CEO meticulously handed off her strategic initiatives to the successor, ensuring a seamless transition that maintained investor confidence during the leadership change.”

Usually followed by 'to' when mentioning the person receiving the task.

Contrast with 'hand over', which often implies a more formal or permanent transfer of authority, whereas 'hand off' is common in collaborative workflows.

I handed off it to him.

I handed it off to him.

When the object is a pronoun like 'it' or 'them', it must be placed between the verb and the particle.

Particles

off

Separability

optional

Pattern

hand + off + object

pass on transfer delegate hand over

take over keep retain

VERB