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How to use verb “quedar” in Spanish Posted by on Jan 31, 2014 in Spanish Vocabulary, Uncategorized

Hello, there!

This has been an awesome month, hasn’t it? So we’re going to top it off with a post that explains the several uses of verb “quedar”.

Instead of explaining every use of quedar, check out some sentences.

Mi pregunda quedó sin contestar. [My question was not answered. – it remained without being answered]
Del mueble sólo quedan las patas. [There are only the legs left from the furniture.]
El incendio ha destruído la casa y sólo han quedado en pie dos muros. [The fire has destroyed the house and there are only two walls left.]
Julián quedó por valiente. [Julián was considered brave – after everything had happened]
Todos los alumnos participaron de la broma, pero yo he quedado como el organizador. [All the students took part in the prank, but I remained as the organizer.]
Quedan por barrer la salita y el despacho. [The sitting room and the office still need to be cleaned.]
El pescadero quedó a deber el resto de la factura. [The fishmonger still owes the rest of the bill.]
Tanto esfuerzo quedó en nada. [So much effor led to nothing.]
Pedro quedó en venir a cenar con nosotros. [Pedro arranged to come have dinner with us.]
Hemos quedado el lunes en una cafetería. [We agreed to meet at a cafeteria on Monday.]
Quedan tres km hasta Castro Urdiales. [There are still 3 km to get to Castro Urdiales.]
Quedan dos semanas para las vacaciones. [There are two weeks until we go on vacation.]
Por ese lado de la había quedaban dos islotes. [There used to be two little islands at that side of the bay.]

Quedar has a pronominal form, quedarse which is conjugated like this:

Yo me quedo
Tú te quedas
Él se queda
Ella se queda
Usted se queda
Nosotros(as) nos quedamos
Vosotros(as) os quedáis
Ellos(as) se quedan

Some examples:

Mi hermano se ha quedado en casa. [My brother stayed at home.]
El conductor se quedó muy asustado después del accidente. [The driver got very scared after the accident.]
¿Me quedo con tu libro? [Can I keep your book?]
Quédate esta foto como recuerdo. [Keep this picture as a souvenir.]
Tiene mucha facilidad para quedarse con los números. [He remembers numbers very easily.]
La abuela se quedó en la operación. [Grandmother died during the surgery.]
¿No te das cuenta de que se está quedando contigo? [Can’t you see he’s pulling your leg?]
Se ha quedado con nosotros, nos ha hecho creer que se había casado. [He pulled a fast one on us, he made us believe he had gotten married.]

I know this is a lot to learn, but make sure you pay attention how quedar is used when you are reading a text or doing a listening exercise, this is a golden tip!!!

Nos vemos prontito.

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About the Author: Adir

English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.


Comments:

  1. Krimo:

    Thanks Adir for this easy-to-follow explanation of the uses of quedar.

    I especially like the fact that you provided the verb in different contexts which can help us figure out its meaning without even checking the translation.

  2. Rosemary M.:

    Enjoyed reading your explanation of using quedar. I just ran into a different use, I think. Can you add any information for this apparently common use, at least in Spain.

    ¿Cómo ha quedado el Madrid? How did Madrid do?

    ¿Cómo ha quedado el partido? What happened in the game?

    Thanks.