Spanish word of the week: despedir

This week’s Spanish word of the week is despedir.

Despedir is a verb that means to say goodbye to and you can find out how to pronounce it here:

When a friend leaves, Spanish-speaking people usually want to say goodbye to them properly. That’s when the word despedir comes in:

Salgo a la calle para despedirte. I’ll come out so say goodbye to you.

You can translate this same meaning as to see off. Notice the word order in the next example.

Fuimos a despedirlo a la estación. We went to the station to see him off.

You use the reflexive form, despedirse when two or more people say goodbye to each other:

Se despidieron con un beso. They said goodbye with a kiss, or They kissed one another goodbye.

You can also use the reflexive form with de, to mean to say goodbye to:

Se despidió de nosotros y volvió a la vida diaria. He said goodbye to us and went back to his day-to-day life.

Remember that despedir is conjugated like pedir, and the -e- of the stem changes to -i- in cases like the last example.

Come back next week for a new word, and expand your Spanish vocabulary!